Understanding Mental Illness and those with Mental Health Issues
In Judaism, there is a concept called tikkun olam. Many Jewish scholars have written volume's on this concept and what it means, by basically is about to act torepair a broken world. To me, the concept is about individual responsibility and if one person's acts or words can enlighten or change the heart, mind or actions of another, then he/she is repairing the world.
First of all, I am so grateful to have so many faithful and regular followers of my blog. It is a great pleasure, and I am humbled and grateful for each and every comment to my posts. Thank you so much.
As you can see from the post below, the subject of mental illness is one that I am extremely passionate about, having dealt with it in my personal life with a family member and also in a professional capacity as a lawyer. I would like to share some information with others, that may be helpful in your understanding and ability to respond to these issues.
First of all, those who suffer from mental illness, usually schizophrenia, biipolar disorder, serious depression, psycohsis, OCD, borderline personality disorder, etc. Experience some type of chemical imbalance of their brains. This is a biological condition and a brain disorder, and as such it is a medical problem. For excellent information on mental illness, please see the following site for information: http://www.nami.org/.
NAMI is a fantastic group and offers a free twelve week family to family course in every state, and it can be taken in various cities around this country. I have taken the course myself, and signed up to teach it in the future as a volunteer, as I believe it is wonderful to help families understand how to deal with mental illness if it hits a spouse, child, brother, sister, parent, partner or someone you love.
Those who suffer and need to be hospitalized require the care, understanding and compassion just as if someone you know has been hospitalized with a physical illness, such as cancer, a broken hip, or anything truthfully. Many people do not know how to react to mental illness, and consequently ignore those who are in the hospital, not telephoning the families or going to visit those who are confined until they are stable. Please do not neglect to call, visit and make yourself available to those in need just like you would if someone was hospitalized for anything else. To do otherwise, is insensitive and makes the people who have to deal with this crisis left out in the dark.
Additionally, advocacy and the fight against stigma are critical. In February, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company put out a bear called, Crazy for You complete with a straight jacket and commitment papers. The point, which was met with disdain by the mental health community, was that you give this bear to someone you love and it means you are 'crazy' about them. After receiving thousands of letters and a reprimand from the governor of Vermont, the company pulled this bear. Using words like crazy, nut-case, wackjob, wako, are cruel and perpetuate the stigma against those already treated poorly in a cruel world. This is not about free speech, but being sensitive in what we say, just as we do not call people names or use degrading labels to refer to ethic or racial groups. It is the same thing in this context.
I find myself reaching out to those in need who are on the streets. If the person does not appear to be violent, but talking to himself/herself, I will go buy food, give money or lend a helping hand, if I can do so.
Additionally, there are many great books on the subject as well. I could go on and on, but I have promised to devote the rest of this day to my briefs, so enough out of me.
Be kind, sensitive and loving to all who have mental health issues. You will be personally doing an act to repair the world.
Thank you for your minds.
First of all, I am so grateful to have so many faithful and regular followers of my blog. It is a great pleasure, and I am humbled and grateful for each and every comment to my posts. Thank you so much.
As you can see from the post below, the subject of mental illness is one that I am extremely passionate about, having dealt with it in my personal life with a family member and also in a professional capacity as a lawyer. I would like to share some information with others, that may be helpful in your understanding and ability to respond to these issues.
First of all, those who suffer from mental illness, usually schizophrenia, biipolar disorder, serious depression, psycohsis, OCD, borderline personality disorder, etc. Experience some type of chemical imbalance of their brains. This is a biological condition and a brain disorder, and as such it is a medical problem. For excellent information on mental illness, please see the following site for information: http://www.nami.org/.
NAMI is a fantastic group and offers a free twelve week family to family course in every state, and it can be taken in various cities around this country. I have taken the course myself, and signed up to teach it in the future as a volunteer, as I believe it is wonderful to help families understand how to deal with mental illness if it hits a spouse, child, brother, sister, parent, partner or someone you love.
Those who suffer and need to be hospitalized require the care, understanding and compassion just as if someone you know has been hospitalized with a physical illness, such as cancer, a broken hip, or anything truthfully. Many people do not know how to react to mental illness, and consequently ignore those who are in the hospital, not telephoning the families or going to visit those who are confined until they are stable. Please do not neglect to call, visit and make yourself available to those in need just like you would if someone was hospitalized for anything else. To do otherwise, is insensitive and makes the people who have to deal with this crisis left out in the dark.
Additionally, advocacy and the fight against stigma are critical. In February, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company put out a bear called, Crazy for You complete with a straight jacket and commitment papers. The point, which was met with disdain by the mental health community, was that you give this bear to someone you love and it means you are 'crazy' about them. After receiving thousands of letters and a reprimand from the governor of Vermont, the company pulled this bear. Using words like crazy, nut-case, wackjob, wako, are cruel and perpetuate the stigma against those already treated poorly in a cruel world. This is not about free speech, but being sensitive in what we say, just as we do not call people names or use degrading labels to refer to ethic or racial groups. It is the same thing in this context.
I find myself reaching out to those in need who are on the streets. If the person does not appear to be violent, but talking to himself/herself, I will go buy food, give money or lend a helping hand, if I can do so.
Additionally, there are many great books on the subject as well. I could go on and on, but I have promised to devote the rest of this day to my briefs, so enough out of me.
Be kind, sensitive and loving to all who have mental health issues. You will be personally doing an act to repair the world.
Thank you for your minds.
19 Comments:
My favorite is the classic, Darkness Visible, by William Styron. But I would urge, lulei demistafina, younger readers to read Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation. Also The Beast By Kay Redfield Jamison.
Another fabulous book, from an outsider's perspective, is Calvin Trillin's Remembering Denny.
Thank you for your sensitive post about this issue. I have suffered from depression since I was a very young child. My earliest memory at the age of 3 is not wanting to get out of bed because 'there was no reason'. I used to think ( and so did my parents) that I was just lazy, negative and useless, because I didn't know that I suffered from depression. I would have horrible moodswings throughout my childhood, sometimes being able to cope with school, and other times not. Often I couldn't concentrate or study, and I was an embarassment to my parents. They thought I was sulky and lazy, when in truth, at the age of 12 I was too exhausted to get out of bed to face the day. Depression has dogged me all my life. I went to an Endicronologist to have full blood work done, to see if I did indeed have a chemical imbalance. He said there was nothing wrong with me, and put me on a mild anti depressant. It didn't help at all, just made me more numb and lethargic than usual. I know there is something chemically wrong with me, but I have not found a doctor who can identify the imbalance. I don't want to take Lithium. I try my best to hide my depression from the rest of the world, even my husband, because it's not fair that he has to be with somebody like me. But I get so tired, so unhappy, and so exhausted. I cannot recall a single time in my life when I have experienced an emotion that people call joy. I hope one day I will find a cure. In the meantime, my goal is just to try and make it through every day. Happiness is something too far away to even think of.
Thank you, cloojew.
There is also an excellent book by Lori Schiller called THE QUIET ROOM, dealing with her personal journey with schizophrenia, resulting in her being put into a straight jacket, confined, and ultimately getting to the other side to write this book. An excellent autobiography as way.
Kay Redfield Jamison also wrote A BRILLANT MADNESS which deals with her own personal bipolar issues.
Anony.
Thank you for sharing these very personal feelings with us. My heart goes out to you.
Take each day and try to live it the very best you can with all the tools you have at your disposal. I hope you have others with whom you can talk and share some of these issues, and try not to be too hard on yourself either.
May God bless you with good health and peace.
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Barbara, thank you so much for the information. My sister suffers from bipolar disorder and her treatment has been a series of successes balanced with just as many failures. As a family member it can be difficult to try and help as much as possible without becoming so wrapped up in her issues that she drags me along for the ride.
I never know how to balance my love and concern for my sister with my desire for a life devoid of the drama that she brings with her. I hate it when my mind takes an uncharitable turn where she is concerned but sometimes I have to step back from her in order to maintain my own mental health.
Does that sound horrible? Is there a way for family members to find this balance?
godless mom,
Knowing boundaries and how to deal with them is something that this Family to Family Class will help you with. I suggest you take it so you can have some of these important questions answered.
All the best,
Barbara
I work with women in recovery from addictions. So many times we find that their addiction was a way to self medicate an underlying mental illness. Imagine coming off your 'mediction' to face all your fears alone. We must meet these issues with compassion as we see them as God sees them. His deep love for them. Thank you for stearing us in that direction.
I have visited and seen numerous cases of diff psychological imbalances. I can not help to think what would have happened or even will happen if the same mis-reactions start occurin in my brain? how would I like people to treat me in that case... there are sad things, scary things and even funny things in the bizar signs & symptoms of such patients but one must never stop respecting them as human-beings...
I do consider myself a pyscho sometimes as I believe we all have partial disorders & named my blog over it...
nice post & blog
Omid*****
great post - something that needed to be said.
unfortunately many univ. psych/ soc dept. are very leftist and encourage the thinking that drugs are bad. the book "myth of mental illness" is their "bible" and they ignore most of the current research as establishment propaganda that is in place to keep the masses down. this coupled with idiots like tom cruise and others who have bought into the scientology (cult, anyone?)bs only fuel the anti drug bias.
most of the so called anti-ritialin trails and "proof" that riatilin is bad can be traced back to scientology. they have lots of money and will spend billions to keep their adgenda going.
i encounter these attitudes daily as i'm a spec. ed teacher. so many of my students end up self-medicating inorder to try and deal with what's happening inside their heads. frequently my collegues and i use the diabetic anology with parents.( if your kid is diabetic would you withhold insulin, so why are you withholding something that they desparetely need) we keep chipping away and hope we're getting thru.
the other problem is managed health care try finding someone good who isn't private pay. kids with disorders, including add should not be medicated by their pediatrician because the health care plan won't pay for a neuropsych. add usually comes with other issues that need to be treated also. many pediatricians are well meaning but ill equiped to deal with this.( sorry this is one of my pet peeves).
keep up the great work.
sushi and queenie,
You both make some excellent points. Sometimes the medications have such dramatic side effects (the anti-psychotics) that many become drug abusers or big time smokers as a way to medicate themselves.
Be an advocate! It is great medicine.
ONE medication does not always work the same for every person esp things for mental disorders as humans are very complex. How many ADHD kids end up being hooked on booze and drugs to solove there problems?
yochanan is correct. Sometimes a combination of medications are needed. What is difficult is the process of diagnosis. A friend of mine who is a collegue says that if the medication works, the diagnosis is appropriate. Many trials are often tested before the proper diagnosis and treatment can be sought.
I will not go into details here, but I have a dear friend, a manic depressive, paranoid schizophrenic who was given 2 choices...stay in that padded cell for the rest of your life, or try this medication.
This person got his life back.
He is one of the lucky ones.He has a good life now, a thirst for knowledge, and a wicked sense of humour,.. and
I am honoured to know him.
Compassion and education are the key to help others understand mental illness. I think the majority of society view severe cases of mental illness as the only form of mental illness but there are several degrees of it.
My father was diagnoised with paronoid
schizophrenia, and I suffer from anxiety and depression. My dad is a brilliant man and has worked out rational explanations for all of his delusions so sometimes when he is telling me about what he believes is happening to him, I get so caught up in it, because he has worked out every angle. It's really hard to watch someone you love suffer. He has been hospitalized a few years back and since coming out refuses to take his meds. I fear he is using alchohol as a means of coping instead. The sad thing is no one else in my family will do anything. I've tried getting them to the NAMI meetings, I've gone myself to one, but didn't realize they had a full series. Sadly my parents are moving and I fear the move is going to unsettle him even more...
totally crunchy,
Schizoprhenics are often times brillant people, and their complex version of dellusions are often very powerful. What I know from my readings and the classes, and something that might help you with your father, is not to feed into their version of reality. Tell them that you understand this is how they feel but that is not the way things really are. You know it is real to them. If you need to prove otherwise and can do so safely, that is equally well meant. For example if your father says, that the CIA has bugs inside the clock, take the clock apart and prove otherwise.
All my good thoughts and wishes are with you. I hope you take the NAMI 12 week Family to Family class.
Be well.
I applaud your attempts to deal with this issue. I want to suggest that schizophrenics and their ilk do not want to be 'understood'. Understanding often goes hand in hand with patronization. It is true that schizos are often 'brilliant people' but there is no reason to think that their world view is any more delusional than your own. You have adapted successfully to present day societal demands, the schizo has not and is economically redundant. Their brillance is to be found in their perceptiveness, not in their social well-being. Do not 'Understand those with Mental Health Issues'. Learn from them.
Kay Redfield Jackson's The Unquiet Mind is more of a diary than an analysis. In sum, all her best lovers died on her
Annon.
Kay Redfield Jackson's book speaks more towards the mental health issue of bi-polar disorder than schizophrenia. A very good book on the latter type of mental illness is by E. Fuller Torey called, Understanding Schizophrenia.
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