Staying out of the heat can be difficult for our homeless population, many of whom also live with mental illness. I have seen a homeless person on more than one occasion totally overdressed during our 100 degree plus days because he either doesn’t realize how hot it is, or he’s afraid to leave his few possessions, including his clothing, behind.

Stay Safe

Educate yourself about the symptoms of heat stroke , such as:

* An extremely high body temperature (above 103 degrees Fahrenheit)
* Red, hot and dry skin (no sweating)
* Rapid, strong pulse
* Throbbing headache
* Dizziness
* Nausea
* Confusion

Individuals living with mental illness may be more prone to heat stroke because some medications alter the body’s response to heat. In addition, people taking specific medications may be at a higher risk of developing Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS) , a serious condition that may be connected to high temperatures and the dehydration that can result from heat stroke. NMS and heat stroke have similar symptoms, so it is especially important that people with mental illness inform their doctors of all medications they are currently taking.

Stay Informed

The National Weather Service is the hub of information about heat alerts. The Weather Channel offers a free service that will send updates about heat advisories to your phone.

Stay Inside

On extremely hot days, limit your exposure to the heat and sun, especially during the hottest part of the day. Don’t walk long distances if you don’t have to. Some public transportation systems offer free bus service on days with a dangerous heat index.

Stay Cool

If you do have an air conditioner, change the filter and perform other maintenance that will keep the unit working at peak capacity. If you don’t have an air conditioner, try to spend a few hours a day in an air-conditioned public place like a library or mall. Look into area programs that may provide air conditioners for people with disabilities for free or at a reduced cost. In the past, some local United Way chapters have collected donated units and redistributed them to people with the most need.

Here’s a list of some of Tucson’s Homeless Shelters.  I don’t know if any of them have room, but hopefully they can provide a respite from the heat for our city’s people on the streets.

“Burnout” was first coined in the 1970’s and is now used more often than the older terminology “nervous breakdown” which was commonly used for some of the same kinds of symptoms. The big difference as far as I can tell is that “Burnout Syndrome” applies mostly to work related exhaustion, while “nervous breakdown” applies to symptoms caused by an abnormal amount of stress.

“Burnout syndrome” seems to be less of a psychiatric illness and more of a general feeling of being drained physically and emotionally. I know of people who have worked themselves to exhaustion. Different situations can lead to burnout including overwhelming workload, hard work and no clear goals, powerlessness to change something important to you, conflict between your personal values and the values of the company you work for, and hitting the “invisible ceiling.”

In both cases, it’s important to try and be aware that you are headed into a burnout situation so that you can make the appropriate changes before it happens. Psychiatric care may or may not be needed, but chances are that drastic changes in life style and attitude will be.

Nine years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a great toll on soldiers who are serving repeated and longer tours of duty. USA Today this month reported that mental health disorders resulted in more American soldier hospitalizations in 2009 than any other reason—and that depression, substance abuse, anxiety and adjustment problems such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cost the Pentagon 488 years of lost duty in 2009.

On Memorial Day, we remember veterans and active duty service members, those who have sacrificed much in their service to our country. It is also a good time to remember those who struggle with PTSD—some of whom have never served in the military.

PTSD doesn’t just affect those who have enlisted; studies suggest that anywhere between 2–9 percent of the population has had some degree of PTSD, but the number may be higher among people diagnosed with another serious mental illness.

The consequences of untreated mental illness both within the military and in the civilian population are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, broken families, inappropriate incarceration and suicide. But these tragic outcomes are preventable. Treatment works and recovery is possible.

NAMI’s online Veterans Resource Center offers a variety of mental illness, policy and health care resources for veterans and active duty military members, as well as their families, friends and advocates.

Visit the website at:  www.nami.org

NOT… “just another walk”

As most of you know, we just had a very successful NAMIWalks in Tucson on March 27th. NAMIWalks Southern Arizona is the single biggest fundraising, awareness building event in this area promoting advocacy, support and education for people with mental illness and their families. A NAMI associate and friend of mine manages the Walk in San Diego that is scheduled for this weekend and was able to assist in coordinating a simultaneous walk in Iraq. Please read the following article from the NAMI website:

Army Troops in Iraq to Hold 5K Run to Promote PTSD Awareness and Ending Stigma of Mental Illness

April 14, 2010

Arlington, Va. — An Army platoon in Iraq will run five kilometers (5K) in full body armor on April 17 to raise awareness about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the need to end stigma surrounding mental illness.

Forward Operating Base Echo in ad-Diwaniyah, Iraq will hold the event at the same time the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) affiliate in San Diego holds a NAMIWalk at a more leisurely pace.

NAMI San Diego will move out Saturday at 8:00 a.m. (PT) while 3rd Platoon, Baker Company of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team and others begin the 5K run at 19:00 hours (Iraq time).

“This is an incredible event,” said NAMI National Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick. “NAMI is honored that Army soldiers in a war zone have synchronized their commitment to public education with our San Diego affiliate.”

“NAMIWalks across the country are about hope, recovery and community. They are fun events, but they support serious work.”

“As the U.S. Army has taught me, not all wounds are visible,” said Army specialist John Bell, who is organizing the Iraq event.

“As tough as a U.S. service member may be, many still suffer the effects of having endured life in a combat zone. The most prominent effect is PTSD. Not every combat-deployed soldier has been in a firefight, or had their vehicle struck by an IED, or even lost a friend by an enemy engagement. But the trauma they endure is nonetheless significant to them.”

* One in six veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is affected by PTSD, depression or anxiety. Only about half seek treatment.

* One study has reported that 25 percent of Iraq veterans seen at veterans’ hospitals receive mental health diagnoses.

* Approximately 40 percent of homeless veterans have some form of mental illness.

For two years, NAMI San Diego development and events manager, Annie Dunlop told Bell, a friend, about NAMIWalks. Deployed in Iraq, he was unable to participate. This year he didn’t want to miss out. The 5K will honor NAMI San Diego’s work and NAMI efforts to help veterans nationwide through its on-line Veterans Resource Center and other programs.

A member of the family, we’ll call him the Father, was diagnosed with schizophrenia approximately fifteen years ago, but it wasn’t until this week that his sister was given that information.  They live across the country from each other and and don’t see each other often, but the sister has always know that her brother was “quirky.”  She knew he was brilliant and that he had scored very high on a IQ test while in high school and always considered him a genius.  Over the last several years she often wondered if her brother had a mental illness diagnosis, but no one else in the family thought it possible.  That is, no one besides her sister-in-law who finally shared the information after living with him for over twenty years and raising a family. 

The sister, who believes that mental illness should not be kept in the closet and needs to be spoken about feels frustrated and saddened by her brother’s family’s inability to share openly an illness that needs to be discussed.  It is the first step in reducing stigma.

All that can be done  is to encourage the family to be open.  This is an issue that they must come to grips with on their own, but here are some suggestions (some from the www.nami.org website) to anyone interested in reducing mental illness stigma. 

Use of Language is Most Important

•  Protest usage of single words like “crazy” “psycho” “wacko” or “loony” unless they refer directly to individuals struggling with mental illnesses or to the illness itself.
•  ”Schizophrenic” to describe a split decision made by Congress or any organization has become part of our cultural language. However, its misuse is being heard and corrected by many in the public arena.
•  Protest calling a person a “schizophrenic”: NAMI policy calls for PEOPLE FIRST: people, persons, individuals with a mental illness, schizophrenia, bipolar, clinical depression, OCD, panic disorder.

Above all else, get educated and know that mental illness, like any other illness is a biological disorder;  it can be successfully treated and recovery is more than possible, it’s probable.  Ignorance has caused people to abandon their family members and encouraged the person with the diagnosis to isolate themselves. 

Just like a person living with cancer or diabetes, a person with mental illness needs support and acceptance from their family and friends. 

There is a genetic predisposition, so everyone in the family needs to know what the symptoms and “red flags” are.  Sometimes is takes years, even decades before a person is diagnosed.  It is proven than the earlier a person receives treatment, the better the outcome.

Encourage our legislators to treat mental illnesses with parity so that insurance coverage is equal for mental illnesses with physical illnesses.

Bottom line is we need to accept people for who they are, with or without any illness and be there to support and encourage them as equal human beings.

If you believe, as I do, that mental illnesses are illness just like any other, than why was this man, who supposedly treated other people with brain disorders, not receiving treatment himself?  Did  anyone not notice how he was struggling?  According to the “God Blogging” post on this site, NPR interviewed others at Walter Reed who said he was. 

Which brings us back to the same problem, the same issues that continue to plague people with mental illness and their families.  Because of the stigma, because of the inattention by our health care system that doesn’t think the mind is part of one’s physical health, because of an overburdened mental healthcare system, because people suffering from a mental illness can feel isoloated and abandoned by their support structure, people with diagnosable brain disorders are falling through the cracks.  One again, as President Obama called this tragedy, “a horrific” catastrophe has occured in this country.

Who knows what was going on in Hasan’s head……Certainly listening to war stories from our returning Veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not an easy thing to do, but why is it that no one saw the signs, especially when he was set to deploy at the end of the month? Maybe Major Hasan will be able to shed some light on our questions.

It’s trick or treat time again. We don’t mind ghosts and goblins, but when “haunted house” attractions become “insane asylums,” featuring “mental patients” as murderous ghouls, we protest.

Violent stereotypes are inaccurate and offensive and the U.S. Surgeon General has determined that stigma is a major barrier to people getting help when they need it. Help send the message!

Local Attractions
Here’s an example. NAMI New Jersey is fighting an “Asylum of Terror” sponsored by a local museum and supported by a local Walmart and Dunkin’ Donuts, to name a few. Please e-mail the museum to let them know that perpetuating stigma towards persons with a mental illness is a national — as well as local — concern.

In Your Own Communities:
If offensive Halloween attractions or products appear, contact sponsors, advertisers or sellers personally. Educate them. Ask them to remove offensive parts of any attraction, advertisements or merchandise that mock mental illness.
If dialogue fails, alert NAMI members, family and friends to phone, send letters or e-mail the sponsors or stores.
Contact local newspaper editors and television news directors. Educate them about stigma and your concerns. Make the protest a “news event” and a “teaching moment.” Offer consumers and family members for personal interviews.

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Perhaps I’m just jealous, and I know this blog is probably going to cause many people to be angry with me and I apologize for that. It’s not that I don’t believe in breast cancer awareness (my grandmother had to have a double mastectomy), but as an advocate for people with mental illness I wish there was more awareness and less stigma about mentall illnesses that effect 25% of our population in any given year and causes more disability that any other illness. Yet, with proper treatment, 70-80% of people living with mental illness do recover! Still, no one knows about it! Even the National Mental Illness Awareness Week the first part of October was totally overshawdowed by “pink ribbons.”

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has called for an increase in research spending for the National Institutes for Mental Health.  Below is the statement from their website.
Please take the time to register your thoughts.

NAMI Calls for Increase in NIH Funding
NAMI is joining advocates from across the nation in asking President Obama to make medical research for improving health care a priority and support robust funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
NAMI and other illness and patient advocacy groups are rallying advocates to contact the White House this week in support of significant annual increases for NIH.
“NAMI is pleased to join other disease advocacy organizations in support of the ‘Research Means Hope’ movement to ensure that the president’s FY 2011 budget meets the goal of making biomedical research funding a national priority,” says Michael J. Fitzpatrick, NAMI Executive Director. “Investment in medical research is the source of hope for people living with serious mental illness.”
“Direct and indirect costs of mental illness impact the federal budget overall and state and local communities nationwide, including a substantial and growing burden imposed on “default” systems such as emergency rooms, homeless shelters, police, jails and prisons.”
“Adequate investment in research on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and other disorders is essential for our nation to address these human and financial costs. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has received more than $368 million in ARRA funding to support meritorious grants and invest in new ‘challenge’ grants and ‘grand opportunity’ grants.”
President Obama needs to continue this investment in his FY 2011 budget proposal.”
How you can help
Now is a particularly important time for President Obama to hear from advocates because he is working with his administration to determine the FY 2011 budget priorities.
• Take Action: Send a message to President Obama on NIH funding.
• Learn more: Details on Proposed Mental Illness Research Funding.

You can access direct links for taking action on the blogroll lists on this site.

Education Needed to Build Stronger Communities

As the great debate rages over healthcare reform, once again those with mental illnesses are being marginalized because none of the proposals even mention mental health insurance parity.  This is in spite of the fact that those debating the issue in our nation’s capital all have mental health insurance coverage due to the Wellstone-Dominici Act of 1996.  Also, in spite of the mental health parity act that was signed into law in November 2008 and is set to go into effect in November 2009.

Tonight at 7pm at Duval Auditorium at UMC a 90 minute educational discussion sponsored by NAMI Southern Arizona will explore the biological basis of mental illnesses, the recognition and treatment of mental illnesses in children and youth, the state of mental health insurance parity in the nation and Arizona and finally receiving mental health treatment in Pima County from a consumer and a family member’s perspective.  

Dr. H. Clarke Romans, Executive Director of NAMI Southern Arizona says  “Mental illnesses are medical illnesses. That is the starting point for understanding, as well as treatment and recovery. Mental Illness does not discriminate. No one is immune. The U.S. Surgeon General has noted that stigma is a major barrier to people seeking help when they need it. That’s why education is important.”

Panel members include Dr. Francisco Moreno,  Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, Dr. Ann Lettes, Child and Adolecent Psychiatrist, Gabe Zimmerman, Representing Congressional Office of Gabrielle Giffords, Scott Whitley, representing people living with mental illness and Susan Moreno, Advocate and family member of person who had mental illness.  Dr. Romans will moderate.              

On average, people with serious mental illness live 25 years less than the rest of the population. One reason is that less than a third of adults and less than half of children with a diagnosed illness receive treatment.

 Half of all lifetime cases begin by age 14. Long delays occur—as much as a decade—between the onset of symptoms and getting help.

 Yet, “Treatment works if you can get it,” said Dr. Clarke. “We need to remove stigma and offer help in local communities. That’s a challenge that requires action. Education must precede action.”

 Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) is October 4-10. Designated by Congress to promote public education about serious mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, MIAW was established almost twenty years ago. Other disorders included are post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder. About 60 million Americans experience mental health problems in any given year with one in four families being affected. One in 17 lives with the most serious conditions.

That’s what MIAW is about. It means taking a step forward to strengthen our community.

For more information about mental illness, please visit www.nami.org.

If you are a family member or loved one of someone who has a mental illness you undoubtedly have experienced one if not all of the feeling listed above.  I know I have.

When my son was first diagnosed with a serious mental illness I blamed everything from the flu I had while I was pregnant with him to the bug spray I used in the house when he was growing up.  Could it have been my parenting?   Was I too permissive or over-protective?  Did I spoil him, or not give him enough? Should I have re-married after his father died in a car accident? (one very cruel psychiatric nurse suggested that) Did I not handle the grief properly?  (Both my children went to grief counseling) What about the early signs?  Did I ignore them or was it that I was just ignorant of the symptoms?  Did I get him into treatment early enough? 

The questions can go on forever, but now I know something that anyone with a family member with a brain disorder should know……….IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!!!  It never was and it never will be.  You certainly cannot blame yourself if mental illness runs in your family.  Yes, there is a genetic component, but who says that’s your fault?

All family members of those living with mental illness can do is support and love them.  Be encouraging, but don’t pressure.  Especially after a serious crisis……it will take your loved one time to heal – just like an injury to the physical body takes time. And, don’t feel guilty because you may have pressured  him, quarreled, or  not understood what was happening before.  Be empathetic and put yourselves in their shoes.  Imagine what it must be like to have the rug pulled out from under you and your reality.  And, then imagine what it will be like when a sense of balance returns. Your relative is in recovery and he’s able to feel your love and support and you’ve been there to assist him in his journey. 

If I’ve said it before, it needs to be repeated.  It’s important to educate yourself about mental illness.  It’s not an easy road to be on……actually it’s more like a roller coaster with the ups and downs and sometimes terrifying sense of no control.  So learn what you can and remember to take care of yourself as well!  If you are not doing well and your guilt is making you ill, you can’t be there for your loved one either.