Another person has joined the campaign to end discrimination against people with mental illness.  Glenn Close, whose sister has bi-polar, is speaking out about removing stigma and creating hope for people living with these illnesses.

Close has appeared on numerous television talk shows with her sister, Jessie, who lives in Montana.  Jessie’s son is also living with schizophrenia and they credit NAMI with giving them the strength to speak out.

They star in a new public service announcement that is airing on several major market television stations.  Ron Howard, who made the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, directed the PSA “film shoot” in New York’s Grand Central Station.  The campaign has received broad support from the mental health community.

Earlier this year, Close helped lead Maine’s NAMI Walks near her home. The campaign Web site, www.bringChange2Mind.com  has had over 80,000 visitors to date and its Facebook community has over 3,000 friends.

see the video here:  “http://blip.tv/play/hMYXgafJfwI“

It’s already starting…..including right here on the Tucson Citizen site……..the man, Major Nadil Malik Hasan was “crazy.”  If you have read any of my blogs before, you know how important it is to me to try and create a world where people living with mental illnesses do not feel stigmatized and one of the first steps is to stop using horribly discrimating terms like “crazy” or “crazed.”  Yes, I agree that someone who goes on a rampage killing 12 people and wounding at least 31 others is not of sound mind, but why don’t we take a look at why this happened? 

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.

There are times when we have all thought if that person would just change, if that person would just see my point of view, if that person understood me, things would be better.  We would get along better.  We would be happier; he would be happier, etc. etc.

 But a quote from Gandhi says it all – “I can’t change the world, but I can change myself.”

When you really think about it, he is right.  We have no control over how someone else is, but we do have control over how we are.  I use the present tense, because the present is also what matters.

 In the Family to Family class taught at the local non-profit, NAMI of Southern Arizona, participants are first taught about the reality of mental illness and the biological basis of mental illness.  Then everyone learns what it means to be empathetic and to put themselves in their loved ones shoes. It can be an emotional realization for some who have come to the class trying to cope with what can be a day to day struggle.  Parents feel guilty, siblings feel anger and children of adults with mental illness can feel abandoned, or worse. Emotions vary and people can feel like they are experiencing never ending grief after their relative is diagnosed. The young man who was going to go to Harvard now struggles to comprehend a story in the newspaper, the high powered attorney who successfully represented clients in the courtroom no longer has the confidence to speak in public, or as in Daniel Ayers case (the man with schizophrenia in the move “The Soloist,”) an incredibly gifted musician is living on the streets.

 A person’s journey with mental illness can be heart-breaking.  We want so much to help them, advise them, and convince them to take medications.  But, in reality all we can do is support and encourage them and remind them there is hope.  Recovery is a reality and once we convince ourselves of that and acknowledge that today is a present and tomorrow is just a dream and we can’t and shouldn’t force our relative into anything the dynamic changes.

 People living with mental illness need emotional support.  They need to feel like someone genuinely cares.  People with mental illness tend to isolate, so it is incumbent upon us, as people that want the best for them to be there for them and be a much needed friend.

 If you are interested in being a friend to someone with mental illness, NAMI of Southern Arizona also has a “buddy” program.  It is called “Heart to Heart” and it pairs a compassionate volunteer with a person who truly appreciates the value of friendship.

For more information, call the local office at 520-622-5582 or visit the website www.namisa.org

Finding your passion in life.  I think that is something that eludes most.  I’m lucky I guess, because I have found mine, but it has been because of the tramatic experience of losing my son to mental illness.  I know my mission in life is to do everything I can, using my skills and abilities to educate people about mental illness and create awareness about the reality of mental health recovery. I’m also fortunate because my job as Development Director at NAMI of Southern Arizona utilizes my experience in sales and marketing in our ongoing effort to fundraise.  I’m also offered  the opportunity to speak publically about the many issues surrounding this topic from a family members perspective.  I love what I do and it gives me a mission in life.

Even without a life altering experience, finding your passion is not an easy thing to do.  But, finding it and being able to do if for a living is well worth the effort and enables you to come closer to realizing your potential. I don’t always jump out of bed, excited to get my day started, but at the end of the day I am thankful that what I do means something to me. I admire people I know that work closely with people in mental health crisis.  The stories can be heart breaking and have on many occassions brought me to tears.  These people, like medical doctors and nurses, have to be able to balance their compassion with a focused determination to help the person and the situation.  It’s intensely sad and it would be difficult to not bring home with me.  I like what I do.

So, what can you do to find you passion?  Here are a few suggestions.

1. Do you have a hobby or something you loved as a kid?  Research the possibilites of finding a way to make money doing it.
2. What do you spend hours reading about? Maybe there are some possibilities there?
3. Get out a sheet of paper and just start writing ideas down.  No matter how silly – write it down and evaluate later.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!  Ask you friends and relatives what they think would be a great career for you.
5. When something seems like it might fit, research, research, research. Find out all you can about the topic. Is there a way for you to volunteer in the field and see if it really works for you before making a committment?
6. If you had all the financial resources in the world, what would you do for free?
7. If you can’t do it now, is there a way to work towards your goal? Set a time-table.

One thing to remember – you can have more than one passion in life and sometimes your passion can change.  So, even if you feel you are already doing what you were meant to, don’t close your eyes to something new or something you can additonally do.   I am not an expert and I am certainly no life coach, but doing something that has meaning to you helps you to feel better about yourself  and your life.  And the possibilites are limitless!

Established by Congress and now in its 19^th year, MIAW takes place the first week of October each year, and recognizes the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI) efforts to raise mental illness awareness through early detection and accurate diagnosis and to reduce the associated stigma and create awareness though outreach, support and educational programs focused on brain disorders. 

Several activities are scheduled for the week beginning with the Daniel Moreno Recovery Award Event at Skyline Country Club on Friday, October 2nd.  It’s open to the public and tickets may be purchased for $55 per person by calling NAMI Southern Arizona at 622-5582.

Sunday, October 4th

PBS Station KUAT Channel 6 will air the first in the Fred Friendly series on mental illness called “Minds on the Edge” (www.mindsontheedge.org) about current issues in the mental health care system. It will be aired four times that day at 5am, 11am, 6pm, and 10pm.

October 6-8, 2009

10th Annual Community Mental Health Arts Show – Community Partnership of Southern Arizona – 2502 N. Dodge Blvd.         For information, call (520) 318-6994                   Website: www.cpsa-rbha.org

What are shame and guilt?
Shame and guilt are the:
* Feelings of embarrassment, blame and responsibility for negative circumstances that have befallen yourself or others.
* Feelings of regret for your real or imagined misdeeds, both past and present.
* Sense of remorse for thoughts, feelings or attitudes that were or are negative, uncomplimentary or non-accepting concerning yourself or others.
* Feelings of obligation for not pleasing, not helping or not placating another.
* Feelings of bewilderment and lack of balance for not responding to a situation in the “correct way.”
* Feelings of loss for not having done or said something to someone who is no longer available to you.
* Accepting of responsibility for someone else’s misfortune or problem because it bothers you to see that person suffer.
* Motivators to amend all real or perceived wrongs.
* Strong moral sense of right and wrong that inhibits you from choosing a “wrong” course of action.
* Driving forces or masks behind which irrational beliefs hide.

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. 

With the aniversary  of the September 11th attacks, I find myself thinking about those that experienced first hand the trauma of the day and those that lost a loved one in the tragedies.  As horrible as it was for me to experience, I cannot imagine the horror of being in or near the World Trade Center during the attacks nor can I imagine  experiencing  the death of a loved due to the events of that day.

For me, my protective Mother role kicked in and I immediately called my daughter who was living here at the time and told her to come over.  I waited to talk to my son until he came over later that afternoon as I was concerned it would be too difficult for him to come to terms with given his serious mental illness at the time – I wanted to be present for him in case it caused too much anxiety. I called repeatedly to Hoboken, New Jersey where my step-daughter lived at the time and was relieved when her friend finally got in touch to tell me she had spoken with her and all was fine as my step-daughter hadn’t gone into the City that morning.

As awful as it was for us, I  can’t imagine the horror those intimately involved experienced.  I think their grief, like those of a combat soldier, is more like post traumatic stress disorder.  And, although they are both similar in that they show many of the same symptoms,  through a normal grief process we learn to adapt to the change -  in the case of PTSD the process is overloaded.

As we mature we learn to accept change as part of being human.  We expererience the death of a grandparent and learn to accept the change,  but when our entire view of the world changes, as it did on 9/11, our foundation, our reality of the world being a just place  is challenged.  For someone intimately involved in a tragedy of that magnitude, the anxiety and panic can be  overwhelming.

I know people that moved away from New York City after 9/11.  Some of those that stayed still get reminded of the trauma when fire alarms go off and they have to evacuate their high rise building. My thoughts go out to them.  I have experienced tragedy and unbearable grief in  my life, but I have always known that my world would continue and life would go on.  For them, their world no longer exists.  Like the twin towers, they were brought to their knees and like the twin towers they are slowly rebuilding in a new world.

An article in the New York Times today motivated me to talk about housing.  A Federal Judge has ruled that the state has discriminated against people with mental illness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/nyregion/09mental.html

Above is the link to the New York Times article about discrimination against people with mental illness in poorly run adult “care” homes.  I put the word in quotes because I don’t think “care” is appropriate in many cases.  Evidently in New York privately run adult homes aren’t much better than many of the facilities in Tucson. The article states that the residents are essentially warehoused and in the case of New York, unlike some in  Arizona, their facilities are licensed!

My son spent less than 2 months in one 3 bedroom apartment that his provider had arranged for him.  It was a nightmare.  Without going into too many details, suffice it to say that street drugs are rampant, nutritional meals don’t exist, personal safety and privacy is not garanteed and in his case the house manager who was supposed to be on-site would disappear for days on end leaving the 6 residents to fend for themselves.

The Tucson Weekly reported in their article, “Slums or Salvation,” that the local unlicensed “necessary evils” are finally beginning to draw some attention and the Pima County Human Rights Committee are starting to make visits to some of these homes.

The annual state audit of the mental health system’s performance that was released this year found it fails nearly all of its patients on key measures.  Among other things,  placing them in stable housing is at the top of the list.  For those who have not been in jail or hospitalized for their illness, the system failed 86 percent of the time. 

And, now with budget cuts who knows how much worse this system is going to get.  For some, living on the streets may be a better choice, but a stable environment is key to mental health recovery and I’m not sure the wash under a bridge qualifies.

Every year as part of Mental Illness Awareness Week the first part of October The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona  sponsors the Annual Daniel Moreno Recovery Award.  This year marks the third anniversary for the event.  Daniel Moreno was living with schizophrenia before his tragic passing in December of 2005 and his family has established this recognition event in his memory.  The Recovery Awards will recognize individuals that exemplify the current reality of recovery for those who have lived with serious mental illness. 

 According to the President’s New Freedom Commission Report, the word “recovery” refers to the process in which people are able to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities.  For some individuals, recovery is the ability to live a fulfilling and productive life despite a disability.  For others, recovery implies the reduction or complete remission of symptoms.  The Recovery Award Event provides positive recognition of a person’s struggle, progress and of the courage needed to overcome often overwhelming adversity and stresses. Publicity surrounding the event has assisted in building awareness about brain disorders and encourages anti-stigma.

 If you know someone who fits the criteria you are encouraged to nominate the individual(s) who has courageously faced their illness and recovered.  The Award will be presented at a Reception and Silent Auction on October 2nd, 2009 at the Skyline Country Club. Tickets for the dinner event can be purchased in advance for $50.00.

 To R.S.V.P. for the event or for a Nomination Form call the office at 520 622-5582 or visit the website at www.namisa.org and submit to NAMI of Southern Arizona by September 15, 2009.  A short narrative (not to exceed 500 words) should be attached describing how the nominee(s) meets the criteria above. Points to consider include obstacles overcome, age of onset and duration, degree of improvement, ability to advocate for ones self and others as well as ability to speak publicly about his/her journey. In addition, please ask your nominee to describe in 250 words or less their recovery journey. Submit by mail, email or fax to NAMI Southern Arizona.

 The Moreno Family will make the selection by September 25th at which time the Nominators and Award Recipients will be notified.  If a nominee is not selected, please consider resubmission next year.

If you’re like me, you’re really anxious to get some rain here in the Old Pueblo. I was so excited when I saw that huge hurricane south of the Baja last week. I thought “this time we’ll definitely get some good rain.” Well, as of 4:30 pm Saturday the clouds have come and gone, come and gone, and now the skies are partly cloudy and I feel like they (the clouds) are just teasing me! What I want is a big, bank to bank, Rillito River filler! I want the news feeds on the bottom of the television screen to say, “Stay Home……heavy rain advisory, rivers and streams are overflowing, hundreds of lighting strikes, avoid downed power lines, etc.”

I don’t suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, a form of depression that occurs in relation to the seasons, most commonly in winter. Light therapy, one of the hallmark treatments of S.A.D. certainly isn’t needed in this case…..with almost 365 days of yearly sunshine in Tucson, we definitely don’t have the cloudy days that Seattle has! But, what I wonder is…….Is there such a thing as ” too much sunshine and not enought rain” depresssion? One of the symptoms of depression can be irritability…….hummm, I may be on to something. I JUST WISH IT WOULD RAIN!!!!

Below is the list of Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms:
•Afternoon slumps with decreased energy and concentration
•Carbohydrate cravings
•Decreased interest in work or other activities
•Depression that starts in fall or winter
•Increased appetite with weight gain
•Increased sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness
•Lack of energy
•Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
•Social withdrawal

Except for the depression that starts in fall or winter, seems like many of us can feel this way at the end of a long hot summer.  But, unlike people that do have this diagnosis, I think I’ll be able to get through it. Seasonal Affective Disorder is nothing to make fun of and is very serious for those living with it, but it responds well to treatment.  As for me…….I can’t wait for November!!