S.A. eLetter (7-28-11)

[John P.]

Greetings S.A. family on the Internet,


The group philosophy of S.A. is described early in the Blue Booklet.
From the booklet:

Group Philosophy: SA is a recovery oriented group which has developed
a six-step program as described in this publication. These suggested
steps recommend a set of attitudes and actions that will enhance the
chances of recovery from a schizophrenia-related illness.

The group also emphasizes the importance of adhering to the advice of
mental health professionals, especially psychiatrists, psychiatric
nurses, case managers and therapists. For instance, group members are
encouraged to take anti-psychotic medications prescribed by their
clinician and, if hospitalization is required, members are encouraged
to cooperate. Many members of the group have benefitted from these
therapeutic methods as well as from psychotherapy. When problems
arise, such as side effects of medications, members are advised to
make immediate contact with their clinician. SA is intended to be
supplemental to professional help.

Functioning Level: The membership of the group consists of various
schizophrenia sub-types, including paranoid schizophrenia,
schizoaffective disorder and other mental illnesses that include
symptoms of psychosis. Many SA members have been diagnosed with bi-
polar disorder; the diagnostic labels used by clinicians are open to
re-interpretation as new sets of symptoms arise. What is more
important is the shared experience of being in need of psychiatric
help, the basic caring concern for all members of the group and
openness to listening and sharing honestly.

Although there are varying degrees of wellness within the group, most
members function well enough to sit through a two hour meeting and
express themselves coherently when it is their turn to talk.

Many SA members have demonstrated high functioning levels, including
the ability to work, live independently, and develop relationships.
Although each member is encouraged to function at his or her
potential, the group is non-judgmental of those who are not yet
functioning highly. Other types of activities are often suggested,
such as volunteer work, attending school, or working part-time.



SOURCE: S.A. Blue Booklet (program text, first published in 1989)


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--Stress Management, part #53

The Stresses of Multitasking and Continuous Partial Attention

We all hear the stories of the people who drive automobiles while
talking on their cell phone. Modern technology has given us all these
little machines that can keep us doing two things at once for a whole
long time of the day. The folks at Microsoft came up with a term for
this--"continuous partial attention." Right now I'm at the computer
writing, while watching a movie on TV (captions with the sound off),
while listening to jazz on my little radio. Plus I'm eating Thai
chicken from the microwave. So, I'm doing four things at once. The
deal though is that information from these different things is
getting lost because I'm trying to do all four things. Continuous
partial attention has its costs.

The other thing about multitasking is that it is stressful. When you
have work that requires multiple attention streams of important things
(not a movie, jazz, or Thai food) it can leave you frazzled. Examples
are the stressed out multitaskers doing air traffic control work, as
well as the stressed multitaskers at Houston ground control during
NASA space flights. A more practical example are the people who have
multiple responsibilities that are demanding their attention all at
once.

Media multitasking has added a new dimension to this. Young people now
spend 7 hours a day on the various media machines, as reported in a
Kaiser Family Foundation study--texting, surfing, and tweeting. An odd
thing has happened. You would think that folks who are engaged at
continuous partial attention from the little technology machines would
be really good at multitasking. But that is not the case. A study
done by Stanford University suggests that people who are wrapped up in
the media technology tend to be sensitive to distracting information
and taken away by extraneous stuff. They have lower accuracy scores on
mulitasking tests.

There are two types of attention, say the experts. There's "top down
focus"--needed to concentrate on things. Then there's "reactive
attention"--that comes to play when something new or novel pops in.
In order to survive well in the various situations we arrive in, we
need to have both types of attention.

The problem with the media technology is that when we get a message or
a text, our "dopamine reward circuits" get activated because the
desire for social connection is sort of wired into our brains. It's a
"Hey, there's another text!" thing. But this constant distraction and
craving for connectivity gets in the way of focus. And problems that
require concentration get messed up. Then things can get stressful.

All those little machines are really really interesting. But maybe
we're getting frazzled by the little machines.

Still, I have not turned off the TV, or jazz radio station, and I'm
about to get seconds on the Thai chicken. Hmmmm.

SOURCE: Info from Time magazine (Feb. 22, 2011)


Stress Management Series Prior Editions

Below are links to the first 40 parts of the Stress Management Series
to
date. The more recent parts are at the S.A. eLetter site at Google.

Stress Management Series I (Parts #1 to #16):
http://groups.google.com/group/choose-life-project/browse_thread/thread/584aa4af7b45c502

Stress Management Series II (Parts #17 to #29):
http://groups.google.com/group/choose-life-project/browse_thread/thread/f240f7bad9902a81#

Stress Management Series III (Parts #30 to #40):
http://groups.google.com/group/choose-life-project/browse_thread/thread/e0f98e3ce6dafc7f

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--Our Suffering in Perspective

The suffering of schizophrenia patients is real. And other people
suffer too. We wish to also recognize the struggles of other
suffering people. For instance:

--Mindless Terrorism

This week dozens of people were killed in Norway by a homegrown
senseless terrorist. Many innocent people killed for no good reason.


We do not suffer alone.


SOURCE: Associated Press reports and news magazines



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--Website of the Week

Schizophrenia.com is a encyclopedic site with a wealth of
information, support, and education related to schizophrenia..

Its website--

http://www.schizophrenia.com/


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--Quote of the Week

Again, courage is one of those virtues that is built on an irony.
Check out another quote:

* Courage is "a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a
mental willingness to endure it."

-William T. Sherman (American Civil War general, b. 1820)

Now that's a soldier-man's definition. Maybe that is part of what
enables soldiers to do their duty when the rest of us would rather
escape it some way.


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Bye for now, and everyone have a great couple of weeks.
--John P., member of S.A.

=============================================

For more information about
Schizophrenics Anonymous.:
The new S.A. website is at:
http://www.sardaa.org
----------
For the Google information group for S.A.:
http://groups.google.com/group/schizophrenics-anonymous
------------
For the Yahoo discussion group for S.A.:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/schizophrenics-anonymous
NOTE: Earlier editions of the S.A. eLettter and the Schizophrenia News
Links are posted at the Google information group for S.A. (link given
above). Also, the S.A. eLetter will come
to your e-mail inbox when published by signing up at the S.A.
Information Group at Google.
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Fact Sheet Information about Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective
Disorder--
* National Institute of Mental Health--description of schizophrenia:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml
----------------------
* Mental Health America ( formerly the National Mental Health
Association):
--description of schizophrenia:
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/schizophrenia
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* National Alliance for the Mentally Il
--description of schizophrenia:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedP...
--description of schizoaffective disorder:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedP...
(Organization now called National Alliance on Mental Illness)