S.A. eLetter (12-14-10)
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John P.
Dec 14, 2010, 4:16:15 PM12/14/10
to Schizophrenics Anonymous
Greetings S.A. Family on the Internet,
Below is a description of step three in S.A.’s six steps—
Step Three – I BELIEVE…
I now come to believe that I have been provided with great inner
resources and I will use these resources to help myself and others.
Anyone who becomes a member of Schizophrenics Anonymous is asked to
search any word or personal qualities that can be used to help him or
herself. We believe that all of us have inner strength that we can
utilize in overcoming difficulties.
These strengths can be a deep and abiding faith, a loving attitude, a
ready intellect, a specific skill to offer the community, or a
determined will to recover from schizophrenia.
Knowledge of one's inner resources can help a person who is struggling
with symptoms of schizophrenia on a daily basis. Except in Step Three
we are each saying, “I believe in myself - I can get better.”This step
can be a real turnaround for those who have low self-esteem or
depression resulting from mental illness.
Nevertheless, we must keep a balanced perspective about our inner
strength. This means that our self-perception must be realistic and
absent of any delusional thinking. Our own personal resources are
impressive enough and don't need to be embellished by imaginary
assets.
Finally, once we have used our inner strength to help ourselves, we
can reach out to others, bringing the SA message to them. Ironically,
when we reach out to help other people with schizophrenia, we find
that our own recovery is reinforced. This sort of “humble helping”
does not bloat our sense of self-importance, but increases the value
of our new members in their own search for ways to deal with
schizophrenia.
SOURCE: S.A. Blue Booklet (program text, first published in 1989)
----------------------------------------
--Stress Management, part #41
Handling Holiday Stress
Two mental health experts have come up with the list below on how to
handle all the stresses that come with the holiday season. Here it is
for those of us who might otherwise get frazzled in the upcoming three
weeks.
Tips for Managing Holiday Stress
1. Talk to someone whom you can trust.
2. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
3 Exercise
4. Take a break—get away from it all for a while
5. Recreation—have fun.
6. Laugh
7. Sleep well.
8. Write in a journal.
9. Recognize trigger points in advance and have a strategy in place
for responding.
10. Avoid excessive drinking, which doesn’t eliminate the problem and
may cause more.
11. Recognize that there are no perfect people or perfect families, so
don’t be bummed that yours isn’t one.
12. Avoid the pressure to spend beyond your means.
These experts further recommend that one seek professional help if the
stresses interfere with sleep, eating, work, relationships or other
aspects of life.
SOURCE: Dr. Melvin McInnis (director of the Depression Center at the
University of Michigan), and Daniel Greenberg (psychology professor at
Michigan State University)
--------------------------------------
--Website of the Week
Rose Hill Center
From its website:
“Rose Hill Center offers comprehensive psychiatric treatment and
rehabilitation services in a peaceful setting. Our mission is to
provide an effective therapeutic program for adults with mental
illness so that they can learn to manage their symptoms, achieve their
highest level of independence and go on to lead rewarding lives.”
Its website:
http://www.rosehillcenter.org
------------------------------
--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:
Shortage of Clean Drinking Water
More than a billion people in the world do not have access to clean
water. This is described below--
“Of a world population of roughly 6.1 billion, more than 1 billion
lack access to potable or drinkable water. The World Health
Organization says that at any time, up to half of humanity has one of
the six main diseases -- diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or
infestation with ascaris, guinea worm, or hookworm -- associated with
poor drinking water and inadequate sanitation. About 5 million people
die each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a dirty
home environment -- often resulting from water shortage.”
From-
http://whyfiles.org/131fresh_water/2.html
We do not suffer alone.
----------------------------------
--Quote of the Week
“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion…I
myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do
afterwards.”
-Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), American fiction writer
----------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------
* 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)
Below is a description of step three in S.A.’s six steps—
Step Three – I BELIEVE…
I now come to believe that I have been provided with great inner
resources and I will use these resources to help myself and others.
Anyone who becomes a member of Schizophrenics Anonymous is asked to
search any word or personal qualities that can be used to help him or
herself. We believe that all of us have inner strength that we can
utilize in overcoming difficulties.
These strengths can be a deep and abiding faith, a loving attitude, a
ready intellect, a specific skill to offer the community, or a
determined will to recover from schizophrenia.
Knowledge of one's inner resources can help a person who is struggling
with symptoms of schizophrenia on a daily basis. Except in Step Three
we are each saying, “I believe in myself - I can get better.”This step
can be a real turnaround for those who have low self-esteem or
depression resulting from mental illness.
Nevertheless, we must keep a balanced perspective about our inner
strength. This means that our self-perception must be realistic and
absent of any delusional thinking. Our own personal resources are
impressive enough and don't need to be embellished by imaginary
assets.
Finally, once we have used our inner strength to help ourselves, we
can reach out to others, bringing the SA message to them. Ironically,
when we reach out to help other people with schizophrenia, we find
that our own recovery is reinforced. This sort of “humble helping”
does not bloat our sense of self-importance, but increases the value
of our new members in their own search for ways to deal with
schizophrenia.
SOURCE: S.A. Blue Booklet (program text, first published in 1989)
----------------------------------------
--Stress Management, part #41
Handling Holiday Stress
Two mental health experts have come up with the list below on how to
handle all the stresses that come with the holiday season. Here it is
for those of us who might otherwise get frazzled in the upcoming three
weeks.
Tips for Managing Holiday Stress
1. Talk to someone whom you can trust.
2. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
3 Exercise
4. Take a break—get away from it all for a while
5. Recreation—have fun.
6. Laugh
7. Sleep well.
8. Write in a journal.
9. Recognize trigger points in advance and have a strategy in place
for responding.
10. Avoid excessive drinking, which doesn’t eliminate the problem and
may cause more.
11. Recognize that there are no perfect people or perfect families, so
don’t be bummed that yours isn’t one.
12. Avoid the pressure to spend beyond your means.
These experts further recommend that one seek professional help if the
stresses interfere with sleep, eating, work, relationships or other
aspects of life.
SOURCE: Dr. Melvin McInnis (director of the Depression Center at the
University of Michigan), and Daniel Greenberg (psychology professor at
Michigan State University)
--------------------------------------
--Website of the Week
Rose Hill Center
From its website:
“Rose Hill Center offers comprehensive psychiatric treatment and
rehabilitation services in a peaceful setting. Our mission is to
provide an effective therapeutic program for adults with mental
illness so that they can learn to manage their symptoms, achieve their
highest level of independence and go on to lead rewarding lives.”
Its website:
http://www.rosehillcenter.org
------------------------------
--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:
Shortage of Clean Drinking Water
More than a billion people in the world do not have access to clean
water. This is described below--
“Of a world population of roughly 6.1 billion, more than 1 billion
lack access to potable or drinkable water. The World Health
Organization says that at any time, up to half of humanity has one of
the six main diseases -- diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or
infestation with ascaris, guinea worm, or hookworm -- associated with
poor drinking water and inadequate sanitation. About 5 million people
die each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a dirty
home environment -- often resulting from water shortage.”
From-
http://whyfiles.org/131fresh_water/2.html
We do not suffer alone.
----------------------------------
--Quote of the Week
“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion…I
myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do
afterwards.”
-Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), American fiction writer
----------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------
* 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)
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