S.A. eLetter (11-27-11)
John P.
Greetings S.A. Family on the Internet,
This section of the Blue Booklet below deals with setbacks and stigma related to schizophrenia. Longtime S.A. leader Larry Z. wrote the main ideas for this back in 1988.
S.A.’s Attitude Towards Setbacks and Stigma
Setbacks are negative events caused by stress, changes in brain chemistry, or other factors. Setbacks are involuntary responses that we usually cannot anticipate. Varying in degree, they result in our dealing less effectively with parts of our lives.
An example of a major setback would be a person experiencing a psychotic episode which resulted in re-hospitalization. Another would be leaving a job because of symptoms. Minor setbacks might include having to reduce the amount of time we normally spend at work or another activity in response to stress, or suffering emotional immobilization from a stressful situation.
Re-hospitalization is a common event in the lives of our members; the physical nature of our illness changes as we age and we may develop new challenges in response to stress. We can expect that the medication side effects that plagued us in 1990 will change when we try a newer drug. There is no cause for shame or blame when we need to “fine tune” our treatment in a secure environment. The decision to return voluntarily to the hospital (under a clinician’s advice) shows that we take full responsibility for our choices and that we choose to be well.
Increased medication and the real necessity to cut back on stressful schedules are often misunderstood. Members of SA are often the best supports during these difficulty times. While people with schizophrenia struggle with the nightmare of symptoms, we also face discrimination and distrust, rejection and stigma from the public. The founder of S.A. sees it this way--
“The stigma is harder to deal with than the illness itself.”
--Joanne Verbanic, Founder, Schizophrenics Anonymous
At SA we feel that setbacks are a normal, expected part of our usually chronic illness. We view them as a temporary intensification of symptoms which will often pass. While treatment can often control the symptoms, it may cause changes in us that persons without schizophrenia sometimes view negatively. Comedians joke about “needing medication” as if this were a sign of moral failure or personal weakness. Only recently have the mass media promoted more positive views of the schizophrenia experience. SA members have made appearances on television and in magazine articles to combat stigma.
Whether it is family members who cannot understand why the sufferer displays unusual behavior or some segments of society which consider schizophrenia an excuse to escape the responsibilities of life, our illness is often treated with distrust and neglect. At SA we offer a place to meet and socialize where persons with schizophrenia-related illnesses are not judged, but are accepted as we are.
In this non-threatening environment, the person with schizophrenia may talk about the things affecting him or her. The feedback provided can relate in a way that only can be appreciated by a person who has suffered the torments of the illness.
Society at large must be educated that schizophrenia is a physical condition similar to diabetes. SA hopes to educate the public, but before this can be accomplished, people with a schizophrenia-related illness themselves must accept the illness with all its limitations and advantages. While the limitations are well-known, its advantages usually go unrecognized. For example, shared concern and empathy for mentally ill persons and for all society’s downtrodden members is very evident among people with schizophrenia. Perhaps living with discrimination permits us to appreciate the common humanity which dwells within all people; particularly those with mental illness.
Setbacks can also have beneficial aspects because we can view them as learning experiences and chances to increase self-awareness. Sometimes treatment for setbacks can lead the person with schizophrenia to achieve a higher level of personal functioning and satisfaction.
For a person with our illness, setbacks are a way of life. The support given at SA can help us survive these hurdles and continue on with life.
SOURCE: S.A. Blue Booklet (program text, first published in 1989)
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--Stress Management, part #59
Walter Cannon's Work on Stress
In these three editions we are describing the work of three major research scientists of the 20th century who had key impacts on the field of stress management. They are Hans Selye (1907-1982), Walter Cannon (1871-1945), and Herbert Benson (1935-present).
Walter Cannon was born in Wisconsin and did key work in the physiology of stress at Harvard University, particularly in the area of the "fight or flight response" when confronted with a stressor. Once he arrived at Harvard as a student in the 1890s, he immediately began working as a research assistant in the biology lab. He worked there the rest of his life. After he graduated from Harvard, he was hired to teach in the physiology department there--and as his career there progressed he became the chairman of that department. He published his first research paper in the very first edition of the American Journal of Physiology .in the late 1890s.
He described his work until the age of 60 in four categories--digestion studies (the same starting point as Hans Selye), the bodily effects of emotional excitement, wound shock investigations, and stable states of organisms.
In 1915, Cannon coined the term "fight or flight response" to describe an animal's response to a threat. When a lab animal was confronted with a stressor, it either ran from it or put up some resistance. Cannon measured the bodily changes in these situations. Over time, stress researchers came to the conclusion that human beings also have such a fight or flight response to stressors. Also he was interested in why people feel emotions and then take action based on them.
Cannon became deeply interested in the area of systems homeostasis in the physiology of people and animals over periods of life. He was interested in the functions that lead to s steady-state and a sense of stable constancy in people. He was interested in how organized self-government of one's life can lead to stability. He used the terms sympathetic nervous system and autonomic nervous system common today in the writings of stress experts.
SOURCE: Encyclopedia Britannica online edition 2011 and Wikipedia
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:
Asteroids
Several weeks ago a massive asteroid flew between the Earth and the moon. The object was the size of an aircraft carrier, and had it hit the Earth it could have wiped out an area the size of New York City.
People get nervous about all sorts of things. Threat seeming to come out of nowhere. Asteroids are like this.
We do not suffer alone.
SOURCES: New York Times (10-30-11)
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--Website of the Week
Genetic Study National Institute of Mental Health site
From the NIMH site:
"The scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health believe that environmental factors combined with genetic predisposition lead to the development of schizophrenia. The NIMH genetic studies focus on gathering families' genetic and environmental information to better understand what places one family member at risk and conversely, what protects other family members. To this end, family members are asked to participate in a number of procedures that help scientists measure various family characteristics to see if they run in families. Genotyping, or DNA analysis, is an important part of this process. However, families should understand that this is a very complex analysis and NIMH does not plan to provide family members with individual genetic test results."
The web address:
http://gauss.nimh.nih.gov/sibstudy/
For other helpful links to websites related to mental illness, check out our SARDAA webpage at this address:
http://www.sardaa.org/resources/
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--Quote of the Week
Here's a highly hopeful quote to consider--
"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that
people are really good at heart."
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Bye for now, and everyone have a great couple of weeks.
--John P., member of S.A.
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For more information about
Schizophrenics Anonymous.:
The new S.A. website is at:
http://www.sardaa.org
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For the Google information group for S.A.:
http://groups.google.com/group/schizophrenics-anonymous
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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
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* 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)