S.A. eLetter (3-20-11)

[John P.]

Greetings S.A. family on the Internet,

Sorry that I missed sending out the editions of the S.A. eLetter in
the month of February. I had some stress management difficulties that
made it impossible for me to provide this service. Am hoping that
things have settled down, and that I can now continue to get the
eLetters out on schedule.

In previous editions we summarized the descriptions of the S.A. Six
Steps of recovery as given in the Blue Booklet. Below is the
beginning of a discussion on the S.A. Six Guiding Principles.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #1-- The only requirement for SA membership is the
desire to recover from a schizophrenia-related illness.

The SA Steps for Recovery deal with the SA member’s own efforts toward
getting better. The SA Guiding Principles, on the other hand, deal
with the individual's relationship to the SA program. The Guiding
Principles are designed to enable SA to operate in an effective
fashion, and to maintain stable standards.

A potential member does not have to be free from the symptoms of
schizophrenia to attend SA meetings. In fact, most members have had
such symptoms at some point in their life. Most members have been
diagnosed with schizophrenia, some members, with other diagnoses are
comfortable at SA meetings, especially if they have schizophrenia-
related symptoms. The “desire to recover” from schizophrenia-related
illness involves, among other things, adherence to a doctor’s advice,
taking medications as prescribed, and following the SA steps.

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

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--Stress Management, part #44

Another Look at Anger Management

I want to keep publishing anger management hints as they are published
by experts in the field. Folks who don't get angry may just want to
pass on this article. But the 99 percent of the rest of us who do get
angry may find something helpful in these kinds of ideas.

Bill Miles. a counselor with a master's in social work from Wayne
State University in Michigan, says that anger management is sort of a
oxymoron. He says that you really can't manage the emotion of anger.
The management really comes in the way we respond to the emotion. The
emotion will just happen. How we process it and behave is up to us.

The first step is not to yell, says Miles. Yelling only escalates
things. We yell to make a point, but in fact it's pointless--because
the other person is now all geared up in emotion and is tuning us out.

The added thing is that angry people don't listen. We interrupt, make
assumptions and presumption about the other person's point of view,
and we don't get the true meaning of what he or she is trying to say
to us. Tantrums, tirades, and rants only make this communication
disconnect worse.

A lot of times, says Miles, we are operating with our own sense of
expectations about how things should be. The anger can arise when our
expectations aren't met. Sometimes we get the idea that the universe
has ordained that our expectations should be fulfilled. Except that
other people don't see it that way. Then anger happens. Maybe our
expectations are expendable, and we'd end up feeling less angry
without some of them.

Miles says that a big thing in making anger go away is to Take a
Pause. Stepping back from an anger-producing situation gives us a
chance to let our human rational and thinking processes to kick in.
We'll be less at the mercy of our own irrational tirades. When we take
a pause and retreat from provocation, we don't need to feel defeated.
In fact, we are the ones who are being responsible and mature for not
letting the anger get out of control. We are defusing an angry
situation by our own initiative.

One of Miles's clients, a grocery store manager, feels that this sort
of anger management helps him feel good, not frustrated. Being angry
feels lousy. And he wants to feel peace in his life by not letting
anger win the day.

SOURCE: Journal Register Newspapers
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--Website of the Week

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

For three decades, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health
Law has been the nation's leading legal advocate for people with
mental disabilities.

Website address:

http://www.bazelon.org/Who-We-Are.aspx

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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:

The recent earthquake and tsunami wave in northeastern Japan.

At this moment there are about 450,000 people homeless there, and the
toll of dead and missing may be as high as 10,000 people. And we
still don't know all the dangers from the nuclear plant problems
there.

We do not suffer alone.

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--Quote of the Week

"Think of the poorest person you have ever seen and ask if your next
act will be of any use to him."

-Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian reformer

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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
----------
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
----------------------
* 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)