PATHways Newsletter.pub - NAMI

More documents

Recommendations

Info

August/September 2010 NAMI Queens/Nassau PATHways Page NAMI QUEENS/NASSAU 1981 Marcus Ave., Suite C117 Lake Success, NY 11042 516-326-0797 or 718-347-7284 Fax 516-437-5785 Email: NAMIQN@aol.com or namiqueensnassau@aol.com Website: www.namiqn.org Officers Janet Susin President Al Dunlop 1st Vice President Larry Kenny 2nd Vice President Ted Vecchio Treasurer Louise Slater Secretary Board Members Sondra Cohen, Richard DeMartino, Charlotte Driver, Arnold Gould, Lorraine Kaplan, Linda Manzo, S. Raghavendran, Estelle Reichman, Elizabeth Reilly, Janet Reilly, Neil Slater, Ruth Wolosoff Honorary Board Members Pearl & Israel Lindenbaum Newsletter Staff Janet Susin Editor Maureen Josel Typing, Layout & Design Opinions expressed in PATHways do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Queens/Nassau or any affiliated organization, and we cannot attest to their accuracy. NAMI Queens/Nassau, an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mentally Illness and NAMI/ NYS, gratefully acknowledges the continuing support of the FLB Foundation NAMI Queens/Nassau Donation & Membership Form Yes! I want to join NAMI Queens/Nassau to receive useful information and to help improve conditions for those with mental illness. I will receive newsletters from NAMI Queens/Nassau, NAMI, and NAMI-NYS. MEMBERSHIP DUES: $40 Individual $50 Family $60 Professional $5 Consumer (A portion of the dues goes to NAMI and NAMI-NYS) Nassau County NAMI Affiliates Meeting Info Affiliate Location Date/Time Contact NAMI LAMP/ SW Nassau NAMI Long Island Regional Council, Inc. NAMI North Shore South Oaks NAMI NAMI Nassau University Medical Center ADDITIONAL DONATION: TOTAL: Name Address City State Zip Phone Number E-Mail Address DONATION IN MEMORY OR HONOR OF (please indicate by circling) Name of honoree or decedent: Name of person to be notified of your gift: Address City State Zip Please send form and check made payable to NAMI Queens/Nassau, 1981 Marcus Avenue, Suite C117, Lake Success, NY 11042. Peninsula Counseling Center 50 W. Hawthorne Ave, Room 211 Valley Stream North Shore University Hospital 888 Old Country Rd. Plainview North Shore Hospital Building 400, Rm. 74 Community Drive South Oaks Hospital 400 Sunrise Highway Amityville 2201 Hempstead Tpke. East Meadow 2nd Wed. of Month 6:30 p.m. Support 7:30—9:00 p.m. 3rd Thursdays 7:00 p.m. Support 7:30 p.m. Business 8:00 p.m. Speaker 3rd Tuesday 7:30 p.m. 4th Thursdays 7:00—9:00 p.m. 2nd Tuesday 7:00 p.m. Sydelle Wolfsohn (516) 623-7871 Barbara Roth (516) 694-7327 Al Dunlop (516) 671-3957 Una Ward (631) 264-4000 Ext. 1-2004 Elsa Perez, CSW (516) 572-6888 2
August/September 2010 NAMI Queens/Nassau PATHways Page By JANET SUSIN Perhaps no topic so clearly divides the advocacy community as what to call the class of illnesses that we advocate about. Gertrude Stein may have argued otherwise, insisting that “A rose, is a rose, is a rose,” and Shakespeare’s Romeo opined that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but when it comes to the class of psychiatric disorders commonly known as mental illness, many mental health advocates passionately argue that terminology plays a significant role in how we are viewed as a group and individuals. A wide range of terms currently in vogue Should we use the term mental health rather than mental illness? What about its variants, mental health disorders, mental health issues—much in vogue these days— or mental health conditions. That last one is a new term I learned about just recently from Darcy Gruttadaro, head of the NAMI Child & Adolescent Action Center (CAAC). In launching NAMI’s new website for transition-age youth, Strength of Us, CAAC discovered through focus grouping the topic that mental health conditions was the term preferred by this age group. Then there is the biological approach. Advocates argue that the brain is part of the body. If we truly believe that mental illness is just like any other physical illness then we should use terminology that reflects that belief. What about brain disorders, or neurological disorders, or neurobiological disorders, or neuropsychiatric disorders. I recall vividly that during the '90s NAMI favored this approach and used the phrase biologically based brain disorders, or just brain disorders, interchangeably with mental illness. This was an approach also favored by Yale researcher Dr. Enid Peschel, who coined the phrase ‘neurobiological brain disorders’ and advocated strongly for its usage until her untimely death in 1994. Having just returned from the NAMI From the President The Debate Continues: What to Call Mental Illness education conference in Washington, I was struck by a new twist on this controversy. Dr. Thomas Insel, head of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), argued that we should stop separating mental illness from other brain disorders. He prefers the inclusive term ‘neurological disorders,’ lumping mental illness with autism, mental retardation, stroke, and Alzheimers, really anything that affects the brain. And speaking of the NAMI convention, as I listened to researchers speak I was struck by how interchangeably they used all the terms—mental health, mental illness, neurobiological disorder, psychiatric disorders, brain disorders, really the whole gamut. I’m reminded of the time in 1945 when Congress was considering what to call what eventually became the National Institute of Mental Health. It was originally supposed to be called the National Neuropsychiatric Institute, but according to E. Fuller Torrey in his book Nowhere to Go: The Tragic Odyssey of the Homeless Mentally Ill, that name was considered “too narrow, too medical for the tasks it would be asked to do.” Eventually the name National Institute of Mental Health won the day and according to Torrey, that gave the term mental health “official status.” Is this really the time for a name change? As for me, I take a historical approach. During the 19 th century when the great reformer Dorothea Dix crisscrossed the country raising awareness about the appalling way people with mental illness were housed and treated, the term in vogue was lunacy, and people exhibiting psychiatric symptoms were called lunatics. Dix eventually succeeded in creating 32 “mental hospitals,” which formed the basis for the state hospital system that still survives today. But less well-known is the fact that she also advocated for a change in terminology. Believing that lunacy and lunatics were derogatory terms, she wanted to replace them with “mental disease” so that people would view insanity as a medical condition, not a character flaw. Eventually, when tuberculosis became rampant and “disease” synonymous with contagion, the term morphed into the familiar phrase we use today, mental illness. Why the history lesson? Because it seems to me that no matter what phrase we use to describe the condition, eventually some will find it offensive and stigmatizing. But when it comes to the term “mental illness,” I am not one of them. In fact, when I first heard those words applied to my son I found it a relief. At last I understood where all those strange symptoms and the horrifying downward spiral were heading. My son had an illness – a mental illness – and it could be treated. The term mental illness is shedding its stigma That was 23 years ago. In the interim I’ve had the opportunity to speak to many high school and college students about mental illness. What I’ve found is that over the years the term has become less stigmatized, not more. When I speak to classes and ask students if they know someone with a mental illness I don’t hear any giggles. And when I ask them if they have a family member with a mental illness they don’t turn around to see who’s raising their hand. And, most surprisingly of all, when I ask them if they themselves have a mental illness inevitably someone raises their hand and discloses – I have bipolar; I have OCD; and, yes, even schizophrenia. If anything, I think there may be even a little glamour associated with mental illness these days. Maybe it’s all those stars who have disclosed that they have bipolar. Or the sports heroes who speak about their depression. Or maybe young people are just becoming more tolerant and accepting. Who knows? But I certainly see a trend in the right direction. I guess you can also say I believe in calling a spade a spade. Psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, OCD, and panic disorder are medical conditions and calling them mental health conditions when they’re quite the opposite takes me back to the days when cancer was spoken of in hushed tones as “the big C.” When they start referring to cancer as a “healthy cells condition” and diabetes as an “insulin issue” then, maybe then, I’ll become more sympathetic to this terminology. But until then I’m sticking with mental illness. 3
Page 1: AUGUST 18, 2010 No meeting this mon
Page 5 and 6: August/September 2010 NAMI Queens/N

PATHways Newsletter.pub - NAMI

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?