January 2001 News Free Clinical Trials at Stanford

The Schizophrenia Clinic at Stanford Hospital is conducting several clinical trials on new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. These “atypicals” have fewer side effects than the traditional medications used in the past. One in particular, Aripiprazole, may prove to have less propensity for weight gain as compared to other medications. If you know anyone with schizophrenia who might benefit from a trial of a new medication, please have him or her call the Clinic at 650-498-6861. Evaluation and long-term treatment, including medication, lab work, and support groups is offered free of charge.

Click here for more infromation on Geodon, which also reduces propensity for weight gain.

Family Response To Chronic Illness and Disability by Peter Steinglass, Family Process

Families may experience guilt, anger, disappointment, helplessness, & resentment.

Families may talk about “the problem,” but rarely talk about the impact of the problem on the family.

Families will organize to handle the problem, but find it difficult to change.

The chronic illness/disability becomes a “family member,” and may take over the family (“a two year old terrorist.”)

Families may see the offer of Psychological Help as a weakness on their part.

Some families actually function better after the crisis.
Some families who are functioning the best are seen as problems by providers. The families are flexible and are risk takers. They will take control and strongly advocate for their children.

Effective December 31st,I will resign from the NAMI Board. December 11th will be my last meeting. When I joined the AMI Board in 1992, I had no idea where this journey would take me. There has been a lot of adventure on the way. It is also important to mention the healing of my daughter during this time. It is truly a miracle.

Without the Board Member, Barlow Schuyler, as my mentor, I probably wouldn’t have been President for two years and spent six years on the Local Mental Health Board. I feel strongly that this Board will continue to be Mental Health Advocates in Our Santa Cruz Community. Thank You. Sincerely, John McSweeney

Editors’ note: The board genuinely appreciates the many, many hours of volunteer work that John McSweeney has contributed to the Mental Health Community. We are in need of people to fill his absence.

Laurel Wilson, director of the Mental Health Resource Center, will be teaching a Journey of Hope class in February. I took it about two years ago and was in a class with 12 or 13 others. I remember the families and the 4 people with symptoms clearly. The fact that there are family members and those with symptoms allows a better understanding of the different points of view. In the Journal of NAMI California, Vol. 11 no. 2, Sita Diehl, says, “In the Journey of Hope, family members learn to move from a desire to control or shun, to family empathy, acceptance, and adaptation. The long-term goal is to regain balance and family life with a healthy dynamic of independence, with each member giving to and receiving from the shared strength and resources of the family.“ In our next newsletter, I hope to have a more detailed article on achieving collaboration between the consumer and family movements. Call Laurel at 458-1923 for information.

Laurel Wilson, director of the Mental Health Resource Center, had repeated conversations with family members of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 with schizophrenia. She believed that it would be helpful for us to talk to each other and discuss possible support and advocacy ideas. On December 7th more than 20 of us gathered for a potluck dinner. There were 16 consumers represented. 9 used Santa Cruz County services and 7 did not. 12 consumers lived at home with their families. I looked around the room and saw a slight bewilderment, but underlying strength and commitment in these family members. I felt a sense of integrity in the group. Laurel asked us as a group what we would like in the way of support and advocacy.

For support, we wanted educational speakers four times a year. The first speaker meeting will be held in Watsonville and will alternate with the MHRC in Harvey West. Suggested topics for the first and second meetings were “How to talk with someone when they are psychotic” and “Brain Physiology.” For advocacy, it was suggested that clients need a group for psychosocial support, such as an hour and half meeting three times a week. An occupational therapist and peer counselor would be needed to staff the group. Also, the need for a bi-lingual crisis hot line was raised. Several ideas for advocating these were discussed. If you or a person you know would like to know more about the upcoming activities of this group you might call Laurel Wilson at the MHRC – 458-1923.

If you haven’t seen it yet, please check out our web page at http://www.namiscc.org/. Thank you Webmaster David Hacker for creating the page and also thanks to Doug Huskey who is maintaining it. We have added the articles from our recent newsletters and will continue to do so. Also, we want to give a special thanks to John Pierce who has graciously donated web hosting of the site. We are interested in your suggestions and contributions for the site. Please email any ideas, links, and content suggestions or contributions to annalenahh@yahoo.com