The Net. You can find all sorts of things tucked away in those nooks and crannies, hosted on some distant server on a college campus somewhere. One treasure I found on Liquid Generation (Liquidgeneration.com) involved a series of games, including one titled appropriately, “Homeless or Jesus?” Simple and easy, it takes two minutes to play and you cannot lose.
It doesn’t face the truth of the matter. People are losing to mental illness all day long. One of my friends had his first bipolar episode and alternated between being Jesus and John the Apostle. While he didn’t turn into the scruffy figures depicted in the game, it was frightening to see that he had lost control and was valiantly trying to get it back. Once he was hospitalized and given lithium, things got better.
The frustrating thing was that he failed to recognize he had a problem. Partly due to his illness and partly due to the fact that he was completely unknowledgable about mental heath. Indeed, most of the people in the world couldn’t really tell you the difference between bipolar disorder, manic depression and schizophrenia, much less the 12-pack of personality disorders. It doesn’t take long to start learning about mental illness and how it can impact everyone’s life, not just the homeless fellow asking for change outside of Espresso Roma. Keep in mind that 1 out of 4 families deal with mental illness directly. It is a given that unless you’re a recluse, only emerging to buy groceries and socks, you know someone who is confronting mental illness.
So here’s a rundown of the common mental illnesses. No, I won’t be going into vodou possession states or shamanic trances. That is something else entirely. All the quotes are drawn from the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ pamphlet “Mental Illness: An Illness Like Any Other”.
Schizophrenia: “People living with schizophrenia have hallucinations and delusions.” That sums it up in a nutshell. The brain is constructed differently, and thus the brain misfires in a random pattern.
Someone with schizophrenia does not have multiple-personality disorder. An important distinction, as MPD is entirely different. A whole different bag of candy.
Bipolar Disorder: This, also known as manic depression, affects over 2 million Americans. “Extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning” occur. Alternating periods of mania and depression are common, with mixed states in between. Bipolar disorder is a chronic condition, even though symptoms might disappear between episodes.
Major Depression: “Much more than feeling sad or blue,” depression causes sleep, mood, and appetite disorder. Approximately 15 million Americans are affected by major depression (that’s 7 percent of the population). It can occur at any age and in any socioeconomic category. People often appear OK on the outside, but inside they’re miserable. Suicide is a common factor with depression.
So there it is. The first steps towards a complete education about mental health in about a minute. There is always more to learn and always more to explore. Disability Services and NAMI have a vast repertoire of literature to peruse. Go give it a look!
For more information, NAMI of Lane County, a non-profit organization that assists those living with mental illness, is having a presentation Nov. 13 at the EMU’s Umpqua Room at 7 p.m.
Will Brundage is a University student and NAMI intern