Download October 2011 Newsletter

Human Behavior Associates
Human Behavior Associates
October 2011
707-747-0117 or
800-937-7770
24 hrs a day/ 7 days a week
Special points of interest:
Autumn’s the
Mellow Time
October is
National
Mental Health
Month
Schizophrenia
“Even if something is
left undone, everyone
must take time and
watch the leaves
turn.”
~Elizabeth Laurence
“Autumn’s The Mellow Time . . . . “
The month of October signals
that the autumn season is well
on its way and now thoughts
turn to autumn events like
Halloween and the many
harvest day festivals that take
place in every community.
These events provide families
with fun times to dress up in
costumes, go trick-or-treating,
attend parties and eat yummy
treats. These events are also
opportunities to provide
nutritious snacks, get physical
activity and focus on safety for
both trick-or-treaters and
party guests.
If you are expecting trick-ortreaters or hosting a
Halloween or harvest party,
the following tips may help
make the festivities fun and
safe for everyone!
Provide healthier treats for
trick-or-treaters, such as
individual packs of raisins,
trail mix or pretzels. Use
your imagination – healthy
treats do not need to be
boring. For party guests,
you may offer tempting
fruit or vegetable trays and
a variety of cheeses to
balance the sweeter
goodies.
Use party games and
trick-or-treat time as an
opportunity for kids to
get their daily dose of 60
minutes of physical
activity.
Be sure that walking
areas and stairs are welllit and free of obstacles
that could result in falls.
Keep candle-lit jack-olanterns and luminaries
away from doorsteps,
walkways, landings and
curtains. Make sure to
place them on sturdy
tables and keep them
out of the reach of pets
and small children.
Never leave them
unattended.
Remind all drivers to
watch out for trick-ortreaters and to drive
safely!
October 30 is “Candy Corn
Day”
October is National Mental Illness Awareness Month
Human Behavior
Associates, Inc. is the
provider of your
employee assistance
program and reminds you
that you and your
dependents may access
program services by
calling 1-800-937-7770, 24
hours a day, 7 days a
week to request
assistance with personal,
family, financial or legal
problems.
In 1990, the U.S. Congress established October, as Mental Illness Awareness month to raise
mental illness awareness. Since 1990, the month of October presents an opportunity for all
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), mental health advocates across our nation to
work together in communities in order to achieve the mission of NAMI through outreach,
education and advocacy.
As our country recently experienced last January, words can’t begin to express the
sorrow that Americans have felt over the tragedy in Arizona where six people died and U.S.
Representative Gabby Giffords, along with 13 others, were injured. Unfortunately, words
used by the news media and others -- “psycho” and “lunatic” to name only two – reinforced
the stigma that is too often associated with mental illness. When speaking about the many
issues that followed that tragedy, NAMI issued the statement: “Let’s have a civil discussion.
Let’s abandon the stereotypes and the stigmas that distort the nature of mental illness”
NAMI-StigmaBusters is a network of dedicated advocates across the country and
around the world, who seek to fight inaccurate and hurtful representation of mental illness.
Whether these images are found in TV, film, print or other media, Stigma Busters advocates
speak out and challenge stereotypes. They seek to educate society about the reality of
mental illness and the courageous struggles faced by consumers and families every day. Their
goal is to break down the barriers of ignorance, prejudice, or unfair understanding and
respect.
Through their magazine the Advocate, they feature articles and reviews of
publications, movies and special documentaries that deal with the struggles and ordeals that
families face daily in attempting to deal with mental illness within their families. One recent
review was a currently released movie directed by Jodie Foster, The Beaver, which deals
with major depression and is a moving account about a family striving for recovery.
Another movie Frankie and Alice, based on a true story, stars actress Halle Berry, who has
lived with depression herself and portrays a woman living with dissociative disorder.
This is just an example of how this publication, and the many advocates in their
network seek to promote understanding and respect for all who are touched by mental
illness. It is estimated that each month, close to 20,000 advocates receive information via this
network of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They invite the general community to
“Fight Stigma” by visiting their website and learning more about their efforts to tackle the
unfair representation of mental illness. For more information go to www.nami.org.
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We are on the web!
Please Visit our Website:
www.callhba.com
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Schizophrenia
More than 2 million Americans and
their families face conditions such as
having a son or daughter who have
gone missing and have not been heard
from in years; who may be in the
ranks of the homeless that we see in
every city across the country. They
face these conditions because of an
illness called schizophrenia. This is an
illness twice as common as HIV/AIDS.
It does not discriminate. It strikes
people of all races and both genders,
and cuts across all social and
economic classes.
To better
under stand the impact of
schizophrenia, NAMI
recently
conducted a survey on attitudes and
awareness among the general adult
public.
The following is a brief summary of
the survey. We, like NAMI, hope it
gives our subscribers a better
understanding of schizophrenia.
1. Schizophrenia is a serious medical
illness that interferes with a person’s
ability to think clearly, distinguish
reality from fantasy, manage emotions,
make decisions and relate to others.
No two cases of schizophrenia are
identical.
2. The cause(s). There is no one
particular cause of schizophrenia, but
the illness is believed to be caused by
a combination of genetic vulnerability
and external environmental factors.
Research suggests that schizophrenia
has something to do with problems
with brain chemistry and brain
structure. Like many other medical
illnesses such as cancer, heart disease
and diabetes, it is thought to be
caused by a combination of problems;
some inherited and others occurring
during a person’s development. Some
scientists think that schizophrenia may
be triggered by a viral infection
affecting the brain very early in life or
mild brain damage from complications
during birth.
3.
Diagnosed:
By definition
schizophrenia is only diagnosed if
there is a marked change in thinking,
perceptions and behavior through a
combination of symptoms. This
change has to be observed for at
least six months and is associated
with the decline in the person’s
ability to care for him or herself or
to function in a social setting.
4. Schizophrenia is characterized
by symptoms categorized into three
groups: positive, negative and
cognitive. Positive, or psychotic
symptoms, include delusions and
hallucinations.
These symptoms
occur because the patient has lost
touch with reality in certain
important ways.
Negative
s y mp to m s i n cl ud e la ck o f
expression or emotional flatness, an
inability to start and follow through
with activities and a lack of pleasure
or interest in life.
Cognitive
symptoms include disorganized
thinking, difficulty prioritizing tasks
and problems with certain kinds of
memory functions.
5. Life expectation. Individuals
with schizophrenia die at a younger
age than the general population.
Often the death rate in comparison
is two to three times that of the
general population. People with
schizophrenia have higher
standardized mortality rates than
the general population from natural
causes of death such as diabetes,
c ar d io va s cu lar d i sea se an d
infectious diseases.
Of these
causes, cardiovascular disease is
associated with the largest number
of deaths.
6.V i o l e n c e .
People with
schizophrenia are no more likely to
be violent than the general
population. Studies indicate that
except for those persons with a
record of criminal violence, alcohol
or substance abuse problems
before becoming ill, people with
schizophrenia are not especially
prone to violence. Most individuals
with schizophrenia are more
typically withdrawn and prefer to
be left alone.
7. Treatment. Schizophrenia is a brain
disease that can easily be cured by a
treatment plan that includes different
combinations of medications. Its treatment
requires approaches in many dimensions.
Medications are the cornerstone of
symptom management but are not
themselves sufficient to promote recovery.
The primary medications for schizophrenia,
called anti-psychotics or neuroleptics, help
relieve the hallucinations, delusions, and, to a
lesser extent, the thinking problems people
have with the disorder. These drugs are
thought to work by correcting an imbalance
in the chemicals that help brain cells
communicate with each other.
Just as a successful recovery with another
brain illness, such as a stroke, may include
psychosocial rehabilitation and therapeutic
interventions, recovery with schizophrenia
includes not only medication, but also
rehabilitation strategies involving work,
school and relationship goals, which are also
essential and need to be addressed in
creating a successful plan of care.
The term “schizophrenia” was
coined by Eugen Bleuler in 1908
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