Everybody Needs Somebody

Using Your Voice

In 2010, MTV’s Teen Mom star Amber Portwood was seen punching her on-and-off boyfriend Gary Shirley in the face. During one episode, Amber kicked Gary in the back as he walked down a flight of stairs. Recently Amber was arrested for two felony accounts of domestic battery. She could have faced a $10,000 fine if she had been convicted. 

This incident has shed a new light onto dating violence. When most people consider domestic violence they think of a boyfriend, or husband, throwing their girlfriend, or wife, into a wall, punching or kicking her. Rarely do people consider it when the roles are reversed. This is a respect issue to be considered during February which is Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month. Respect needs to flow both ways through a relationship and guys need to be taught the signs of dating violence. Things like possessiveness, constant texting and calling as well as threats can come from girls as well.

As the Community Liaison for the PAVE (Prevent Assault and Violence Education) program of Mental Health America, I feel that it is my duty to relay our messages to the public. There is no way to fix a problem unless you have supporters and people that believe in it. PAVE has a large following of dedicated students, however the community should be aware of what we are doing. I hope to help circulate the anti violence messages through all central Ohio communities and help to make the area a better place to live and learn.

Now that I have (hopefully) made you think about violence in our community, relationships, or teens, I have used MY voice for one more thing. Educating you. So my question becomes, what will you do with this message? How can you share the importance of true respect? 1 in 4 teens are victims of dating violence. We could use your help to change that statistic.

--Gabrielle Scopel

PAVE Community Liaison 

& senior at Licking Heights High School

Richard's Story

The link will take you to an article from the National Post, one of two national daily newspapers in Canada.  The author writes of his friendship with a man who experiences bipolar.  In the article, the make reference to Bell Canada, a major telecommunications company in Canada, who yesterday (Feb. 9) donated $0.05 to mental health for every text message and long distance call made that day.  


Richard's story about his experience of mental illness is a compelling read.

First Person

The link is to a blog posting relating to a Wisconsin high school dance team's performance that used psychiatric hospital imagery.  The writer is someone who experiences mental illness and has had multiple in-patient stays.  Her post is an open letter to the team coach to consider the impact of her messages.


http://www.our-journey-through-life.com/2011/02/mental-health-monday-guestblog.html

Quality of Life

The following is an email exchange about smoking and people who experience mental health conditions. The final section was written by MHA's Compeer Coordinator, Kristen Frame.

A daughter who grew up with a mentally ill parent:

I have understood for some time that tobacco helps reduce the  incidences and frequency of hallucinations and delusion of a person suffering from debilitating mental illnesses like schizophrenia.  If is does, then quality of life should be in the equation.   There is no cure for many of our mental illness, only control of symptoms.  I  ask, if you had to choose, which would you pick.

I do not at all advocate tobacco use, but  I feel for the mentally ill patient, there should be  some exception to the general rule here. 

My understanding is that it is nicotine, rather than tobacco, that positively impacts some schizophrenia symptoms and drug side effects. Does someone in the group have some other information about positive effects from tobacco smoke or other tobacco components for patients struggling with psychosis, etc.? Certainly the negative health effects of tobacco smoke causes other immediate mental and physical issues for people with chronic mental conditions, so eliminating tobacco smoke would be helpful. 

A suggestion is to reach out to the facility to do training for their staff about smoking and mental illness, harm reduction, and how to support patients in reducing or eliminating smoking.  An intermediate step for these particular patients would be to use NRT - lozenge or gum - with these patients rather than chewing tobacco which can lead to oral cancers. And then work with them on use reduction of the NRT.

As you have said, the “positive” effects of tobacco usage are not a justification for not counseling individuals who experience persistent mental illness about the overwhelming evidence that tobacco usage is a significant health hazard and the leading cause of death for individuals with persistent mental illness. There is a short term alleviation of symptoms but like the elusive high of other drugs, it is very short-term and does decrease over time.

This mythology has been perpetuated by outdated “studies” that were funded by the tobacco industry, and debunked by recent more scrupulous current research. A significant portion of individuals who experience mental illness are addicted to tobacco and remain untreated because it is economically advantageous to keep them that way.

Diane writes: “I have understood for some time that tobacco helps reduce the incidences and frequency of hallucinations and delusion of a person suffering from debilitating mental illnesses like schizophrenia.  If is does, then quality of life should be in the equation.   There is no cure for many of our mental illness, only control of symptoms.  I ask, if you had to choose, which would you pick.”

There may currently be no “cure,” but there is recovery and the opportunity for a fully enriched life on one’s own terms. Quality of life is the most important aspect of the equation. Informed decision making is not possible for those who are given inaccurate or misleading information about tobacco addiction. As an advocate, and individual who experiences persistent mental illness, I pick independence and a life constructed of my own informed choices, not reduced to passively accepting a significantly shortened and physically and economically dependent life. We do not accept the notion that alcoholics or other addicts should be supported in the state of addiction because, poor souls, their life is so terrible, we will permit them this vice. Not giving individuals who experience mental illness the up-to-date and appropriate medical treatment that we expect for their peers is not only disabling, it is criminal. Individuals with disabilities do not need to be treated as exceptions, but as equal human beings.

I appreciate your genuine empathy and concern for individuals who experience mental illness. We need equal treatment under the law, not sympathy.