Those with Schizophrenia Share Tips on Living Productive Lives

That is the title of this article I am reviewing today. "'In a new study, researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues at the University of Southern California describe some of the strategies people with schizophrenia have used to overcome the disorder and function successfully in their careers. Their findings appear in the journal Psychiatric Services. Investigators conducted up to three interviews each with 10 men and 10 women with schizophrenia from the Los Angeles area. All of them continued to have some psychotic symptoms even as they were employed in professional, technical, or managerial occupations.
'To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have addressed how individuals with schizophrenia who also met some definition of recovery manage the symptoms of their disease,'said Dr. Amy Cohen, an associate research psychologist and the study’s first author. The researchers found that the people they interviewed had adopted numerous coping strategies to prevent and deal with symptoms. These strategies included avoiding stressful situations, staying away from alcohol and drugs and taking their prescribed medications. '" I do not avoid stressful situations I function perfectly except I have to take my medicine with food and know I can fall asleep two hours after I take it so I cannot always go places or out to eat knowing I have to take my medicine soon.
The article goes on to say: "'The interviewees also said they try to interact with people who are supportive and non-judgmental and that they use various cognitive strategies to help them reason through problematic thoughts and whether or not those thoughts are based in reality. The subjects also mentioned religion and spirituality, and exercise and diet, as ways they prevent or deal with psychiatric instability, Cohen said. Some individuals reported that calm, soothing places help them cope, while others said they preferred to seek out more activity. And some said jobs and educational activities could be distracting, but others said that school or career help by providing a sense of belonging. 'One big surprise — and disappointment — was the disparity between the education of these individuals and the salaries they were earning,' Cohen said. 'Most of the patients studied had college or advanced degrees but still made less than $50,000 annually despite working in a large, urban city.'  Researchers discovered that even with the various coping strategies, about half of those surveyed reported having difficulty managing their daily lives, not having felt close to another person within the prior week and experiencing recent hallucinations or delusions. Sadly, these symptoms are characteristic of the disorder. Overall, social stigma continues to be a serious problem for those affected by schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.'" I have a masters degree but do not use it it is in Public Administration.  I did not go in that field the reason I received my masters is because I had took alcohol and drug counselor but after my internship did not really like it because of the hours and the place I interned at. I went back as quick as I could and signed up for the first masters I could get.
The article ends: "'There is a widespread misunderstanding that individuals with schizophrenia are violent and dangerous, often homeless, and beyond help,’' Cohen said. Prior studies have shown that half to two-thirds of people with schizophrenia will significantly improve or fully recover, enabling them to live fulfilling and productive lives. Cohen said she hopes the findings provide encouragement for people battling the stigma of mental illness and that the study helps inform treatment for schizophrenia. 'The bulk of treatments for schizophrenia were developed from observations of individuals who are quite ill or hospitalized, rather than patients who have achieved a level of recovery,' Cohen said. “And the prevailing medical model continues to presuppose the expertise of the clinician over the individual with the disorder. This study allows for new insights by leveraging firsthand experiences of those with schizophrenia.” Whenever I am angry or just sad or something I play music that always helps me with situations it calms me down.  Makes life more bearable.

The Unintended Consequences of Focusing on Recovery in Schizophrenia

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "Much has been said in this blog by my colleague Dr David Laing Dawson and myself on the concept of recovery. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if full recovery was possible but it isn’t. However, I really should clarify that somewhat. Schizophrenia should probably be referred to as a spectrum disorder like autism. When Bleuler first coined the term in 1908, he referred to it as the schizophrenias and said that it was a physical disease process characterized by exacerbations and remissions. No one was ever completely “cured” of schizophrenia — there was always some sort of lasting cognitive weakness or defect that was manifest in behavior. Unfortunately, over the years, it began to be considered to be one disease only.  In a recent article in Psychology Today, University of Toronto medical historian, Edward Shorter, had this to say. In adolescent-onset schizophrenia, some don’t recover at all; others make only a 'social recovery,' and some maybe go on to have a normal life or 'Maybe not'. Shorter then adds that 'The field has made virtually no progress in unpacking chronic severe illness and differentiating out several distinct entities. In no other field of medicine would this be conceivable!' and 'Some involve loss of brain tissue, others don’t. Some have to stay on meds, others don’t. Some get well, others don’t. These are not all the same illness!'" I do pretty well with my medication, others not so well.  A lot of them do not want to hear that I am doing well.  They suffer. It was like that also with A.A. when I went this one guy said I did not believe that you were and alcoholic until you told your story.  They made sure I had me mental illness I was sick in jail for at least six months which made me never want to get sick again.
The article goes on to say: "In fact, it has long been recognized that there are three outcomes to schizophrenia. Roughly a third are treatment resistant and remain very ill, a third can be helped with meds and other treatment modalities to improve sufficiently to lead a reasonable but disabled life, and a third will have one psychotic episode, receive treatment and never have another or any long term deficits.  According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, 10 years after diagnosis, 'one-fourth of those with schizophrenia have recovered completely, one-fourth have improved considerably, and one-fourth have improved modestly. Fifteen percent have not improved, and 10 percent are dead.'
How do you think the families of the majority of those with non recoverable schizophrenia or the individuals themselves will feel when we hold up to them what is achievable by only 25%? And, we tell them that it is achievable. Why can’t I (or my son or daughter) achieve that. Have I done something wrong? Cancer is an interesting analogy. There is not one cancer but many. And each cancer has its own unique characteristics and prognosis." That is the truth when someone is doing better they all want to do the same and why not? I do not know where I fit on their scale because I did have a relapse when my medication was lowered to much that was an old drug called Moban. I am glad I am off it but it took it be discontinued for me to change that is because I never want this disease to come back and lose control again.
The article ends with: "Non melanoma skin cancer (basal cell and squamous cell) have 5 year survivals of 95% and 90%. In contrast, the 5 year survival for pancreatic cancer ranges from 1% for stage IV to 14% from stage 1A. Imagine if we told those with stage IV pancreatic cancer not to worry because 5 year survival is 95%. Ridiculous isn’t it but that is what we tell people with schizophrenia. Don’t worry, you should be able to recover because 25% do.  Now, I’m not saying to abandon hope but rather to be realistic and pushing recovery is not realistic if it is not qualified.  The second problem was mentioned to me by my friend Kathy Mochnacki of Home on the Hill in Richmond Hill Ontario. She pointed out that if you claim that recovery is possible, then why continue doing research. People can recover so no need for it. Of course, scientists know better but they are dependent on funding from governments and other agencies.
So, let’s all inject some scientific reality into a very troubling and serious disease."  There are people that do not have any symptom relief even with medication. It is troubling. I do not know the answer except we do need more research and better medicaion that does not allow you to get diabetes just because you want to be well.

Recovery

Well there has not been a lot in the news lately about mental health. My recovery started in 1989 when I was sent to the state hospital for a crime that I still do not like to talk about that involved mental illness and alcohol.  I never understood where I was because I was mentally ill.  Did not understand until they started giving me medication.  Stellazine was the first and when they told me I was sentenced one day to life that really freaked me out.  I was trying to understand what happened and what was going to happen.
I knew from the streets that I needed to learn typing as I took in on the streets but it was accelerated class and to fast to learn.  When the state hospital told me I had to go to school that was my chance to learn how to type from scratch and I did.  It of course took time but that is what I had.  Also in there we went to groups that taught about mental illness and how to take care of yourself.  They taught us a schedule for when to take our medication and to always take it about the same time as then a person gets use to that schedule.
I was talking to one of the counselors and she asked what I wanted to do with my life and I told her I wanted to learn computers.  She introduced me to a person that worked in vocational rehabilitation and he started teaching me word perfect.  Also well I was there I started getting all the papers necessary for me to go to college when I was released from there.  Learning word perfect helped a lot in my first computer class I took in college.  The state hospital was hard to do time there was so much that was like the streets.
I called my family to much I was missing be out and free.  More that when I was in prison the state hospital was a place I do not want to go back to. I listen to what they said and I did the work to learn how to stay out and maintain my mental illness. I did have one relapse when I was set free.  I had just started college and the first day I relapsed.  I had to go back to the state hospital for a weekend although when I went I did not think they would let me out for awhile but they increased my medication and I was back that Monday.  I had to change some classes because I had missed the amount of days that they allowed.
To me recovery is being free  and taking care that I take my medication and enjoy my family especially my grandkids. Also remain symptom free. I guess I am lucky in the fact that my mental illness is paranoid schizophrenia.  Because I do not have any negative symptoms I know from reading stories that means that I would not be able to do the things I do and enjoy doing. So a big part of recovery is being both positive and negative symptoms and bay. I of course went to AA and did urine screens.  For me drinking again means going back to prison a place I do not want to go. I could also end back at the state hospital. It is something I will not do in this lifetime again. I do not miss doing stupid things and ending up in jail.  Since I been out since 1994 I have not been stopped my the police.  They used to stop me and my friends that looked like me a lot so that I also do not miss.
 I'll leave with learn what works for you.

Recovery

Well this week we will start a new year.  This last was not too bad for me a lot of changes happened some for the good some for the bad.  Although, I have hope for the next year because I am making changes to have a better New Year and life not that this life is all that bad.  It is not a new year’s resolution as I have already made these changes in this year just going to continue them.  Problems can be solved there is always a way to make the adjustments needed to continue living an alright life.  I know personally problems come up and it seems like it is the end of everything.  What also pops up is a solution it is not always the right one although it works to solve the problem.

Hope is the key word I will not keep on saying that my life was always bad.  Although getting out of the state hospital and not having my daughter right away in my life was the greatest loss ever.  I lived through it and when I did get her back in my life I forgot the years that she was away.  It was different getting to know her and adjusting to the new changes in my life.  It is worth it now I have three grandchildren and that helps in life very much.  What I am saying is that hope does work and it seems hard plugging through but life does soon get better.  Whenever I get a chance I wonder what brought on this mental illness.  Since I was fifteen I drank more that the average person.
I though getting high was all that life was about.  Mental illness and cocaine are so similar. I do believe that drug caused my mental illness and it also messed up my life my making me lose my money and everything I owned.  I was asked when I was at the state hospital I was asked what the mental illness is like, “I said racing thoughts just like cocaine.”  Paranoia was also there but unlike cocaine you did not come down it stayed with you. I had quit cocaine before my mental illness but it was back and I thought it was cocaine in the food at the state hospital that was one of my delusions.  I am glad all that is over.  People do not understand what drugs like cocaine and heroin do to a person.
I have known people that had a pretty good life before they started messing with those drugs and all they became is junkies not a good life for no one. I am glad that I do not get drunk anymore and glad that life is better and wonder why it did not turn out better when I got high than it was always why is this happening.  Life is still full of ups and downs but I do not tear off my medals and wish for a better life of getting high.  I enjoy my grandkids and it is better than all that anger I had before.  So the changes I have to make to lose weight do not seem all that bad as things could have been worse for me.  I could have ended up in prison for life.  Also I bet my good friend is still in the state hospital or dead as he was already older than me when I knew him.  He did not want to give up his weed to change and get out of there.  Well just hope the new year turns out great for everybody.

Growing with Recovery

I think about being a recovered Mental Health client-consumer many times throughout the years that I have been working and associating with co-workers and others.  I know that “recovery” began in the late 1980’s, a time when I was virtually useless as a drug addicted person and alcoholic.  As the Mental Health system began to change so did many others I knew as consumers and as I began to realize that I had to grow, how to start to make a transformation

I did not know.  People other than those I knew as an addict, peers in the mental health system, began to associate with me and began talking about becoming cured or recovered from their mental distress, their illness, even I wondered if there was a “cure” for the illness I suffered from, besides addiction and drunkeness.  As time progressed I learned ther were internal and external forces to be recokoned with.  Resilience and hope, words I never used, besides empowerment and something I lacked, which was responsibility and self-direction were words I never thought of until I thought of reaching out for help , yet as I grew, I learned I could educate myself about my symptoms and learn to cope and manage these symptoms of my illness.  I could with this new knowledge, mold my self with self-discipline and know what empathy meant in this society.

Recovery means changing direction, your attitude and what you believe in from what I have learned about others and myself as well.  It doesn’t mean having a reliance on medicine, pills or self-medicating your self on illicit drugs or alcohol, it means to search and explore your personal self, exercise and meditate and find a balance between yourself and those who care to help you as well as loved ones. 

Focusing on building a new world for yourslef is a step in recovery, from the woes of distress which had become common to you to knowing that recovery makes you a new person, one who is unique with an ability to understand your rights and who knows the choices and self direction of your life. 

Written by Donald S.

Response to Handling Criticism

I wrote a blog last week entitled, Emotional Strength: Handling Criticism. In that blog I stated that “Remembering that being defensive, we are closed to what’s most important to be learned and that “feedback”, “criticism” is not always easy to give just as well as receiving, but it brings about change…” In Recovery we as consumers are always subject to criticism, especially self-criticism, in our relationships to others; as we may be drug addicted or alcoholics, we spend our time, even free time in delving in criticism. Therapists are inclined to use constructive criticism to guide clients to better understand situations which warrant recovering truths or ferreting out negative characteristics.
What is criticism? “Criticism is the practice of judging merits and faults of something or someone in a sometimes negative, sometimes intelligible or articulate way.” Criticism can be directed toward an idea, a relationship, a condition, a process, person, place or thing. It can be personal or impersonal. Criticism in all is the result of critical thinking. There exist a psychology of criticism both cognitive and emotional with behavioral means of criticism and there is also an influence on how people react.
“There is the Psychology of criticism: a) motivation, b) meaning, c) effect, d) response, e) quantity and quality, f) form, g) learning, l) subliminal, repression or denial.”
In all, people want to use criticism to achieve some kind of improvement, in other words there is a positive reason in creating a criticism. Criticism is a formidable weapon which can create difficulty of respect for someone, causing disrespect and surfeiting equality. As a recovered drug addict and alcoholic, I met with criticism most of my life, though my self-esteem was not much to think about, neither was my attitude towards other people, who saw my way of life as being such a heathen, albeit a degenerate in some respects. This gave me many negative feelings towards other people without regard to what the positive constraints might be at the time. There is a balance to criticism and it’s always important never to overdo, nor be timid, keeping thoughts always consistent. It’s important to be neither overtly critical nor without being uncritical. People who are to critical, are looked at as being too negative, with no constructive attitude. There are those persons who are uncritical and they are known as naïve or superficial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism
“Psychologist concerned with human communication, such as therapist, therefore recommends that people should choose the right words to express their criticism”. I made my mistake in using the word “feedback” instead of criticism. Where feedback can be both positive and negative, so can criticisms; they can be mistaken for one another. In response to a comment made, there exist a psychopathology of criticism which is a study of unhealthy forms of criticism and also responses to criticism. They are found in the US Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In this Manual you may find; Low Self Esteem (being sensitive to criticism), Paranoid Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Hypercriticism (fault finding or nagging) and other disorders. To understand pathological criticism and responses, situations must be created to bring out the good or bad side of peoples with such illnesses, in order to bring them into an understanding state about the illness and how it can be controlled.

Written by Donald S.

Recovery with Understanding

I felt this blah feeling inside as if loneliness was a door to door salesman without any commodities. I realized being a mental health consumer, you have to find your niche, or a special group of people who understand, and don’t think about having an illness; that is, carrying the weight of being mentally ill, or being different. We are a different breed of people as I see it, many of us are loners, many cannot find themselves out of the rut of chemical dependency, others still try to live their lives as a family unit, having become married or being single parents. The wondering has begun and I am curious about what am I suppose to be doing? Writing a blog, cleaning my apartment, socializing with strangers on the bus route, going where there are other strangers who are wondering life about the same as I.
Recovery is a small part of the reclamation of life. It is defined very well, yet I must leave the room where I have had my psychotherapeutic sessions, I must take the medications to maintain my stability and pull myself together as many mental health consumers do and try to carry on with my life. What is Recovery? “Recovery in mental health is different than recovery of physical health”. Recovery in mental health means staying in control of your life even though you may be experiencing mental health issues. http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-a-z/R/recovery/
Putting recovery in action means, you are focusing on caring, support and building a friendship with people who are facing similar mental health problems. There really is no one definition to Mental Health Recovery but there is a guiding light and that is hope, working towards what is possible to rebuild a meaningful life in spite of being mentally ill. Recovery is a principle of spirituality, belief, commitment and support.
As I sit alone, I think that I must go beyond existing; I must set new goals and develop new relationships which will influence and change my life as well as others. I must always be in search of a newer meaning of life in order to accomplish something new. Someone once told me that, I may carry my illness for the rest of my life and thought I might not control what may be the signs of the disease of illness, yet I can have control over my life. There may be limits, but we can look beyond those boundaries to help others and help ourselves to recognize our goals and dreams. We are traveling into the realm of self recognition and with what we experience we also grow.
Written by Donald S.

Alcohol and Recovery

This is a follow up to Donald’s blog.  I used to drink alcohol since I was about fourteen.  I remember my first drink I could not even finish the first bottle.  After that I could never get enough.  I used drugs although I would quit them and drink better than drugs.  More friends would pitch in for alcohol.  Every crime I committed I was drunk.  I never was put in jail because of something I did when I was sober.  A person does not think when he is drunk.
My first DUI came when I was nineteen and few months later I received my second DUI.  I was put on antibuse and probation.  The day I was off probation I proceeded to get drunk on my favorite Bacardi 151.  The police tried to stop me as I was driving again.  I did not want to go back to jail.  So I attempted to elude them and they chased me even through Lincoln Park and they set up a road block on Speer and 14th and stopped me.  I received thirty more days in jail and put back on probation.
It costed a lot for the lawyer to get me that deal.  I was always paying the government to keep myself out of jail with fines and lawyers.  They asked me if drinking and the life I was living was so rotten why I did not just quit.  The answer I knew no other way of life.  I would drink and be angry at the way life was going, never had anything that I did not destroy.  I had been to AA meetings with a friend although was always drunk going to them so I never heard the message.  My friend when he finally did quit it was too late because he had developed cirrhosis of the liver.
That is eventually where that disease lands you in prison for life or a medical disease.  I’ve had two good friends that were heavy drinkers that passed away young.  Again I can say I am lucky, mental illness brought me a stop to my drinking.  I cannot say AA did even though I believe their message.  My last drinking that brought me to the state hospital was my bottom.  You can put all the alcohol in front of me and I will not drink.  I know what kind of life it will lead to and I do not want it.
I remember attending an AA meeting in college and this new person came in and he told me when I first saw you here and I was running the meetings at the time.  He said “he is not a drunk, until you told your story”. He became a good friend.  It is like I lived two lives.  This second life with my daughter and grandkids I would not give up for the world. I do not put blame for those that started me off so young.  It would have happened anyway. I am just happy with life as it is and the problems I have that I do not have to drink or drug to still be the same problems tomorrow.
I can deal with life and it is a lot better.  I do not destroy my stereo or possessions no longer.  I can enjoy them.  I do not make a fool of myself.  It is going on twenty four years sober in April. I do not have any old friends from the old days because in the past they were my trigger.  When I try and get sober they did not know what to do with me.  They are from my other life.  I cannot forget the ways life was then and them.

Life in Recovery

It is hard to tell someone not doing well that things will get better.  When you do not have a job or a way to pay bills and you tell them hang in it will get better.  I’ve been on the down side of life before.  I know it is hard.  I was once facing twenty four years in prison.  I did not take a deal.  I was in trial and just before lunch the prosecutor said he was going to put a witness on the stand in a case that I had already did time for.  I went to a fast food restaurant for lunch but my mind was not on anything but my trial.  There was a server that told me hi and don’t I remember her.  I could not my mind was not there.  
When I was back in the car, I remembered who she was I knew her for years how did I not remember her in the restaurant.  I know now what worry can do to the mind.  Well I went back to court and we went in the judge’s chambers and my lawyers had worked during lunch.  The judge was not going to allow that witness to testify because we would have to retry the other case as well as this one.  Although she said she was not going to allow me to use the provocation law.  Of course I was acquitted on one count and found guilty on the other where she would not give me the law.
Maybe I smiled to fast when they said guilty, because I knew that on appeal I would win.  The judge would not give me an appeal bond and I did two years before I won my appeal.  That is where and when I had my first bout of mental illness I prison.  I have been down before.  It is not forever.  I knew in prison I would have to do some time although I also knew that once my case was heard I would be out.  I have always had hope.  That is a key to recovery that things will get better.
Another thing in recovery is time.  I know that this one is hard even for me.  People say I need a fast fix I do not have ten years to read positive books and wait for change.  What are you doing in those ten years?  Would it not be better to do something than nothing?  I know when I was in the state hospital; I did not want to hear it takes five years.  There are groups there and there is A.A. and you have to build a foundation that will not blow away like straw. I can say my medication works very well.  I read for some it does not and I feel for them people when I have it so easy.
I did the work in A.A. and I do not miss drinking or want it.  I can go into a bar and not want to drink I have done this and I did not want it.  I went once to a bar and it was my first time back in a bar and my last.  I had to do it to prove to myself that I would not drink again and that it would be my last time ever going to jail or anything because of alcohol.  I would not recommend this I just had to find out. In April I will have twenty three years of sobriety.  I would not for the life of me exchange it for a drink.
I know life can be hard although you have to look at what you have to be happy for.  My grandkid succeeding where I did not even though I was smart I took the wrong road.  I could have had a lot more material things by now if I would have went to high school or college.  Although I do not know if that would have prepared me for my breakdown or my eventual recovery that is where I can help my grandkids succeed in life through experiences when life gets tough.  Another key to recovery is you do not have to take everything a person says to recover.  If you take one thing from a lot of different people and can form your own recovery.  Everyone is different and not everything works for everyone.

The News and Recovery

I usually do not talk about the news when someone with a mental illness kills someone.  Although this latest one hit home, because I have grandchildren and I would never want them harmed in anyway.  My heart goes out to those families.  It is stories like this that bring on a bad image to people with mental illness.  There are online websites trying to change laws like the TreatmentAdvocacy Center I read their website every week.  To see what they say about what happened during the week and the changes happening around the country.  Also I heard on the news this morning that Governor Hinkenlooper is asking for changes in policies in the City of Denver concerning the mentally ill.
When I became mentally ill for the second time here in Denver, my mom called a mental health place and they told her that she could not do anything I would have to ask for help.  That was the law and I think it still is.  The same night she asked for help I was drinking and committed a crime and was sent to the state hospital.  I do not like the state hospital, although it was the best thing that happened to me.  If I would have asked for help out here on the streets I would not have succeeded as well as I did.  The state hospital gave me a chance to start not only my typing from zero also my life.  I was able to take a different fork in the road and change everything about my life.
It worked out good for me because I did not kill anyone.  For that I thank the lord. I hate being mentally ill when it happens.  I know when I read that someone with a mental illness killed a lot of people.  It makes others look bad at that person and all people with mental illness.  I also think how that person ruined their life because they or those around them did not seek help.  Locked up for life in prison or a state hospital is no fun.  I can remember when I was doing thirty days for a DUI and a person I knew told me he had just received a life sentence and laughed about it.  That freaked me out.  Although then life was twenty year before parole now it is forty years or without parole.  That is insane and I do not wish it on anyone.
I do not glamorize my years locked up especially to my grandchildren.  They only know me now and that is the way I will always keep it.  I do not put blame on anyone in the past for the way I was.  I am just thankful for my life now.  The people and the times in the past were just the way they were brought up and they loved in the way they knew how.  Although I would never want anyone to become an alcoholic or drug addict.  I saw too many young people become addicted to drugs and throw their life away and just want to do that drug and forget family and everything.
That is one reason I wanted to become a drug counselor was to help young people.  Although the politics of that profession made me change my mind and go for my masters in a different field. I could not help the ones I wanted to.

A Recovery Story

I have read a few recovery stories, reading them now and then, to keep myself in check with my own Recovery and therapy.  I often cheer for those who have overcome their drug use, their alcoholism and still battle with having to overcome the mental diagnosis which caused them to forsake the world they live in.  The person I am writing about at this time lived a clean and sober life after getting out of prison for many years, then suddenly relapsed on cocaine and became lost in despair and recklessness, living the same abandonment he suffered in his childhood.  He caught himself falling and faced his mistakes once again, this time teaching others as a peer specialist, he has relapsed and gained strength again as others before him have done.

As he began to slip away from his sobriety, thievery began to take him down into other depths.  He had been married and began using again on the streets, literally stealing from his job, yet as he understood what he was doing, he turned and faced the problem he was having and began to stand up again to the circumstances which caused his problem.  He said one reason he relapsed is because he forgot his coping skills as he is a trained mental health educator, who has a dual diagnosis—mood disorder and drug addiction.  He eventually checked into the hospital knowing this was the most necessary of things to do.  This same man was an ex-convict and those whom he had worked with who were either drug users or drug dealers who he felt put his sobriety in danger.

Ex-Convict Uses Battle With Addiction and Mental Illness to Help Others - NYTimes.com

“The mental health care system has long made use of former patients as counselors and practice has been controversial…”

For one thing our ex-drug addict/convict is a self taught ex-convict who has become a prominent peer trainer giving classes across the country today.  He is one of the small number of people whom have described publicly how hard it is to manage a severe dual-diagnosis and what the setbacks could be.  With the help of religion, medication and self expression, he as others have found a way out of addiction and learned to maintain their symptoms of dual diagnosis, without having to return to the shadows.

 

Written by Donald S.

Confidence in Recovery

When you feel that heated blast of air, or run into a brick wall while trying run a race, adrenaline is the recommendation to overcome those hurdles which beset you or slow you down causing you to wane in your abilities to succeed. Yet, it is confidence which carries you over the hurdles you must cross and a great part of confidence which exist in Mental Health is Recovery, crossing the boundaries of mental illness.
Recovery is an idea in Mental Health which began as research in 1987. Doctors and researchers other than the doctor who initiated the idea of Recovery, believed mental illness to be chronic and all that a mentally ill patient could hope for or expect is long term stability in their illness. Eventually it was uncovered that there existed outcomes associated with mental illness and many people did in fact progress beyond just stability. In 1993, Recovery was identified as a “deeply personal, unique process of changing a person’s attitude, values, feelings, goals, skills and roles. Recovery is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life even with limitations caused by an illness. It involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as they grow beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness”.
 Though I had been a part of the mental health system since 1985, I didn’t begin to accept my treatment until 1996, I had been through psychiatric treatment in three hospitals for drug addiction and alcoholic dependence, yet I didn’t begin to open my mind until I saw myself as I really had been. In 1996, I knew I was weak, without any strength, no home to call my own and very little self-esteem; this is confidence also, and I had none at all. I began to get serious about the groups I was attending; hope was strong within not only me, yet others whom have given me guidance and words of wisdom to walk away from the addictions I was suffering from. I began to understand my desire to want to live and I realized everyone has hope and I will become one with what I desire, freedom from my addictions and the mental illness I had accrued. I began to understand words such as Empowerment and what it meant, having control and power over my life and over my mental illness.
Confidence is having the mental and physical strength to oversee one’s life and to cross the boundaries that exist before you. Since I started working though, I noticed my strength waning and my hope becoming a distant reality. I realized it became not a matter of the medications which kept me built up nor the lack of belief in what I had learned to overcome my problems, it was becoming a part of the system itself and living a new role which I had in the past not accepted and that is as an employee; not knowing what’s expected of me. Going through this passage, I found that we regain our confidence and self esteem and are regaining a new identity; free of the stigma’s that we once lived with and are gaining a newer sense of life and priorities as well.
Written by Donald S.

A Choice to Know

I was reading several articles on Justification this past Sunday, and became confused somewhat of the ideas of Justification, not only in the Mental Health Services, yet also the ideologies of consumers, especially those with dual diagnosis, who will use Justification as a defense mechanism to prove their own righteousness or their own exactness to gain their needs. I said whoa…! The one idea in Mental Health of Justification is building a foundation for hope, identity, self-esteem and responsibility. I go to another page and I am reading about Justifying (justification; defending ourselves through our own exactness), Rationalization) talking ourselves into a thought of righteous acts or choices), Minimization (the idea of taking the truth and doing away with the reality of it) and Projection (the passing of guilt onto someone or something).
What I had experienced was somewhat a opposite of definitions and words’, representing what is good and what is negative in ones search for changing their lives through Recovery. There are many avenues to changing one’s life through Recovery. Recovery is the future for consumers and mental health workers and has been for several decades using fundamental practices and values in the challenge of setting a direction for Mental Health Services and consumers alike.
What is Recovery? Recovery is based on the acceptance, hope and identity of the mentally ill, or consumer, their self-esteem, direction and responsibility. Our strengths and the changes in our mental awareness give mental health workers a clue to our recovery along with ideas to our relationships, our personal values and other passages towards our Recovery. It’s caring, not stagnation that’s being given to consumers, for themselves and others. And though albeit the words are ever changing the idea of Recovering from despair to optimism in being is truly a tandem effect of those that care to help change the ideas of the consumer for the betterment of their well being to the acceptance of the consumer who wants to change, despite the definition of which may not have been a part of their reality.
Written by Donald Sammons

Sincerity of Your Recovery

Have you even thought you were being sincere about your Recovery? Sincerity means simply being genuine or without deceit. When people are genuine they are true or real about themselves and of others, they are honest in a sense without being under handed or deceitful. This positivity is respected and keeps people together as friends and neighbors as well as family; being sincere lets others know you can be respected in many ways.

I began my Recovery program with a negative attitude. I couldn’t see the reason for sitting and talking and filling out papers in regards to my mental stability. I made promises to attend groups; I slouched in meetings, spoke negatively about other people, and denied the real truth about myself. I didn’t have respect for clinicians and my thinking that they “thought they knew it all and knew nothing” and I was not being positive about others helping me nor was I positive about my will being nor honest about my real feelings.

When you are sincere about your Recovery you want to recover from the woes you have been suffering from. You need and want to understand how to change from a negative beat to the more positive and stay on track with the respect you want to achieve; not only respect for yourself, yet to gain respect and give such to others. We don’t go around corners seeking sincerity, we live it, being real to be true to ourselves and others, without be deceitful, or procrastinating our lives.

When we take our first step to Recovery we are already at the lowest point of our lives, we feel we have become abandoned and are without trust of others. A part of us are seeking belief in another to help us overcome our predicament, and we want someone to believe in us. With sincere belief, without jeopardizing ourselves any further, our way to Recovery becomes our life and we begin to relish the hope we gain in our improving through our treatment. If you are sincere you will believe there are no boundaries to overcoming mental illness.

Written by Donald Sammons

Strength in Mental Health Recovery

The inner strength of the consumer going through Recovery comes from many sources. There are material sources; housing, health care, transportation and a solid means of communication, one source being the telephone. This material gives the consumer, the mental health client, the ability to move forward in their Recovery. When stricken with poverty, there exist a lack of resources and there is no assurance in Recovery when a person is befallen with a mental illness, in essence there is no way for them to reach out.

Strength in Recovery involves a different dimension of responsibility; it involves associating with other people; being a member of the community. It means being connected to friends, neighbors, and family. Living in social and personal isolation, poverty, withdrawal, having poor social skills, poor health causes not only social stigma yet a stigma of self which slows the journey of Recovery and heightens a weakness within the consumer.

Though I am going through the Recovery process and becoming self sufficient; a recovered addict and alcoholic, not to mention being dual diagnosis, I still struggle with acceptance, even in the new neighborhood I live in. News travels fast when your striking it rich or you have done wrong and as I have had to find a way to be socially accepted, my inner strength seems to grow and not having many friends because of the changes I have made from old to new, I was not willing to be socially stagnant; I had to find my niche, being mentally ill, I had to grow in strength and know what to accept.

This all becomes a matter of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual and these aspects changed the way I see the Recovery process. I had to learn to become optimistic and see my life with a purpose. Finding strength in your Recovery is in essence gaining power and control over your life through a righteous choice, using the resources you have gained and learning to self manage your treatment, choosing how you see yourself and the quality of your life.
Written By Donald Sammons

Changing Your Mind in Recovery

There was a time when Mental Health meant nothing to me. I did not consider myself mentally ill, while drowning in alcohol and running the streets until all hours passed and using drugs till I had to become drunk again. All the while, I believed I had no mental problems, not one. After coming into contact with mental health counselors and doctors, I felt I wanted go straight, quit drinking and using illicit drugs, yet something else inside me kept telling me I needed my freedom, I needed friends to understand me and how I saw the world. I turned away from the mental health center, not realizing till I tried twice again to get help that I needed help; I understood I was alone in my beliefs and there was nothing concrete or real about them.

This scenario happens to many people, especially to dually-diagnosed and manic depressive individuals. We seek help or are offered a helping hand, yet down the line we turn and run for what is more comforting as we believe life has been for us or can be by more arcane ideas, other un-orthodox beliefs.

When seeking help, we should understand at first sight that our ideas have caused us troubles as have the ideas of those we trusted we have followed, into the early morning hours. We don’t walk away from the table when the cards are right, we follow through with our understanding that we cannot fail in our direction of not taking a drink or other avenues which my start us on the road of destruction. We must learn what causes self self-destrcrtion and learn to turn our back to it instead of turning over the losing card. In turn we must be brave and face what “evils” lurk within, and turn our worthless dreams into the bounty of ideas which give us positive growth.

Following the precepts of Mental Health, and psychotherapy, not to mention other schools of thought, we are able to change our negative ideas into positive and good works which not only help us to lead a better life; yet let our peers know as well that we have a keener understanding, and a willingness to share a new life, one of which we have inherited. Determination is what you are seeking to overcome the obstacles which cause the backsliding attitude which causes failure, which keeps you turning in different directions. To become strong and to live again, with peace of mind, you must look into your thoughts and know that they can be soothed and you can be freed from the pain to change the obstacles, which have caused you to live within

Stigma

Is it slowly going away, I do not think so? In this article it says it is improving for people with mental illness and work. They say there is not as much stigma as there once was. This article talks about employees getting more mental health services than before. That sounds better than a couple of months ago when all the talk was about Jared Loughner.
It looked like stigma was here to stay and nothing could change it. I believe with celebrities coming out and speaking about it has helped. It is also more productive if companies accept and get there employees help. That would help a lot. Then at least some companies would not hinder their employees from seeking help. It would be hard to work and have a mental illness. I would be pretty embarrassed if I had to come back to the same job after a breakdown.
It was a lot worse twenty or forty years back. I think more people are talking about mental illness than before. Let’s hope they can understand it right and we do not have as much stigma as before. “Mental illness is one of the leading causes of workplace absenteeism." It would be hard to lose your job because you are mentally ill. The reason why is “about half of people with mental and substance abuse problems go without treatment, the figures show.” If you do not understand that you are mentally ill how can you ask for help? There is a lot of absenteeism, due to mental illness, but this may be because people do not know that they maybe mentally-ill, and that is because of the fear (stigma) associated with mental illness

Compassion in Mental Health Recovery

In order to find a recovery from Mental illness, we must face the challenges of our experience, of all things that have made us afraid. Fear comes from many different places and these fears make it hard to accept ourselves, our friends, family and our own challenges. We cannot progress in our recovery if we cannot accept our selves, and this takes compassion in order to encompass the obstacles that stand before us.
While in recovery, I became employed as a data entry clerk. With little experience I worked to the best of my abilities, yet even so, I was afraid I was not good enough and the old patterns of fears began to set within my mind. I wanted to quit, and return to living on Social Security because I couldn’t handle the stress of what I had to learn in order to maintain employability. These fears slowly passed, yet I understood they had at one time bound me and their impact upon me struck deep within my mind. I saw that these fears were deep within my heart as well and were like wounds within the flesh. I had no compassion and could not grow earnestly.
Abraham Maslow said in 1968, “that emotional maturity requires a mind that does not judge, is forgiving and includes a loving acceptance of self.” How do we become strong in the light of self compassion? We suffer and recognize our suffering and allow ourselves to understand our illness. We have taken the time to train ourselves through our experiences and we know that the guilt and condemnation we suffer from will destroy our sense of worth.
Compassion is deeper than self esteem and it is self compassion that will help us accept the way things are and give us light to change in the future. Self esteem is how you feel about yourself; this could be low self esteem, depression or another mental illness or you may feel just right, having good feelings about yourself. Self compassion is relating to one’s own self, it is self kindness and understanding of the self and seeing one’s own experience as a part of the greater human experience, rather than isolating and keeping painful thoughts in awareness. It is the awareness of compassion which gives us good feelings and perception of the nature of our experience.

Written by Donald Sammons

An Idea of Recovery

I have been in Recovery from a mental illness for a long time, and what I have realized is that the mental health system itself has gone through a change itself, helping consumers move towards not only recovery, yet also a self sustaining attitude of understanding their own symptoms and to overcome the negative experiences of their lives. At MHCD, they, the clinicians,
“work towards transformation and focus to help people stabilize their illness and achieve a meaningful life”. Even though I myself am taking medications and have been for over 20 years, I feel I have reached the summit of overcoming my mental illness.
There have been many medication changes, yet I have learned that the symptoms no longer overwhelm me, not only because of the medications yet also because of group and individual sessions which helped me mold the ideas of change I was searching for. As a consumer, I believe to have a life is to have experience, and to accept knowledge and wisdom to make a positive change in one’s life. So I began with a mission and focused on being well, with positive expectations, and new relationships and to continue to reach for Recovery.
Support and understanding is what we seek as consumers in Mental Health, from our friends and families as well. We want to embrace the vision of Recovery and bring change to ourselves and enhance the knowledge of those whom have led us and served us with respect. We must move forward and begin to think we are not mentally ill or different, yet changing to overcome our thoughts and negative feelings bought on through experience.

Written by Donald Sammons

Still Recovering

As I wrote in an earlier blog I am a recovering alcoholic. I was on antibuse and counseling after my first DUI. They did not help me. The counselor they gave me both times I had a DUI did not counsel me the right way. People might think I am paranoid as I go back over how I was counseled after my first DUI. I was put on antibuse, although when they first put me on it I could still drink. I guess it was a low dose.
My girlfriend, whom I would later marry, told the counselor that I was still drinking. He increased the dose of my antibuse. When I tried to drink again I was very sick. That finally stopped my drinking. Although my drinking was stopped nobody told me why or even counseled me. I was only eighteen years old. My girlfriend and me married and divorced while I was on antibuse for the first DUI.
Even though I was divorced I still went to see this counselor. After my divorce he seemed like he really did not care whether I quit or not. Just that I took my antibuse. No counseling on my triggers or why I drank. To let me know there was another way to deal with life besides drinking. When the night came and I was finished with counseling and antibuse. I went out and drank. I had a bottle in my car and drove all over town. Even went to Lakewood.
A police officer tried to stop my car. I took him on a chase through the Denver. They finally stopped me without wrecking the car. I was put back on antibuse and the same counselor. He still did not help. I really did not receive any help on my drinking until my mental illness. There are more personal reasons why I do not like this counselor. Since the late seventies counseling has changed. I should know I am a drug and alcohol counselor that is what I originally went to college for.
I do know if that counselor would have only tried to help back then my life would have been different. Construction and drinking went together. I was doing well at my job they were even getting ready to make me a foreman. Then I drank too much and totaled my car.