Fall 2009 - Volume 7 - Issue 4
- STRAIGHT TALK
Still learning
By Bill MacPhee
If you know me, you know I consider myself successful and that I enjoy my work, my family, and my lifestyle. I truly consider myself recovered from schizophrenia even though I still have to take my meds and deal with some side effects such as difficulty sleeping and issues with my weight…
- MY VOICE
Attitude is everything
By Jason Spence
One of my brothers was convicted of attempted murder. Another was deported to Jamaica after robbing a bank. My sister died of anorexia. I always felt I was the great hope for my family…
- ASK DR. BOB
About extrapyramidal side effects
By Robert Liberman, MD
If someone is on a psychotropic drug for five or six months and is having difficulty with extrapyramidal side effects, does it mean the medication is working?
- FUELING YOUR BODY ON A BUDGET
By Rebecca Parton
You are what you eat. Just ask Michael Alzamora of Toronto, Ontario. Hours of watching television, snacking on sugary pastries, and drinking cola formed an overweight man headed toward heart disease and diabetes. Poor food choices and lack of exercise, coupled with the side effects of his medications, made living a healthy lifestyle difficult for Michael. But Mother Nature’s bounty gave him wellness…
Full Story
- LIVING LIFE
Home sweet home
By Christina Bruni
In June, I took the biggest leap I’ve taken in 10 years: I moved into a livable rental in my Brooklyn neighborhood. My goal of owning a co-op was dashed because of high prices; the apartments I could afford were cramped and dismal. After a fruitless search, I waited until spring to approach a different real estate broker...
- HAPPY BEING ME
By Peggy Thompson
Wendy Matthews could hear her husband calling out to her from another room. They were going out and it was time to leave. But she didn’t move toward his voice. Instead, as she focused on the knife in her hand, she wondered, Should I slit my wrists or my throat? How long will it take me to die?
- BODY MATTERS
Getting help to quit
By Peter Jaret
It took Deidre Stenard eight tries before she finally quit for good. “I was up to three packs a day, and I knew it was terrible for my health. I knew I was killing myself with cigarettes,” she remembers…
- POINTS OF VIEW
Should violent offenders with schizophrenia live in the community after treatment/rehabilitation?
By Melissa Keith
It’s a topic that stirs passionate responses on both sides of the argument: Whether individuals who committed acts of violence while psychotic can, or should, transition from institutional to community living. Some outspoken proponents of the “community living for all” perspective declined to go on the record for this article when they were asked about the prospects of not just mentally ill individuals, but mentally ill offenders…
Full Story
- LESSONS LEARNED
Psychotherapy for persons with schizophrenia?
By Xavier Amador, PhD
As I have written before in this column, about 50 percent of persons with schizophrenia have difficulty seeing that they have a mental illness (i.e. they have anosognosia) and this lack of awareness is linked to frontal lobe dysfunction. As such, it does not change—insight does not increase—easily over time...
Full Story
- CAREGIVER PROFILE
Love stands strong
By Brad Peters
A distinguished 20-year career in the United States military. A single mother. Fighting to ensure the optimal level of health care for her family. Jenny Holloway can boast (not that she would) of succeeding at all of these things. Clearly, Holloway is a strong, capable woman. You have to be to succeed in the military or to survive as a single parent. And as anyone who has tackled the medical system knows, victories aren’t won by weak or half-hearted efforts. Holloway has needed to be strong to survive. However, despite her mental fortitude, nothing prepared her for the day she first heard her 13-year-old son, Kole, tell her that he wanted to kill himself…
Full Story
- MY STORY
Bruce Van Dusen: Grateful to advocate
By Steve Harrington
If you’re looking for Bruce Van Dusen after work, you may find him bass fishing with friends, at a drag race, riding his motorcycle, or taking a walk near his Indianapolis, Indiana home…
- FAITH IN LIFE
A modern parable
By Bill MacPhee
I like to read, so recently when I was scouting for a book, a friend told me about The Shack by William Paul Young (Windblown Media, 2008) and since it was available in our church library, I picked it up. Initially, I was disappointed because it is fiction and I usually read nonfiction. But, I decided to read the book anyway and it turned out to be a good choice. I finished it in less than four days: I was into it in every spare minute I had…
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