Winter 2010 - Volume 8 - Issue 1
- STRAIGHT TALK
Recovery through reading
By Bill MacPhee
I was fundraising at a walk for schizophrenia a few years ago where there was a person who was drawing sketches of people in exchange for donations. I gave him some money and sat in the chair to have him sketch me. He asked if I had a hobby; I though for a few seconds and said, “Well, I like to read…”
- MAILBAG
I was always under the impression that it was beneficial for persons suffering from the most horrible illness—schizophrenia—to be able to get into the workforce. Then maybe [they would] be able to lead as near to a normal life as possible…
- MY STORY
A laugh and a prayer
By Brad Peters
There are many effective ways of treating and living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia—medication, counseling, and lifestyle changes rank high on the list. Anne Marie Elderkin of Halifax, Nova Scotia, quickly and emphatically adds two more healing and coping factors to her recovery list: humor and faith…
- NEWS UPDATE
Stories from around the world
- LIVING LIFE
Life’s song
By Christina Bruni
“You’re listening to WSIA, Staten Island,” I spoke into the microphone. The solitary light above the mixing board shone like a private moon. I was an on-air personality at 88.9 FM, the college radio station that broadcasts left of the commercial end of the FM dial.
- Violence and schizophrenia
Taming the criminal myths
By Peggy Thompson
Schizophrenia is quite possibly the most misunderstood mental illness known to mankind. The medical condition of schizophrenia—more often than not—is mistakenly associated with many prejudicial notions, including the belief that those inflicted with the illness have a split personality and are dangerous. It’s a tough stereotype for consumers to shake; they certainly did not aspire to suffer from a mental illness, let alone be stigmatized as violet predators…
Full Story
- CAREGIVER TIPS
Learning the ropes
By Michelle Morra
Treating schizophrenia would be so much easier if not for one fact: The more effective the medication, the stronger the side effects. For Rainbow, a 29-year-old woman in Los Angeles, antipsychotic medications caused considerable weight gain, but the alternative was far worse…
Full Story
- FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS
Filling the gaps in Canada’s mental health strategy
By Christine Elliott, MPP
In 2006, a landmark report concerning Canadian mental health issues was released by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology, entitled “Out of the Shadows at Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada.” The Committee, chaired by the Honourable Michael Kirby, recommended a National Mental Health Commission, which was created by the federal government in its 2007 budget…
- BODY MATTERS
Making sense of labels
By Peter Jaret
“Made with whole grains!” proclaims one food label. “Low in saturated fat!” promises another. “All natural!” trumpets a third. Originally designed to help us make the healthiest choices, food labels now carry so many claims that it’s often hard to make sense of them…
Full Story
- ASK DR. BOB
The benefit of vitamins, and other questions
By Robert Liberman, MD
Dear Dr. Bob: Is it okay to take vitamins with my psychiatric medications?
- The Secret Handshake
A peer support group like no other
By Patricia Jane Teskey
The Secret Handshake—despite its furtive-sounding name—is a peer support group that welcomes anyone with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. “We’re diagnostic-specific, which means you cannot come into our group if you do not have schizophrenia,” explains its founder.
- POINTS OF VIEW
Should pharmacists be allowed to prescribe?
By Melissa Keith
It’s a late night, a holiday weekend, or you’re away on vacation, and suddenly you realize that your medication is almost—or already—gone. It can be weeks before your next appointment with your doctor, and so an emergency room or walk-in clinic may be the only option for a last-minute prescription renewal. It isn’t always the best option when it comes to psychiatric medications; careful assessment of symptoms and side effects is usually an ongoing process for patient and doctor…
Full Story
- LESSONS LEARNED
You can’t always get what you want
By Xavier Amador, PhD
Over and over again, I see people lose sight of the forest for the trees. The big picture—what they really need—gets lost as they focus on those magic words they think they need to hear: “I admit it, I’m sick, you were right…”
- MY VOICE
A sister’s turmoil
By Margie Goldsmith
My older sister Kathy was a chronic paranoid schizophrenic but no one ever talked about it when I was growing up in the 1950s. My parents told everyone that she was away at a boarding school. It was really a school for emotionally disturbed children…
- BOOKS
Books for sz consumers, caregivers, and mental health professionals
- FAITH IN LIFE
The medicine is the medium
By Bill MacPhee
I hear it all the time from people who attend church or have some other kind of religious affiliation: They’ve been instructed by someone at their church to go off their medication because “you don’t need medication if you pray enough or have faith…”
- RESEARCH UPDATE
New studies into schizophrenia and related illnesses
- BOOKS
Books for consumers, caregivers, and mental health professionals
To purchase this issue, click here.
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