Insights into mental illness

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI):  "Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning."

While listening to our two guest speakers from the NAMI, I learned about the different steps that they and people in the In Our Own Voice (IOOV) video have gone through in their journey of dealing with mental illness (MI).  These steps include:

1.  Dark days
2.  Acceptance
3.  Treatment
4.  Coping skills
5.  Successes, hopes, and dreams

After sharing about their dark days (Step 1), which included details of their lives that contributed to their diagnoses, they spoke of the difficulty and importance of accepting (Step 2) one's MI as well as the importance of keeping family and friends close in order to have a strong support system and making contact with others who suffer from MI in order to realize that they aren't alone.

It's important for OTAs to help clients by putting them in contact with support groups so that they can meet individuals who have been through similar situations and understand how they feel and can identify with them.

Both men spoke of how it helped them to gain information through research by reading books on MI and searching the Internet.  As they gained more knowledge about their MI, they realized the importance of taking their medications (Step 3).

I can identify with this point.  When I was first diagnosed with epilepsy, I didn't understand it, and the medication made me sleepy so I didn't take it correctly.  It wasn't until four years later when I saw a neurologist that I began to understand the importance of the drugs.

It was the counselor who worked in his office who made realize that I couldn't miss a dose.  I finally understood why because I had the information that explained it and it made sense.

This helps me, as an OTA, see the importance of educating the client and family on the importance of taking prescribed medications and giving them information that allows them to make healthy decisions concerning their diagnoses.

Also, it's important to discuss with them side effects and ways to alleviate them, such as maintaining good physical health and participating in appropriate exercise, which can raise energy levels.

One speaker said that the key to his treatment was being able to open up to a therapist.  OTAs need to create an atmosphere that allows a client to open up by making them feel comfortable and by showing empathy -- for example, we should look them in the eyes and shouldn't be easily distracted when they're talking about their problems.

The speakers talked about coping skills that they use, such as exercising, taking quiet walks, and writing their thoughts in a journal (Step 4).

As an OTA, I would explore with clients hobbies and other activities that they enjoy that can help them as they learn to cope with MI.  One of my goals would be to help clients consider their hopes and dreams for the future and explore ways to achieve them (Step 5).  For example, the speakers work with NAMI and have achieved success in their lives.

The NAMI Web site has a helpful list of conditions that are considered mental illnesses.  You can find the list at:

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness