People With Mental Illness Can Enrich Our Lives
If you are living with a mental illness (a consumer), do not despair. Millions of people are just like you. Numerous notable consumers have or continue to enrich our lives. You also have a contribution to make to society.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a nonprofit, grassroots organization with more than 1,200 local affiliates nationwide, states that mental illnesses are brain-based conditions that can disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others.
Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are brain disorders that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of daily life. They are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. In any given year, more than five million Americans suffer from an acute episode of mental illness. One in every five families is affected in their lifetime by a severe mental illness.
Mental illnesses are NOT the result of personal weakness, lack of character, poor upbringing, passing moods of stress, lack of sleep, lack of faith, or demonic possession. Most importantly, these brain disorders are treatable.
NAMI recommends an individual or tailored treatment plan for persons who are diagnosed with a mental illness. As persons living with diabetes may take insulin, most people with serious mental illness need medication to help control symptoms. Supportive counseling, self-help groups, housing, vocational rehabilitation, income assistance, and other services can also provide support and stability to persons living with a mental illness, leaving the focus on the process of recovery.
Throughout history, many people have suffered from mental illness. According to NAMI, some notable people who suffer/have suffered from a mental illness are:
As NAMI Ruston, NAMI Louisiana, and NAMI members and friends, let us continue
to focus on more support to persons with brain disorders and their families; advocacy for nondiscriminatory and equitable federal, state, and private-sector policies; research into the causes, symptoms, and treatments for brain disorders; and education to eliminate the pervasive stigma surrounding mental illnesses.
For more information about mental illnesses or for assistance, contact NAMI Ruston.
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Article published by Jerrilene Washington, Ed.D., a retired associate professor from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and the president of the Ruston chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Ruston).
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a nonprofit, grassroots organization with more than 1,200 local affiliates nationwide, states that mental illnesses are brain-based conditions that can disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others.
Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are brain disorders that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of daily life. They are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. In any given year, more than five million Americans suffer from an acute episode of mental illness. One in every five families is affected in their lifetime by a severe mental illness.
Mental illnesses are NOT the result of personal weakness, lack of character, poor upbringing, passing moods of stress, lack of sleep, lack of faith, or demonic possession. Most importantly, these brain disorders are treatable.
NAMI recommends an individual or tailored treatment plan for persons who are diagnosed with a mental illness. As persons living with diabetes may take insulin, most people with serious mental illness need medication to help control symptoms. Supportive counseling, self-help groups, housing, vocational rehabilitation, income assistance, and other services can also provide support and stability to persons living with a mental illness, leaving the focus on the process of recovery.
Throughout history, many people have suffered from mental illness. According to NAMI, some notable people who suffer/have suffered from a mental illness are:
- Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Patrick Kennedy, and James Farmer -- political or national leaders.
- Mike Wallace and Jim Jensen -- news anchors.
- Joan Rivers, Rod Steiger, Dick Clark, Rona Barrett, John Belushi, Rosie O’Donnell, Michelangelo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Vivien Leigh, Gaetano Donizetti, Patti Duke, Vincent Van Gogh, and Vaslov Nijinsky -- artists, composers, actresses, dancers, and entertainers.
- Kitty Dukakis, Alma Powell, and Tipper Gore -- wives of politicians (Michael Dukakis, Colin Powell, and Al Gore).
- Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Art Buchwald, Jules Feiffer, William Styron, John Keats, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Wolf, Leo Tolstoy, Eugene O’Neill, Robert Schumann, and Sylvia Plath -- poets, authors/novelists, and playwrights.
- Lindsay Crosby and Gary Crosby, Jessie Close, and Kathy Cronkite -- relatives of public figures (sons of Bing Crosby, sister of Glenn Close, and daughter of Walter Cronkite).
- Lionel Aldridge and Jimmy Piersall -- professional athletes.
As NAMI Ruston, NAMI Louisiana, and NAMI members and friends, let us continue
to focus on more support to persons with brain disorders and their families; advocacy for nondiscriminatory and equitable federal, state, and private-sector policies; research into the causes, symptoms, and treatments for brain disorders; and education to eliminate the pervasive stigma surrounding mental illnesses.
For more information about mental illnesses or for assistance, contact NAMI Ruston.
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Article published by Jerrilene Washington, Ed.D., a retired associate professor from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and the president of the Ruston chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Ruston).