I've had complaints about my lack of blogs of late ... my apologies. This going back to school thing is kicking my you-know-what! Regardless, one of my classes is public speaking .. for which I have to write and deliver a number of different types of speeches (duh). Below is the narrative of the persuasive Monroe's Format speech I'll be giving tomorrow for my final ..... would love your thoughts!
Raise
your hand if you know someone with a mental illness.
Raise
your hand if you know the causes of different forms of mental
illness.
Raise
your hand if you think it's easy to recognize someone with a serious
mental illness.
Finally,
raise your hand if you think the best way to handle people with
mental illness is to keep them in hospitals or behind locked doors.
My
friend “Sarah” has a teenage daughter. Her daughter was an
intelligent creative rambunctious child, but as she has gotten into
her pre-teen and teenage years, she has become headstrong,
belligerent, violent in her outbursts and attitude towards her
parents and authority figures, lies about everything, even things
that she's obviously lying about, and has begun to have issues with
shoplifting. Her parents have tried everything from rules and
strictness to counseling and are constantly involved with her school
on her behalf. Nothing has seemed to make a difference, and the
problems simply escalate the older she becomes.
A
girl I know became more and more worried about one of her best
friends. “Gina”, who was known for her outgoing nature and
friendliness to all, was pulling away from everyone, turning down
social invitations that she would have joyfully joined in previously,
was falling way behind in her grades, and missing school constantly.
When gently asked what was wrong or if everything was okay, she
denied there was an issue and would occasionally get defensive. She
began wearing long sleeves at all times, baggier clothing and
withdrawing more and more from everyone around her.
A
woman I know has always seemed, from the outside looking in, to have
it all together. Single mom, great kids, decent job, good friends,
always putting everyone else before herself and somehow managing to
appear sane. The side that no one ever saw was when she was alone,
constantly near tears, self esteem so low that she didn't feel she
deserved to reach out for help to anyone in any part of her life, and
sometimes that even though she didn't have the guts for suicide, that
she didn't deserve to have the wonderful people and things she had in
life and that she definitely didn't deserve to live. She was always
able to dress so no one really noticed her weight continuing to drop,
until it was too late.
Mental
illness is a stigma that affects someone that most of us know. It
can be brought on by traumatic life events, imbalances in brain
chemicals, discrepancies in early brain development, and even genetic
predisposition. Unfortunately, there's generally an attitude of
misunderstanding and avoidance whenever it's brought up or made
public as a diagnosis. Children suffering from forms of mental
illness are subjected to bullying by their peers, and
misunderstanding by authority figures. Adults, can be judged as lazy
or unreliable or unintelligent. All due to the lack of understanding
and diagnosis of various common mental illnesses. But what if the
education and understanding began at an early age? What if
elementary, middle, and high schools all incorporated mental health
education into their curriculum, and preventative staff such as
trained social workers and guidance counselors were a normal funded
part of school staff in every school? Would the problem be so
misunderstood? Be less widespread? Be more easily diagnosed and the
ramifications of undiagnosed mental illness be proactively avoided?
Let's examine why mental health education and crisis prevention
should be a funded, required component of elementary, middle, and
high school education.
For
the purposes of clarification, a mental illness is a disease that
causes mild to severe disturbances in perception, thinking and
behavior. Out of the five major categories of mental illness, the
most commonly diagnosed are anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and
eating disorders. Many of these co-occur, such as someone suffering
from PTSD, an anxiety disorder, also suffering from bi-polar
disorder, a mood disorder, or, someone suffering from Anorexia, an
eating disorder, could also suffer from depression, a mood disorder,
or OCD, an anxiety disorder. Undiagnosed and untreated, mental
illness can become a major contributing factor to substance abuse
behaviors, migraine headaches, and increased susceptibility to
physical illnesses such as thyroid disease, diabetes, and heart
disease later in life. According to the World Health Organization,
about 11 percent of adolescents have a major depressive disorder by
age 18, and it is the leading cause of disability among Americans age
15 to 44. Additionally, in 2009, suicide was the third leading cause
of death among people age 15 to 24, with depression and other mental
disorders being a major cause. In the case of my friend Sarah's
daughter, the teen has endured years of teasing and bullying from
peers for not grasping academic concepts at school, a major school
disciplinary record, and, more recently, a juvenile record with the
courts for her inability to control outbursts and actions. She
became depressed and suicidal and felt the entire world was against
her. As it turns out, Sarah's daughter suffers from bi-polar
disorder. She is now receiving treatment, and recovering, but she
will have much to overcome with self-esteem, academics, and social
skills from the years of misunderstanding and lack of diagnosis.
Gina, whom I previously mentioned, was fortunate enough to be at a
smaller school that had a full time guidance counselor and social
worker. Through intervention on their part it was discovered that
she suffered from major depression and had begun cutting. They,
along with Gina's parents, were able to get her the help she needed
through counseling and medication. Five years later she is a
successful college student with a positive outlook on life.
As
with any form of illness, early diagnosis and treatment is key. The
School Social Work Association of America recommends a ratio of one
social worker to every 250 students, yet this is not the case in most
schools in our nation. In Orange County, FL, the ratio is one to
every 4,150 students. On average, social workers tend to be
responsible for 4 to 8 schools each, which makes intensive
interventions difficult. Winter Park, FL has developed a model by
combining public and private dollars that allows for each of their 12
schools to have a full or part-time social worker, mental health
counselor, or family therapist dedicated to their students. Already
this school year 433 students have completed 12-week therapy
sessions, which have taught coping skills instead of shutting down
and turning inward in response to negative situations. In Ontario,
Canada, a program developed called Beyond the Cuckoos Nest that
utilizes speakers from the community who are recovering from various
forms of mental illness in addition to classroom teaching, has been
successfully implemented into secondary schools. It has not only
raised empathy and awareness among students and teachers, but has
created an environment where stigma is decreased to the point that
assistance is more likely to be sought by students dealing with
symptoms of mental illness of any kind. One teacher who participated
in the program noted that “Several
things come through loud and clear. Kids come back with tremendous
empathy and understanding of what it must be like to be in the
presenters’ shoes, which is a huge step. They also come back with
respect for the battle that people with mental illness fight, and
cognizant of the courage it takes to fight the battle.” This
past month, the US Senate passed the Mental Health Awareness and
Improvement Act, which reauthorizes
and improves programs
administered
by both the
Departments of Education and Health and Human Services related to
awareness, prevention, and early identification of mental health
conditions, and the promotion of linkages to appropriate services for
children and youth. This is a great step in the right direction.
Many
of us forget that the brain is an organ that is susceptible to
disease or illness, just like any other. Just as cancer or diabetes
can be treated with therapy and medication, so can mental illness.
Unfortunately, due to media stereotypes of those with mental illness
being violent, dangerous, comical, incompetent, or fundamentally
different from everyone else, a stigma has arisen that is equally as
damaging as any form of racism. The funding for mental health
education and crisis prevention in schools so that diagnosis,
empathy, and understanding happens at an early age is key in
combatting this issue. The single mom that I previously mentioned at
the beginning of this speech, is me. I began having symptoms of
major depression and eating disorders at age 15, but was never
diagnosed, was too ashamed due to my perception of what others would
think to try to get help, additionally developed panic disorder and
problems with alcohol abuse in an attempt to cope on my own, and
ultimately worsened over 25 years to the point of malnutrition and
almost full digestive system failure. I was hospitalized and
ultimately got the help I needed to begin to begin full recovery. If
early awareness and diagnosis had been available and occurred when I
was a teenager, many of the physical problems that I will battle for
the rest of my life could have been avoided. Mental illness is not a
choice. It is a disease like any other. Think back to the questions
I asked you at the beginning of this speech that you raised your hand
to. Raise your hand if you would now answer any of them differently.
I urge you to support the newly reinstated Mental Health &
Awareness Act, support other upcoming initiatives such as the
Excellence in Mental Health Act, and spend time learning and
educating those around you about the warning signs of and available
care for all forms of mental illness. I was lucky. Even though it
took 25 years, I was diagnosed and began treatment before it killed
me. Without awareness and crisis prevention, the next person may not
be.
