FACT SHEET
"I had no idea" says Pete Earley in his new book: CRAZY:
A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness. And a
“Study finds more than half of all prison and jail inmates
have mental health problems" per U.S. Department of Justice
of September 6, 2006. www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/mhppjipr.htm
Please read what other organizations and
experts have to say and please contact the legislators with you
comments, especially the members of the 2006 Senate Caucus on Mental
Health Reform - Senators: Pete Domenici (R-NM), Tom Harkin (D-IA),
Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Jack Reed (D-RI).
1. - NIMH PUBLICATION: "SCHIZOPHRENIA" 2006 - National
Institute of Mental Health, NIGH, Brochure "Schizophrenia"
No.06-3516, Page 15,"The issue of civil rights enters into
any attempt to provide treatment. Laws protecting patients from
involuntary commitment have become very strict, and trying to get
help for someone who is mentally ill can be frustrating." ...
A person with mental illness who does not want treatment may hide
strange behaviors or ideas from a professional; ... www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizoph.cfm#supportSee:
"What is the role of the patient's support system?"
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Our Objective
The
main objective of this web site is to DISSEMINATE knowledge about
"lack of insight" or anosognosia. The
consequences of this symptom affects the individuals with psychosis
and the families who care for them. The community at
large, and even some close relatives, do not have empathy
for those who are in constant crisis, behave inappropriately, are
unpredictable and refuse any help. The traditional approach was,
and still is; if they refuse medical care, it is their problem and they deserve what ever happens
to them.
What
we do not realize is that we are "using the disability against the
disable person." Thomas Mullen, Director of Passageway, Miami,
Florida.
Luckily, in 1996, some of us read a section in "Surviving Schizophrenia"
by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. - 3rd. Edition, and learned about the
nature of "lack of insight" And, slowly, this knowledge is changing
our attitude from rejection and temper towards empathy and patience.
It helps to understand the inability of the patients to judge their
own behavior, to comprehend that the feelings of undefined
fear, sadness, grandiosity, apathy, etc. are due to
mental illness. Without medical treatment the bizarre thoughts,
sensations voices and fears are so real and compelling that they
are unable to ignore them.
The
drastic consequences of psychosis from schizophrenia or bipolar
disorder with total lack of insight, are not easily accepted, or
assimilated intellectually or emotionally by any of us. It
requires time for families and society at large to change
our attitude from blaming and resentment to acceptance
and understanding.
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