Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
President Abraham Lincoln suffered from severe, incapacitating and occasionally suicidal depressions.
Composer Ludwig von Beethoven experienced bipolar depression as did author Edgar Allan Poe, artist Vincent Van Gogh and actress Patty Duke.
Yet mental illnesses are still not completely understood by the general public. And families of those suffering from mental illnesses are often left to deal with the problem on their own.
"One of the reasons people shy away from discussing (mental illnesses) is because it's so commercialized. All you hear is the bad things. You hear about the worst-case scenarios. ... In reality, it could be someone you work beside every single day that is on medication. It's just that's what it takes for them to be normal, to function," said Todd Biller of the Warsaw affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
NAMI-Warsaw is conducting a 12-week Family-to-Family education and support program beginning Sept. 14 for families who have relatives with mental illness.
The curriculum focuses on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic depression), clinical depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The course will cover the clinical treatment of these illnesses and will teach the knowledge and skills that family members need to cope more effectively.
Topics of the 12-week comprehensive Family-to-Family course include learning about feelings and facts, diagnosis and dealing with critical periods, subtypes of depression, diagnosis and causes, biology of the brain, new research, problem-solving workshop, medication review, empathy workshop, communication skills workshop, self-care and relative groups, rehabilitation services available, fighting stigma, and review and a certification ceremony.
"It was not put together by family members. It was put together by a professional psychologist in Vermont - Dr. Joyce Burland," said Biller, who teaches the program.
"She's been kind enough to dedicate most of her time to this program. My main emphasis is they understand that this is not something their family members can help."
The whole idea behind the program is that family members understand that the relative with mental illness does not mean "to be this way," said Biller. "They can't just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and go on with their lives. There is something that is physically stopping them from doing it.
"(NAMI's) part of a national organization, it's a grass-roots support group. It's a support group organization founded 21 years ago by a group of mothers who were kind of fed up with being blamed and having problems not knowing how to finance or things like that dealing with their family members. Since then it's grown to be a very, very, very large and powerful organization," said Biller.
Mental illnesses do not have to be in their severest forms to interfere with a person's daily functions.
"Depression can be very minor but it's enough to debilitate a person where they don't want to go to work. That's where people need to understand that it's not what they see, people sitting in the house, locked in the house all dirty and don't bathe. There's people out there suffering from depression that are clean, well-mannered, outgoing, but there's just times it takes every ounce of energy they got to make it through the day," said Biller.
There are 18 NAMI affiliates in Indiana, including Warsaw, Biller said. Besides the Family-To-Family Education Program, NAMI-Warsaw offers a support group every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church for families and those with mental illness.
Since its founding Oct. 27, 1997, more than 200 persons have attended the local meetings. Each meeting averages approximately 18 persons.
There is no cost for either the support group or education program. Indiana State Division of Mental Health provided the organization with a grant for the course.
There are more than 200,000 NAMI members nationwide. They range from family members and professionals to patients and anyone who wants to be a member, he said.
Biller said, "NAMI pushes big time on rehab, helping people recover. ... You can recover from brain disease. You're not cured. ... It's managed."
According to the U.S. Surgeon General's December 1999 report on mental illness, next to cardiovascular disease, mental illness is the most debilitating illness or disease there is, Biller said.
For further information on the self-help group or on the Family-To-Family Education Program, call 858-2757 or 267-6456. NAMI's Web site is at www.nami.org
Biller said, "One of the biggest issues is that (mental illness) can happen to anyone ... it doesn't discriminate against race, sex, anyone."
