Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mental Illness:
By Jan Underwood Pinborough
Scott Hausey* was the kind of young man who makes parenting seem
easy. He was responsible and religiousan A student who did his
homework without being prodded. He enjoyed camping with his parents
and six brothers and sisters and planned to be a doctor. Admiring
people in his ward would tell Brother and Sister Hausey, I hope my son
will grow up to be like Scott.
Then, about a year into his mission for the Church, Scott became a icted
with a devastating illness. It attacked not his body, but his mind
disordering his thoughts and agitating him so much that he could not
nish his mission.
Scott began to hear strange voices in his head, voices no one else could
hear. He couldnt nish his sentences. At times, he would pace for hours
or simply sit in his room and rock. I cant describe our emotions when
we saw Scott like that, recalls his father. We thought wed failed as
parents, but we didnt know how.
Scott had a number of counseling sessions and earnestly prayed for the
Lord to heal him. Nothing seemed to help. Perhaps, some reasoned, he
was possessed by an evil spirit. But Scott was not possessed. He had a
serious mental disorder called schizophrenia.
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On a family vacation the year after he came home from his mission,
Scott became violent and kicked his mother. The family called the police
for help in calming him. Then Don Hausey called the local stake
president for spiritual help. Fifteen years later, Brother Hausey still
becomes emotional when he describes the miracle that phone call
brought about.
The road since then has not been easy for Scott or his family. For years,
Scott refused to believe that he needed the medicine, and he had
periodic breaks that resulted in hospitalization. For a while, Scott
wondered every day if this would be the day he would take his life.
But today, at thirty- ve, Scott has a wife and beautiful baby daughter who
give him a reason to stay on the medicine that keeps his illness under
control, much as insulin controls diabetes. For several months now, with
proper medication and supportive therapy, Scott has kept a full-time job
and has led a relatively stable life. Scott is not cured, but with his
symptoms under control, life looks brighter for him than it has for many
years.
In Any Family
How many people in your ward are su ering from some form of mental
illness? One? Two? None? Chances are good that your estimate is too
low.
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Many of us dont realize how widespread mental illness is, partly because
it shows few physical signs. Victims of mental illness, for the most part,
look normal, explains the mother of a young woman who has been in
and out of hospitals with depression. They dont limp or stutter. The
scars are on the inside. But many victims feel pain and confusion so
great that life is almost unbearable. And family members of the victim
often su er grief and isolation as they struggle to understand the nature
of their loved ones illness and search for ways to help.
Multiple Causes
Chronic mental illness can happen in any family, says Tom Baxter,
special assistant to the director of LDS Social Services. Church members
sometimes feel that if only they had lived the gospel better, these
problems would not exist. But this is not always the case, he says. We
now know that mental illnesses have multiple causes, including genetic
and biological factorsfactors we usually cannot control.
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This is not to say that we have no responsibility for our mental health. Sin
our own and that of othersdoes cause emotional pain. And if we are
unable to forgive ourselves or someone else, or if we constantly dwell on
our failures, disappointments, or past problems, we may be more likely
to su er emotional stress. We may also feel unnecessary distress if we
constantly try to please others or if we try to meet unrealistic
expectations of how attractive or successful we ought to be.
The key to that hope is understanding. For the victim of mental illness,
hope lies in being properly diagnosed and treatedthe sooner the
better. And for family members of the mentally ill, help comes best from
those who understand the illness.
In this context, then, what are these severe disabling illnesses? How can
they a ect us and our families?
Surviving Schizophrenia
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The illness that caused the sudden change in Scott Hausey is called
schizophrenia. Of all mental illnesses, it is no doubt the most feared and
the least understood. It strikes about 1 percent of the worlds population;
in the average ward, it is possible that several people have
schizophrenia. Most often, it strikes young people in the prime of life,
between the ages of seventeen and twenty- ve, with no regard for
religion, race, socio-economic level, intelligence, or personal virtue.
friends now avoid them, that family members may even be ashamed of
them.
When Troy Keach began withdrawing from family and friends and
resisting Church activity, his parents thought it was just a teenage phase.
Then Troy began hearing the television communicating with him, and his
grades plummeted from A to Z, his mother recalls. When he reported a
bad experience taking drugs, we realized we needed professional help.
Teenagers who are struggling with early symptoms of mental illness may
be more vulnerable to drug abuse than their peers. On the other hand,
sometimes parents of mentally ill teenagers who are not using drugs
mistakenly attribute their childrens strange behavior to drug abuse.
The heartache that Troys parents feel for him never completely goes
away. They have remained close to loving neighbors and ward members,
even though others are not always comfortable talking to them about
mental illness. In the past several years, Brother and Sister Keach have
made presentations in Relief Society and other classes to help inform
people about schizophrenia and chronic mental illness. After one
presentation, Brother Keach received several phone calls from ward
members who made comments like That sounds just like my grandson.
Will you please talk to his parents?
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But if these symptoms continue relentlessly week after week, the normal
grief reaction may become clinical depression. If you are depressed, life
seems at and joyless, and its ordinary demands seem overwhelming.
You may feel unable to get out of bed. You may even wish you could die
rather than continue on in such misery. If you are like many people, you
feel guilty for your inability to snap out of it, and so you try to wait it out
rather than seek professional help.
Trying to wait out a severe chronic depression can even be fatal. Doctors
estimate that as many as 15 percent of major depression victims take
their own lives. (Dimitri F. and Janice Papolos, Overcoming Depression,
New York: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 12.) Tragically and ironically, people
with depression often make suicide plans just as their depression is
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liftingwhen they are getting a little more energy but do not yet realize
that they will ever feel better.
Super cially, depression may look like a crisis of faith, says Dr. Brent
Petersen, a psychiatrist who specializes in treating families and children.
But it is not. Just telling someone in this condition to toughen up is not
usually helpful. Depression usually has multiple causes, including
biological ones. In the depressed person, the brains delicate
neurochemical balance has been disrupted. Recent studies indicate that,
as with schizophrenia, a predisposition for some kinds of depression is
probably inherited genetically. When this predisposition converges with a
traumatic situation, a stressful life-style, or emotional con ict, depression
can result.
Friends and acquaintances may feel frustrated when they try to cheer
and reassure a loved one su ering from severe depression. Often the
person is too fatigued and irritable to respond positively to such
attention, and isolation and guilt increase on both sides. But a loving
friend or priesthood leader who is willing to simply listen can be a lifeline.
I will always be grateful for a sister in my ward who was willing to listen
to me during my depression, says one woman. She had also been
through a depression, and she could reassure me from her own
experience that the terrible blankness and hopelessness I felt inside
would pass. Often the only way I could feel Gods love for me was
through her compassionate, understanding friendship.
Parents need to know that children who are clinically depressed are not
usually able to identify their problem. Usually they begin to do poorly in
school, become rebellious, or use drugs or alcohol. (See Warning Signals
of Mental Illness, p. 54.)
Major depression is just one form of what doctors call major a ective or
mood disorders. Another serious form is manic-depression or bipolar
disorder. The person with this illness may have periods of paralyzing
fatigue, alternating with spells of agitated euphoria. In the manic phase,
victims may have rushes of ideas and in ated pictures of their own
abilities. In this phase, the victims may spend large amounts of money
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they dont have and make unrealistic personal and business decisions. At
the height of this phase, they may su er a complete break from reality
that resembles schizophrenia.
Libby was not in any danger of dying; she was experiencing her rst
panic attack. The attacks recurred over the next several months as Libby
went to doctor after doctor, looking for an explanation for her problem.
She became frightened of being in a place where she could not get help
if she had another attack. Sitting in church or in a crowded theater
became extremely stressful.
Even when she was not having a full-blown attack, Libby felt more and
more anxious, sometimes even disoriented. She had trouble
concentrating at work and found herself forgetting common words and
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familiar names. Over the next two years, she experienced a variety of
physical complaintsfrom severe headaches to di culty in swallowing.
Occasionally, her heart would suddenly start racing in the middle of the
night, waking her from a sound sleep.
One particularly bad night, I called a dear friend from my ward, recalls
Libby. I couldnt explain what was wrong with me, but she sat with me
through a long night when the feelings of fear and impending doom
were almost more than I could bear.
After several months of praying and searching for help, Libby was
amazed to learn that a new member of the bishopric of her ward was a
doctor specializing in the relationship between the mind and body. I
described my problem to him and asked for help, recalls Libby. That day
he gave me a priesthood blessing that completely relieved my symptoms
for several hours. This was a great comfort and gave me hope as I then
followed the treatment that brought more permanent relief.
Guilt. One mother whose son has schizophrenia recalls, I spent the
rst year of my sons illness searching for memories of what I could
have done to cause my sons problem. It is never helpful, and usually
not true, to say or imply that a child is mentally ill because his parents
didnt raise him properly.
Grief. For the parent of the severely mentally ill, there is a feeling of
griefof having lost the child whose future looked so promising. For
the victim, there can be grief over lost jobs, lost friends, lost prospects.
Isolationfor both the family and the victim. People dont know what to
say to us, so they dont say anything, says one father. Another tells
how his schizophrenic son cries because his younger brother,
embarrassed to be seen with him, will not take him to a hockey game.
The victim of serious mental illness may also feel estranged from God.
One man with schizophrenia says, Every time I pray Thy will be done,
my su ering seems to worsen. This has caused me grievous
di culties in understanding the will and purposes of my Heavenly
Father.
Family and marital di culties. Harold and Margaret Terney tell how
their marriage almost ended because Margaret would tell others
about their childs problem at a time when Harold was still denying
that there was a problem. Most parents agree that the issue of how to
treat a mentally ill child is the most divisive element in their marriage.
Even strong marriages sometimes need outside help to survive the
strain.
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Many families have found that support groups and supportive therapy
can be most helpful. (See For Information and Support, p. 57.)
Times of crisis. Perhaps most di cult of all can be trying to get help for
someone in the midst of a psychotic break. Sometimes the police
have to be called. Parents must sometimes testify in court to have
their children committed to hospitals for help. Trying to nd housing
for an ill adult child can be a genuine crisis.
Give needed help. By really listening, you can learn what the true needs
of a family are. Maybe a family needs someone to watch the other
children while they take an ill child to the hospital in the middle of the
night. In one ward, Relief Society sisters took turns taking a mother
who could not drive and her mentally ill child to weekly doctor
appointments.
Understanding Mortality
As we deal with mental illness, it is crucial to understand the nature of
mortality. All of us know that joy is one of the reasons for our very
existence, and we sometimes mistakenly think that life should therefore
be easy. We think that if we are living righteously we should be
guaranteed an existence free from tragedy and serious di culty. When I
rst became depressed, I wondered why I was having this problem when
all my life I had done everything I could to live the gospel, recalls one
victim of a serious depression.
But in the same chapter where Lehi teaches that men are, that they
might have joy (2 Ne. 2:25), he also teaches the critical importance of
opposition (see 2 Ne. 2:11). Without knowing misery, he reminds us, we
cannot have joy. (See 2 Ne. 2:23.)
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Tragedy and di culty are part of mortal life. When we understand this,
we will be more willing to share our struggles with others. This sharing
can lessen the isolation and shame we or our brothers and sisters feel
when we encounter serious problems.
This understanding can also free us from self-pity. And then, as we turn
our focus from our own pain to that of others, we can actually
experience joy as we help lift burdens. Having endured a frightening
illness myself, I can now o er help and comfort to others who are
su ering from something similar, says one woman. Being able to do
this gives meaning to an experience that at the time seemed unbearable.
Now I can better understand the pain of others, and one of my greatest
blessings is to be able to o er understanding and help.
There are no easy answers, says one husband. But our Father in
Heaven doesnt leave us alone in the struggle.
Total20 percent
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Unjusti ed fears
Obsessions or compulsions
Inappropriate emotions
Excessive self-centeredness
(Adapted from Now at Last, pamphlet, The American Mental Health Fund,
n.d., pp. 23.)
Suite #500
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703-524-7600
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill also has the following support
networks:
Sibling Network
Forensic Network
Homeless Network
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Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703-528-6405
Note
All names of individuals dealing with mental illness and their families
have been changed.
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