Julie's Genealogy & More

 Mental Health

 

Dedicated to those who struggle & to their families

Alzheimer's & Dementia

"To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best, night and day,

to make you everybody else,

means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight,

and never stop fighting."

e.e. cummings

Online Resources:

Bipolar Disorders Information Center

National Institute of Mental Health – Bipolar Disorder

Internet Mental Health – Bipolar Disorder

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)

Bipolar Disorder - links to explore

Bipolar Disorder - Manic-Depression Support Organizations

Sleep Apnea

National Sleep Association

Anxiety Disorders- NAMI's fact sheet

 

Anxiety Disorders Association of America

 

RxMed  and MEDLINEplus - prescription information

 

 

 

Why Do I Wear a Silver Ribbon?

To show that I care about someone with a brain illness
To help break down the barriers to treatment and support
To help eliminate the stigma against those who struggle
To show that I do believe there is HOPE through education and research

The silver ribbon pin represents the "Campaign for the Brain"

and promotes public awareness of the need to support people with brain disorders.

NARSAD  (National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) Artworks

is selling these pins on NAMI's behalf.

To order, visit NARSAD ARTWORKS

or call NARSAD Artworks at (800) 607-2599.

 

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.

Think not about your frustrations but about your unfulfilled potential.

Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed but

in what is still possible for you to do."

Pope John XXIII

"Life is a train of moods like a string of beads,

and as we pass through them

they prove to be many colored lenses."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thoughts on FAITH, an absolute essential...

Thank you, Lord...

You were there when we forgot you.

You followed us even when we tried to flee from you.

You met us with forgiveness when we returned to you.

For all your patience and overflowing grace,

We praise your holy name, O God.

 

Dear God,

May I live, not just by my efforts, but by Your grace. 

Still the noises in my soul. 

Still the constant crossfire in my mind. 

Still the struggles I feel, and let Your Holy Spirit guide my life. 

You are much better to me than I am to myself,

for You control the big picture and the long term. 

Help me to trust You, to let go of my selfish attachments,

and to live by grace. 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen

written by Dr. James H. Daughdrill, Prayers at Work

Letting go does not mean to stop caring;
it means I can't do it for someone else.

Letting go is not to cut myself off;
it's the realization that I can't control another.

Letting go is not to enable,
but to allow learning from natural consequences.

Letting go is to admit powerlessness;
which means the outcome is not in my hands. 

Letting go is not to try to change or blame another;
it's to make the most of myself.

Letting go is not to care for, but to care about
it's to allow another to be a human being.

Letting go is not to be in the middle, arranging all the outcomes;
it's to allow others to affect their own destinies.

Letting go is not to be protective; it's to permit another to face reality
it's not to deny, but to accept.

Letting go is not to nag, scold or argue;
but to search out my own shortcoming and correct them.

Letting go is not to adjust everything to my desires;
but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

Letting go is not to criticize and regulate anybody;
but to try to become what I dream I can be.

Letting go is to not regret the past, but to grow and live for the future;
Letting go is to fear less and love more.

                                                                   Author Unknown

Guidelines for Dealing With a Person With a Mental Illness

Be respectful; talk to adults as adults.

Be calm, clear & direct in communication.

Be as consistent and predictable as you can.

Set clear limits, rules and expectations.

Keep a loving distance.

Accept that the person has an illness.

Attribute the symptoms to the illness.

Don't take the illness or the symptoms personally.

Notice and praise any positive steps or behavior.

Continue to educate yourself and talk to supportive people.

excerpted from When Someone You Love Has a Mental Illness by Rebecca Woolis, MFCC

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.

The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time."

Thomas Alva Edison

Bipolar and Self Injury

"Self Injury...an attempt to make the outside match the inside..."

Self Injury Links

Bipolar and Suicide:

 

“Suicide is not chosen; it happens
when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.”

David L. Conroy, Ph.D.

 

If untreated, the rate of suicide (and for that matter, associated accidental injury) among bipolar patients is at least five times that of the general population. However, there is good evidence that treatment with effective medications & regular appointments and counseling discussions about coping with the illness reduces this risk.

This review of the authors' and others' work demonstrates that the lifetime risk of suicide attempts is highest in bipolar II and lowest in unipolar patients, whereas risk is intermediate in bipolar I patients. Moreover, two reports show that bipolar II patients are over represented among suicide victims. Clinicians must take great care in not missing this diagnosis, which, when untreated,

has ominous prognostic implications.


National Institute for Psychiatry and Neurology, Budapest

 

 

What Can I Do To Help Someone Who is Suicidal?

 

Suicide Safety Plan

 

NAMI fact sheet on suicide

 

Suicide Anonymous

 

 

Borderline Personality Disorder

 

Borderline Personality Disorder Research Foundation

 

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women. There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent, as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in severe cases. Patients often need extensive mental health services, and account for 20 percent of psychiatric hospitalizations.  Yet, with help, many improve over time and are eventually able to lead productive lives. (from the National Institute of Mental Health website)

 

 

If you're looking for resource books:

Every purchase you make through Amazon.com can help NAMI improve the lives of people living with serious mental disorders.

Here's how it works:

Click on the link above to visit Amazon.com

For everything you purchase, from books, CDs, DVDs, toys, apparel -- basically, anything Amazon.com sells -- NAMI will automatically receive an average of 6 percent of the total sale!

You'll get the convenience of shopping online with one of the Web's biggest retailers, and at the same time will be helping NAMI help others, all at absolutely no extra cost to you

...and always remember: 

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Eleanor Roosevelt