Mental Illness: A Guide to Recovery gives you information, gleaned from many sources, which can help you learn to recover. Coping skills needed to deal with the illness can be developed. Materials which can help you reduce symptoms are presented. Recovery does not happen overnight, but step by step, most can make significant recovery.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall... and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The same holds true for those of us with a mental illness. The psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, etc. can assist, but it is up to the individual to create conditions which will allow recovery to happen.

The neurobiological basis of mental illness is often presented in a fatalistic way. That's the brain chemistry you've got, and that's what you're stuck with; as if the individual was unable to change the chemistry inside his or her own head. Breathing changes brain chemistry. So does excercise, the food you eat, the words you speak, the thoughts you think as well as how often you smile.

While drugs are capable of making radical changes in the chemistry of the brain, it is the slow changes over time which will help most in recovery.

"Thorough and informative without being technical...facinating...very enlightening." Psychiatric Rehabilition Journal (Fall 2004 Vol.28 No.2)

"You have made a complex issue easier to understand." Chief Kathryn Landreth, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.

Contents A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s . . . . . . . . . . ..........................................................3 I n t r o d u c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..........................................................5 What is Mental I l l n e s s ? . . . . . .........................................................13 Neurotransmitters . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................15 Functions and Dysfunctions of the Brain............................20 S c h i z o p h r e n i a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................21 Bipolar Affective D i s o r d e r . .........................................................26 D e p r e s s i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................32 Schizoaffective D i s o r d e r . . . . .........................................................35 Borderline Personality D i sorder...................................................36 Obsessive Compulsive D isorder..................................................38 Panic D i s o r d e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................40 Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD)...........................................42 Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)...................................................45 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)..........................45 Dissociative Identity D i s o r d er.......................................................47 Personality D i s o r d e r s . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................49 Personality Disorders Clusters ....................................................51 Ego Defense Mechanisms . . .........................................................55 Temporal Lobe Personality . .........................................................56 The B r a i n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................59 Coping with Mental I l l n e s s . . . .........................................................72 If I’m cured can I stop taking my meds?........................................76 Short Cuts to Recovery . . . . . . .........................................................80 Stress & Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................82 Boredom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................85 Tips on Overcoming Social Discomfort........................................87 G r i e f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................89 S c h e m a s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........................................................99 1. Abandonment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................100 2. Deprivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................101 3. Subjugation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................103 4. Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................104 5. Unloveability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................105 6. Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................106 7. Vulnerability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................107 8. Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................108 9. Perfectionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................108 10. Entitlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................109 Voices, T apes, and Nightmares............................................... 113 The Juke-box Method of Eliminating Voices ..............................120 The plea bargain dilemma . . ........................................................123 Coping with nightmares–Altering hallucinations.........................127 C o m m u n i c a t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... 129 J o u r n a l i n g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................130 Meditations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................134 L.E.A.P. Listen ... Empathize ... Agree ... Partnership ................139 Agreement on stopping / reducing meds ...................................144 A n g e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... 146 S u i c i d e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... 155 History, Signs and Symptoms of Suicidal Risk ...........................155 Factors associated with Suicide Risk.........................................156 Reasons for Dying / Reasons for Living ....................................157 Prediction and Prevention of Suicide in Schizophrenia ..............162 Women and Suicidal Behavior ....................................................163 Adolescent Suicidal Behaviors ...................................................165 Alternatives / Complementary T reatments..................................... 172 Energy therapies of the mind/body...........................................176 Biological systems of herbal medicine and special diets..........180 Manipulative and body b ased....................................................182 Readings for R e c o v e r y ........................................................... 187 Appendix A Ego Defense Mechanisms.................................... 190 Appendix B Suicide Hotlines.................................................. 196 Appendix C G l o s s a r y . . ........................................................... 217 Appendix D O r g a n i z ations..................................................... 235 S o u r c e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... 239 I n d e x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... 249 What is Mental Illness? Mental illness is a stroll through hell. Go too fast and you’ll find yourself being jumped and possibly held down by creatures with straps of leather. Move too slow and you can become mired in the quicksand of your mind. However, recovery is a real possibility. Recovery is not the quick and easy process our society prefers. Getting to know yourself takes time. While each of us experience mental illness differently, the patterns we experience are remarkably similar. The process of recovery is understandable, although different challenges face each of us. The first step is to understand what the illness is and how it can take even relatively minor occurrences in life and turn them into high drama. What is mental illness? The simple scientific answer is that mental illness is an imbalance of chemistry in the brain which causes various forms of dysfunction. While much work needs to be done, it has been determined that there are numerous neurotransmitters, chemical messengers which carry information between the nerves of the brain. Too much of one chemical or too little of another can cause problems in processing information. A less scientific viewpoint is that somehow a person’s humanity has been violated; and this violation is the basis for the sometimes strange and mystifying behaviors which are hallmarks of the various mental illnesses. The surprising thing is that the two viewpoints don’t necessarily contradict each other. If the brain chemistry is out of balance, why did it go out of balance in the first place, and what is preventing it from getting back in balance? A somewhat more complex scientific answer is that there are four main causes of brain dysfunction. Anatomical abnormalities or damage Lack of oxygen or glucose Electrolyte imbalance Neurotransmitter deregulation; the imbalance of brain chemistry. ... In Western psychology, however, I think there may be a tendency to overemphasize the role of the unconscious in looking for the source of one’s problems. I think that this stems from some of the basic assumptions that Western psychology starts with: for i

Bob won Honorable Mention from the Pacific Research Institute, in 1992, for a paper he wrote on how Mental Health Courts could save communities money while providng better for treatment for those with a mental health diagnosis. At the time no mental health courts existed, now hundreds can be found throughout the country. As volunteer Mental Health Coordinator for the Nevada ACLU, he worked on the committee which formed Nevada's first Mental Health Court. He is a member of NAMI's Consumer Restraint and Seclusion committee, and was awarded Advocate of the year in 2007 from the National Association of Peer Specialists. His column on Mental Health issues was published in The Nevada Observer from 2006-2009. He is the chair of the PAIMI counsel for the Nevada Disability Advocacy Law Center, past member of the MHPAC fior the State of Nevada and a past member of the Inyo County, California, Board of Mental Health. Currently he gives presentations on Alternative and Complementary Treatments for Mental Health Recovery.

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