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The Mood Disorders Support Group of New York City |
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M O O D S |
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Newsletter of the Mood Disorders Support Group of New York City | ||
May2000 |
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I am 31-going-on-32 years old youthful, yes, but not exactly a youth. Yet at 7 p.m. Friday evenings that’s exactly what I become again when I attend the MDSG youth group at Beth Israel Medical Center.
You can spot me opening the door to the Bernstein Pavilion and walking down the long, dreary, gray hall lit by fluorescent lights to the unadorned meeting room at the end. Not exactly romantic for a Friday night. And I -- not exactly a youth, perhaps, since I’m divorced, and, until recently, well established in a serious career am about to spend it with teenagers and twenty-somethings.
What is the definition of youth? The Microsoft Thesaurus came up with: "adolescence, juvenility, prime, greenness, minority.
Nope. No help there. I may be in my "prime," but "adolescence" and "juvenility" don't apply not even to the five or six 16-year-olds that regularly attend our groups. "Greenness?" This doesn't describe anybody in the group. Seasoned by mood disorders, we’ve lost jobs, relationships, friends, and faith.
American Heritage Dictionary defines youth as: 1. The condition or quality of being young; 2. an early period of development or existence; 3. the time of life between childhood and maturity.
Okay, now I have a working definition of the youth group: people who either are young (MDSG guidelines say 30 years old or under) or who still fall "between childhood and maturity discussing how to come to terms with, and manage, all kinds of mood disorders. We talk about everything.
I, like many of us, arrived at the youth group through the Internet. Late one night last July, I was quietly tapping away on my then boyfriend's laptop. I ran searches on Excite (I am bipolar), Yahoo and Lycos, looking for information.
It was clearly time to do something: I recently had been fired again, this time after failing brilliantly and publicly; life with my boyfriend was falling swiftly apart, too; it had taken me a year (with both my doctor and family pushing) to agree to take lithium, which made me feel sick and defeated.
All the bipolar symptoms from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual sounded like ingredients on a cereal box to me. I knew, but I just didn't want to know. I became Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and I felt that taking the little pink pill meant there was no going back. Dull and gray, my new reality had become uninhabitable. I had to find someone, anyone, who kept on taking the little pink pill anyway. Someone, anyone, who actually lived with a mood disorder.
MDSG looked inviting, but like many youth groupers, I had never been to any kind of support group. I was terrified. It took a lot to get me to Beth Israel that first Friday night. I walked past the youth group (I had not considered myself youthful yet) and took the elevator to the second floor.
It turned out to be an epiphany because of the sheer number of people who attended. I kept asking everyone if they had a mood disorder. In my newcomers’ group, the attractive, very sane, calm, and articulate facilitator openly stated he had a mood disorder. This gave me hope, and this was the main reason I came back.
After a couple of weeks upstairs, I tried the youth group. There I learned I am a neophyte in the management of my illness and its symptoms. My peers are often more sophisticated about medication and treatment. We share stories about dealing with family members, help each other gain perspective on our losses, and talk about hard-to-describe symptoms. We discuss all kinds of feelings, feelings of frustration, humiliation, anger, sadness and joy. The scope and honesty of the discussions make me feel welcome. I know I’m in the right place.
After the group, we often reconvene at Ambrosia, Bendix, or some other local diner/restaurant and then later go on to alt.cafe. This is our chance to defy the social isolation that often accompanies any mood disorder. At the diner, we share onion rings, job connections, political views, and we laugh too loudly. We build on our unique friendships, and heal our bruised egos.
The most remarkable thing about the younger people who gather on Friday evening is their compassion, acceptance, and brilliance. These are young people working toward high school, college, master’s and even doctorate degrees. We are re-creating ourselves.
I may hate the mood disorder I have, but it binds me to a group of extraordinary people. They are, above all, such honest people. This is why the MDSG youth group has made living with my illness much more tolerable.
by Rich Satkin, Chairperson of MDSG
People with mood disorders need to know about medication, therapy, and the importance of compliance. In our support groups we also offer a lot of good advice and information. But there are four less obvious, but very important, things we need to know as well. They are:
(1) Know that you have a right to be well. By this I mean it’s critical to know that wellness is rightfully yours. Given the suffering inherent in the illness itself, stigma, self-recrimination, and other negative factors, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that health is your birthright.
(2) Know your goals: to get and remain well. Do what it takes. In my experience many people, especially those with bipolar disorder, are tempted to go off their medication for various reasons. Some argue that medication interferes with creativity. But the perceived gains of going off medication must be balanced with likely consequences. Recognizing this becomes increasingly difficult, of course, as hypomania progresses into mania, so it’s important to check the impulse to stop medication before full-blown mania takes over. Remind yourself of what you may lose: family, relationships, career, or other aspects of life you care deeply about.
(3) Know that many affective disorders are lifelong conditions that require an appropriate commitment to self-observation and vigilance but that needn’t stifle freedom and growth. Through self-knowledge you can avoid situations and environmental "triggers" that might precipitate an episode.
(4) Know enough to be skeptical of what you think you know--especially unbridled pessimism. As Richard O'Connor, Ph.D., our June speaker, has observed, many people with depression need to "undo" habits that serve them poorly, and learn or relearn more suitable, self-affirming ways of living.
When Depression Turns Deadly Depression kills. Simple. Some 15 percent of us who suffer from major depression will die by our own hand. So many more will make the attempt. And many more still will die by “accident” or “slow suicide” through reckless behavior, abuse, or neglect.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than 30,000 deaths a year. Women will make most of the attempts, but men will succeed more often, by a margin of four to one. In teens and young adults, suicide is the third-ranking cause of death, after accidents and homicides, more than all natural diseases combined.
Suicidal depression does not discriminate. It afflicts the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated. War heroes have been taken down. So have survivors of the Nazi death camps along with successful businessmen, artists, parents—people who have everything to live for.
We are talking epidemic numbers here. At any given moment, five percent of the population is suffering from a depressive episode. Over the course of a lifetime, 20 percent of the population will suffer major depression, numbers comparable to those who will suffer cancer or heart disease.
We are talking battlefield odds. Those with major depression have an 85 percent survival rate, but the prospect of finding ourselves in the lucky majority brings scant relief. Major depression has exposed us to our worst vulnerabilities, and, deep inside, we no longer trust what tomorrow will bring. We may be walking and breathing, but many of us have been close to death and our minds never let us forget it.
We ponder the fate of those who commit suicide, and sometimes we say a prayer. We think about how tortured they were, and we know for a fact that no just God would ever hold judgment against
them. We who have survived know what we are up against and can plan accordingly. The following are some common-sense guidelines:
In the Long Term
In a Crisis
All too often a suicidal depression catches us off guard. Notwithstanding all we have to live for and all those who care about us, the brain in crisis has a perverse way of turning things inside out. For those of you who are in this state right now:
John McManamy is an attorney and journalist. He is the Depression Editor for suite101.com and is Editor of McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Weekly. He attends weekly bipolar support meetings.
We are deeply saddened by the deaths in March of two members who contributed greatly to the Mood Disorders Support Group.
Dave Schneider, M.D., was a facilitator, editor of the MDSG newsletter, and a board member. He was a strong defender of patients’ rights. Most recently he was involved in supportive housing for people with mental illness. He worked with both Pathways for Housing and the Consumer Information Project.
"Dave was an extraordinarily dedicated, passionate advocate for the legal and consumer rights of people with mental illness, and he worked to secure these rights in so many ways," said Richard Satkin, Chairman of MDSG.
Wendla Wilbert was a facilitator for MDSG, a social worker and a volunteer for the International Club. She taught English as a Second Language at the United Nations.
“Wendla was a very sociable person whose forceful presence and sense of humor enlivened any gathering, including the MDSG groups she facilitated,” said Don Schott, Moods copy editor and MDSG facilitator. “I’ll miss her a lot and I know many others will too.”
We extend our condolences to the family and friends of both and share in their loss.
The
Reader’s Corner (Book Review)by Betsy Naylor
Imagine a home on a block where a family tries to keep secret its inner turmoil. At times neighbors hear yelling, crashing, and breaking glass. The parents are ashamed, guilty, exhausted. The family has no social life. No outsiders ever enter the house with its damaged interior, and no one inside seems to be interested in repairing it anymore.
What is going on?
The family’s seven-year-old is an undiagnosed bipolar child whose agitation and rages go on and on. Nobody—not the parents or the child—is in control of the situation.
So begins The Bipolar Child by Demitri Papolos, M.D., a psychopharmacologist, and his wife, Janice, a journalist. The couple, who also wrote the classic Overcoming Depression, works in New York City. In their new book, they collect a wealth of material on early-onset bipolar disorder. Until recently, it was believed that manic depression didn’t develop until early adulthood. Not so, say the authors: early signs are often overlooked.
They advocate for increased awareness of the bipolar child, and, by writing the book, focus attention on early symptoms. The experience of having a bipolar child and ways to cope are discussed, and this leaves the reader with hope that something can be done. Mood disorders symptoms from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV are included in the book, along with a list of symptoms ranked most to least common.
Often bipolar disorder in children is confused with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the authors say. At other times it’s mistaken for unipolar depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or oppositional defiant disorder. Symptoms overlap, and this can be bewildering. Stimulants or antidepressants may be prescribed first, but they can further agitate the bipolar child. In this day of apprehension about giving children drugs, appropriate drugs should be given only after careful diagnosis, the authors argue.
The best audience for The Bipolar Child is, of course, the parents of bipolar children, but many bipolar adults will recognize some of their own early experiences.
Topics include medication, genetics, psychological dimensions, the brain, family, adolescence, school, hospitalization, and insurance. Much that the authors present is day-to-day, practical information. This book asks questions on the cutting edge of research, the answers to which will advance the treatment of bipolar disorder. The book’s thorough narrative is rendered livelier by vivid case studies, some of which readers follow from diagnosis to treatment to improvement.
The authors do a considerable amount of “stigma bashing” in publishing The Bipolar Child. No one is at fault when a child is bipolar, they say. Parents aren’t at fault; the child’s behavior is out of control through no fault of the child’s. And the problems aren’t the sort that can be talked through. Bipolar disorder is a disease that is biochemical.
You can purchase (and read more about) The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood’s Most Misunderstood Disorder from Amazon.com by clicking here. Doing so will result in a referral fee being paid by Amazon to MDSG, at no cost to you. There are 24 reader comments and readers rated it 4.5 stars (out of 5).
Girl Interrupted: A Movie/Video ReviewBy Jane Cartwright |
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Winona Ryder carries this story in the film, Girl, Interrupted, and it’s not really what she does on screen that’s remarkable. It’s her face.
In the first few minutes of the movie, all you see is a close-up of her face while she’s riding in a taxi to a large mental hospital. The ride goes on a long time. Terror, confusion, resistance are up there in that forehead, eyes and mouth. You’re mesmerized by that face.
Yes, Angelina Jolie, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, is terrific as Ryder’s magnetic, bizarre, sociopathic sidekick in the hospital. She snarls and screeches like a cat, jumps, turns, dances all motion, fluid and limber. She is obscene, riveting. But Ryder, who plays Susanna Kaysen, author of the best-selling memoir upon which the movie is based, makes of me an honest voyeur: I begin to feel what Ryder feels and then some, to remember a few hospital days of my own. The movie is full of close-ups of that fabulous face.
This is a story about survival, as Kaysen puts it, in a parallel universe. It’s about the 18 months she spent in a Massachusetts mental hospital as a high-school graduate in the late 1960s. Her diagnosis? Borderline Personality Disorder hardly something that would get you committed to a mental hospital these days.
The film chronicles daily life on the ward just as the book does. As such, conventional rules of plot don’t apply maybe; some critics have panned the film for lack of plot, others have said the tension between the characters carries the plot.
Two things are certain: both climatic scenes on screen are not in the wry, wise, valuable book. See the film, yes, don’t miss Ryder‘s inimitable face; but, also, read the book.
You can purchase (and read more about) Girl Interrupted from Amazon.com by clicking here. Doing so will result in a referral fee being paid by Amazon to MDSG, at no cost to you. The book was reprinted in June of 1994 and as of May 2000 Amazon was selling it for $6.00 (the price can change at any time). The screenplay of the movie was released as a book in May 2000 and Amazon sells it for $10.40.
Ask the Doctorwith Dr. Ivan Goldberg |
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Q: I understand antidepressants have the power to push some people with bipolar disorder into hypomania or mania. Is this true for SAM-e and St. John's
Wort as well?
A: Similar to other antidepressant drugs, the naturally--occurring drugs SAM-e and St. John's
Wort can cause hypomania and mania in susceptible individuals. People over the age of 50 seem to be particularly at risk of developing this complication.
Q: When I started taking Lamictal, my doctor warned me the drug might cause a rash, but she didn’t say what the rash might look like. I know that in rare cases the rash can be fatal. What does a Lamictal rash look like?
A: Most people who take Lamictal do not get a rash of any sort.. When the drug is started slowly the possibility of developing a rash is minimal. Lamictal rashes range from a mild reddening of the skin (resembling a sunburn) to a severe rash with blisters. All rashes that occur while taking Lamictal should be reported to the prescribing doctor. It turns out that even when the rash is from Lamictal, it still may be possible to remain on the drug. The decision to keep someone on Lamictal should be made only by a psychiatrist with much experience using this mood stabilizer.
Q: It seems that most people I talk with at MDSG are taking three or more medications. This seems excessive. Is it necessary?
A: It is not unusual for individuals to require a number of medications. For example, someone with bipolar disorder may be taking two mood stabilizers, an antidepressant, and something for sleep. Other people may require an antipsychotic medication either to help stabilize mood or to control psychotic symptoms associated with the mood disorder. Other individuals may require medications such as Dexedrine, Aricept, or Periactin to help control the side effects of antidepressants and/or mood stabilizers.
Contest WinnersWhen searching for what to call a medication, why don’t drug companies pick something more reflective of what the pill’s supposed to do for the patient? For example, for the antidepressant Prozac, why not Prozippity? That’s what the last contest (February 2000) was all about.
First place prize, a $25-gift certificate to Pamela’s Café in the Village, goes to KS, The Bronx, for Klonotopia for the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin. Second prize, a copy of The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs by Jack Gorman. M.D., will be mailed to JB, Manhattan, for her entry, Ativantastic for Ativan, an anti-anxiety agent; and third prize, a pill box and cutter, goes to MJ, Staten Island, for Deepercool for Depakote, a mood stabilizer.
By Howard Smith
This is a tricky contest. Haiku are a deceptively simple form of poetry. With so few words, what could be difficult? Can't anyone write one? We'll see.
Originating in Japan over 300 years ago, haiku are now popular with poets the world over. The classic form has strict rules: first line, 5 syllables; second line, 7 syllables; third line, 5 syllables. Within those 17 beats there is supposed to be a transcendent image that gains deeper meaning the more you think about it. Haiku novices stumble by turning these existential delicacies into cute jokes. The last line is meant to deliver a zen-like “aha,” not a punch-line guffaw.
In this contest you have to combine the haiku format with a mood disorders theme. Quite honestly, I found composing these hard to do. Here are a few of my modest efforts just to give you a general idea of what's required:
| The doctor comes in Sadness my eyes cannot hide Outside the street hums |
Dry mouth blurred vision Braindust swept under the edge A walk in the park |
A Haldol morning Sit on the dark grass thinking Who moved the white sheets |
Now try your hand. Send as many haiku as you like via e-mail to newsletter@mdsg.org. Deadline for all entries is July 15, 2000. First prize is a $25 gift certificate to Pamela’s Café in the Village, second prize is a copy of The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs, by Jack Gorman, M.D., and third prize is a seven-day, 28-slot pillbox and pill splitter/crusher.
The Mood Disorders Support Group
P.O. Box 30377
New York, N.Y. 10011
Phone_______(212) 533-MDSG
Fax________ (212) 675-0218
E-mail_____ info@mdsg.org
Web________ www.mdsg.org
MDSG/NY sponsors a series of lectures on various aspects of mood disorders. Anyone
can attend our lectures. More information is available on our lectures page
at www.mdsg.org/lectures.html. Our
next lecture is:
Depression: The Disease That Causes Itself
Richard O'Connor, Ph.D. June 5, 2000
The Mood Disorder Support Group depends on membership fees and contributions for its
operating expenses. A one year individual membership is $35, a one year family
membership is $50. Memberships and contributions to MDSG are tax-deductible to the
extent allowed by law. MDSG is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) organization..
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