• All Disabling Medical Conditions Deserve Treatment.
Diseases and disorders of brain cells can affect either: (i) specific functions of the body; or (ii) functions of thought, mood or behavior. The disease outcome depends on which region of the brain is affected. Body illnesses and mental illnesses must be approached with parity if our society values its citizens. Yet nearly everyone places a higher value on body illnesses: legislators, tax payers, insurance companies, medical researchers, and medical schools.

• Stigma Is the Single Most Important Barrier to Treatment.
This disparity arises from stigma, the single most important barrier to treating severe and persistent mental illnesses. The stigma comes from primitive misunderstandings that mental illnesses are out of the ordinary and are avoidable character flaws. However, mental illnesses impact the quality of life of our entire nation. One in five people over age 18 has a diagnosable mental disorder; that’s 45 million Americans. Four of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. are mental disorders. People living with a mental illness comprise the number one cause of disability—greater than cancer and cardiovascular survivors. The impact on family members and coworkers extends far beyond these statistics which are cited only for the individuals with a mental illness. Stigma prevails in spite of modern science squarely identifying the mental illnesses as unavoidable medical conditions of brain cells.

• The Future of Psychiatry Requires a Shift.
Stigma prevents people with a mental illness, and their families, from seeking treatment, staying with treatment, and getting the help they deserve. Treatment requires both medication and talk therapy together. People with brain cell disorders are embedded in families and in working communities, and therefore everyone is affected and has a stake in making mental illnesses a medical priority in America. Effective medical advances in Psychiatry will require a significant shift in community cultural priorities, research funding priorities, and clinical implementation priorities. Healing and recovery will depend on everyone approaching the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses with the same openness and passion they extend to treating body illnesses.
 

The Family-to-Family Education Course

The NAMI Family-to-Family Education Course is a new concept in education for families and others who are affected by serious mental illness: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, panic disorder, borderline personality disorder, severe anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder including co-occurring brain disorders and addictive disorders. The course was written by experienced family members and mental health professionals, and is taught by family members who have completed the course and are specially trained to teach the course to others.
• Week One
Learning about normal reactions when mental illness strikes a family
• Week Two
Schizophrenia, major depression, mania, schizoaffective disorder, getting through a critical period
• Week Three
Types and sub types of depression and bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder, telling our stories
• Week Four
The biology of the brain, research, causes, the biology of recovery
• Week Five
Problem solving, setting limits, problem solving skills workshop
• Week Six
Medication review
• Week Seven
What it’s like to have a brain disorder, empathy workshop
• Week Eight
How illness interferes with the capacity to communicate, communication skills workshop
• Week Nine
Self-care, how to balance our lives
• Week Ten
Rehabilitation, a first-person account of recovery
• Week Eleven
Advocacy, learning how to change the system
• Week Twelve
Review and certification ceremony