Mental Illness - Bev Russell, Library Director

(This column appeared in the October 7, 2007, Star-Herald)

October is Disability Awareness Month. Additionally, the coming week is Mental Illness Awareness Week. Are mental illnesses disabilities? They certainly can be disabling. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is the group behind the week. NAMI is dedicated to improving the lives of the mentally ill and their families. Over the past 20 or 30 years much has been done by NAMI to remove the stigma associated with mental illness.

NAMI tends to emphasize the biological roots of mental illness; however, the mind and body are complex and interconnected, and it is hard to say where the mind ends and the body begins. How much mental illness is biological? How much is genetic? How much is environmental? These are questions that researchers are attempting to answer. Whatever the answers, it is vital that people be informed. For that reason, the Scottsbluff Public Library attempts to provide up-to-date information mental illness. The following is a list of a few books on mental illnesses.

"The Outsider: A Journey into My Father’s Struggle with Madness" by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer. This book is the author’s narrative of his father’s battle with schizophrenia.

"Diagnosis: Schizophrenia: A Comprehensive Resource for Patients, Families and Helping Professionals" by Rachel Miller and Susan E Mason. This book includes 35 first-person accounts, along with chapters by professionals on a wide range of issues from hospitalization to rehabilitation. The chapters offer up-to-date information on medication, coping skills, social services, and clinical research.

"New Hope for Children and Teens with Bipolar Disorder" by Boris Birnaher, M.D.

"The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression" by Andrew Solomon. This is another personal narrative. In addition to chronicling his own battle with depression, the author interviews fellow sufferers, doctors, scientists, drug designers and philosophers. He describes the range of available medications and the efficacy of alternative treatments.

"Depression Free Naturally" by Larson Joan Mathews. The author emphasizes natural remedies for depression.

"The Family Intervention Guide to Mental Illness: Recognizing Symptoms and Getting Treatment" by Bodie Morey and Kim T. Mueser, Ph. D. This book provides step-by-step support and information for determining whether someone you care about is suffering from a mental disorder, and what you can do to help.

"Your Mental Health: A Layman’s Guide to the Psychiatrist’s Bible" by Allen Frances, M.D. and Michael B. First, M.D. Dr.’s Frances and First translate the American Psychiatric Associations’ "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" into layman’s language.

"Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide and the Lesson of War" by Penny Coleman. Although this book focuses primarily on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicide, and Vietnam, it is tragically relevant today. In August 2003 a team of Army mental health professionals confirmed a suicide rate in Iraq three times greater than what is statistically normal for the armed forces. Penny Coleman uses research and firsthand accounts to tell the story of PTSD from the Civil War to the present.

The movie "The Snake Pit" in 1948 related the harrowing story of a woman suffering from mental illness and her decent into the snake pit of a state insane asylum. We’ve come a long way from those days in the understanding and treatment of mental illness, but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully, some of the above mentioned books will inform your understanding of mental illness.

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