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Page 6, Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, December 2, 1987 Bits and Bites By Helene Ballard Well, it's getting closer to Christmas and our staff has start- ed to decorate our home and I know they will do a real job of it; soon it will be ready for Christmas visitors and we usually have quite a few folks drop in on us to visit and bring their good wishes for the holidays. On Tuesday the 24th, our faithful card players were here so our residents had another enjoy- able afternoon of cards. Wednesday evening we were very happy to welcome Dorothy Lengyel and Anita Netherton; we had some very nice music; Dorothy on piano and Anita played both the flute and guitar along with her singing in spite of a bad cold. Our heartfelt thanks to these lovely ladies and we hope they will come again to play for us. We also want to thank our Ladies' Auxiliary who were hostesses for the event. We now are all looking for- ward to Christmas and are think- ing about what we would like; I guess no matter how old a person gets, he still has that childish wish for Christmas. I will have more in my next column, so I'll close for now. Do stay well and get all your Christmas baking done; gee;I can almost smell it from here. Until next time, a wee "joke"; A Sunday school teacher was horrified when she saw the pic- ture one of her pupils had drawn. "Why, it looks like a cowboy walking into a saloon." "It is," said the boy. "But it's alright, he's just going in to shoot a man." Adios amigos. este AS ye : STeR~) PACT CRS ee = NOTICE The next General Meeting of Royal Canadian Legion Terrace Bay Branch 223 will be held on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1987 at 8 p.m. Election of Officers will be held at this time. ALL VOTING MEMBERS ARE URGED TO ATTEND New Years Eve Dance MOOSE HALL Music by: Mirage from 9 p-m. - 2 a.m. $20.00 per person includes cold buffet tickets available from Chris or Judy at 825-9295 moments of hope. SEASON'S GREETING FROM . McCAUSLAND HOSPITAL The Public Relations committee of The McCausland Hospital needs your help in Lighting the Christmas Tree of Good Tidings for purchasing equipment to bet- ter serve your medical needs. Your "Christmas Tree Light" will give many Children and Adults may drop into the Hospital Administration Office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, from December 1st to December 18th, 1987 and purchase your Christmas Light. On the evening of December 20th, 1987, come and see the decoration you help to build! ADULTS - $2.00 per light CHILDREN - $1.00 per light The Star will be lit by the highest bidder. By Hadley Koltun Mental Health and You is provided as a service of the North of Superior Programs. The purpose of these articles is to inform the community about mental health issues. These articles will cover a variety of mental health issues. If you would like to comment on this article or any of the other articles that have appeared, feel free to write to the News office, P.O. Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ontario, POT 2WO. Any opin- ions expressed are not necessarily those of the management of the North of Superior Programs. Please take this short quiz before you read my article this week. See how much you know about this common form of mental illness. Answer true or false for the following: 1, Schizophrenics are no more violent than other people. 2. Schizophrenia is a multiple personality disor- der (split mind)- that is, one person can have two different personalities at different times. 3. The cause of schizophrenia is usually poor par- enting skills. ircle th nswer: 4. Schizophrenia is: ed; b) uncommon- about one of 1,000 persons is afflicted; Cc) quite common- about one out of 100 persons is afflicted. 5. More people in hospital are: a) hospitalized for cancer than for schizophrenia; b) hospitalized for some other condition. Schizophrenia is never a reason to hospitalize any- one; c) hospitalized for schizophrenia than anything You were probably surprised to learn that schizophrenia is a com- mon mental illness; in fact, it affects about one out of every 100 persons. In the United States, over.two million people are suffering from schizophrenia and over 600,000 will be treated. However, it still remains the illness that is least understood. Because it is so misunderstood, we have developed many false- hoods and myths about this ill- ness. 3 What is Schizophrenia? Most mental health profession- als are hard-pressed to come up with a definition of schizophre- nia, : We do know what character- izes it (what its symptoms are) and we do know what schizophre- nia isn't. There are about five basic characteristics of the illness: 1. Delusion: a delusion is a false personal belief based on an incorrect conclusion about reality. An example is if someone believed they were Napoleon Bonaparte and they could con- quer the world from their home. Even if someone indicates how unreasonable the belief is, they still stick firmly to it and believe it and even act upon it. 2. Visual and auditory halluci- nations: a person may imagine that his thoughts are being spoken aloud or that that someone is talk- ing to him who isn't really there (different than talking to yourself which most of us do). Those hallucinations are of sound or "auditory hallucinations. Visual" or sighted hallucinations are when the individual may see visions (people or objects that are not really there). Many schizophrenic persons believe that an outside force is out to control them. 3. Numbed or inappropriate feeling: the schizophrenic person often feels a loss of personal identity. It becomes hard to relate to others. a) rare- only one out of 10,000 persons is afflict- See bee st jag The world seems "flat" or "unreal". Reactions to emotional situations are not right. For exam- ple, the schizophrenic individual may laugh in a painful and sad situation. Emotion may even be lacking in other emotional times. 4. Disordered Thinking: the schizophrenic person may be unable to concentrate or make logical connection. : A rapid flow of unrelated thoughts may be reflected by strange speech that makes com- munication difficult. 5. A Distinct Break in the Individual's Life: a definite behaviour or personality change may occur. The schizophrenic person may withdraw from friends and family to become absorbed by internal thoughts and feelings (isolation). The individual's world becomes frightening, unpre- dictably and painfully lonely. These are some of the symp- toms which characterize schizophrenia. What schizophre- nia is not is a "split personality", or a "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde" syndrome. These persons do not have multiple or different personalities within themselves. This is an entirely different disorder which is extremely rare. Another myth is_ that schizophrenic persons are com- pletely separated from reality. In fact, most individuals are painful- ly aware of the difference and are quite rational most of the time. Schizophrenia afflicts all pceo- ple regardless of race, creed, or colour. It does not affect how intelligent a person is. The biggest myth to dispel is that schizophrenic individuals are violent. These people are no more violent than other people. What causes schizophrenia? This question is even more dif- ficult to answer than the question about what is schizophrenia. Apparently, there is no single cause. In the 1950s, it was believed that it was. the result of poor parenting. More specifically, ""momism" was the idea that a cold, domineering, rejecting, but overprotective mother was the cause of schizophrenia. There is no evidence to sug- gest that "momism" or bad par- enting is responsible for it. There is however a very strong bio- chemical and genetic component to schizophrenia. Identical twins with schizophrenic relatives were raised in separate families with no history of schizophrenia. These children, more often than not, still develop a schizophrenic illness. There has also been some dis- cussion by geneticists of a series of genes that may be responsible for this illness. * This genetic or inherited trait may cause a chemical imbalance, which suggests a defect in the: brain's chemistry. Further research does suggest that family environments, nutri- tion and reaction to stress cannot - cause schizophrenia but they may be able to bring on or precipitate a psychotic episode. Therefore, the schizophrenic and his family must do their best to ensure the schizophrenic indi- vidual does not experience an excess amount of stress that he cannot handle. Since schizophrenia is indeed a most-common form of mental illness, we are trying to set up a group support system. This group would involve schizophrenic individuals, as well as their families and concerned friends. You do not have to have any affiliation with the Mental Health Program. Confidentiality is guar- anteed. We will be holding this meet- ing at the Schreiber Hydro Hall on Thursday, December 19, 1987, at 7 p.m. For more information, please call the following numbers: Mental Health Program office in Terrace Bay (825-9645), or in Schreiber (824-2597). Remember, no one needs to feel that they are alone. Next time I will discuss how