This pamphlet is offered as a Public service by the:
Dealing With Mental Problems
Cumberland County Mental Health Board 590 Shiloh Pike Bridgeton, NJ 08302 (856) 453-7804 Fax: (856) 453-8419 Donna Pearson - Freeholder Liaison Anatoli Redka - Chairperson Ethan Aronoff - County Mental Health Administrator
Funding for this pamphlet comes from the New Jersey Department of Human Services - Division of Mental Health Services who also support Board purchases of videos, books, and booklets available at libraries throughout the County and activities to advance mental health awareness. Text provided by National Mental Health Association.
Types of Mental-Emotional Illnesses
Depression and Manic Depression-Though
depression is a term often used to describe a normal human emotion, it is also a mental illness that can seriously disrupt a person’s moods for a long period of time. Symptoms include: change of appetite, change in sleeping patterns, fatigue/loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt, inability to concentrate, and thoughts of death.
How to Give Helpful Understanding
People with mental-emotional illnesses are an immediate and personal concern. They may be people with whom we work - as employers, fellow employees, or supervisors. We may know them in school - as fellow students, teachers, or friends. They may be among those who are close to us -parents, children, brothers or sisters. You may be able to help a person with a mental-emotional illness in a number of ways including: Let the person know you are interested and care. A person who is “fighting the whole world” will be relieved to have a friend. Your friendly attitude can help the person let down defenses and take a more relaxed attitude toward life. Be a good listener. People with mentalemotional illnesses need someone to talk to, someone with whom they can share their troubles. Make yourself available and listen quietly with little interruption. Try to help out with some practical problems if you are in a position to do so. Sometimes emotional difficulties may be provoked by simple practical problems, like a financial difficulty or problems on the job. You may help to relieve the emotional pressure, and put the person in a frame of mind to deal with the problems. Send for and read literature about mentalemotional illnesses. Additional reading may give you a better understanding and put you in a position to be more helpful. Get professional help. If the disturbance is prolonged and intense, you may need the help of an expert. In that case, you can help the person become aware of the availability and location of professional services. Help is available through family physicians and community agencies. Treatment is available through private practitioners and the resources listed in this pamphlet.
Schizophrenia - This is a severe, chronic
mental illness that prohibits a person from functioning normally in a family workplace or community.
Anxiety Disorders - There are three major types of anxiety disorders: phobias, panic disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Eating Disorders - Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia are serious, life-threatening illnesses.
Some Important Things to Avoid
First, don’t set yourself up as a judge. Since problematic behavior is a trouble rather than a fault, it is unfair (and harmful) to condemn the person as weak. aggressive or selfish. Second, don’t tell someone to "snap out of it.” This may make the individual feel worse. A person with a mental-emotional illness cannot help the behavior or stop when told. It will take much more than a strong, sincere desire to correct the problem behavior. Third, don’t argue. There is little point in trying to convince a person with a mental-emotional illness that his behavior is “wrong.” This can cause resentment. Finally, don’t try to be an amateur therapist. When mental health is at stake, there is only one expert - the professional. You may exaggerate the importance of a minor incident and fail to have the training to answer the proper questions. If the problem is more serious than it can be helped by following the other suggestions in this brochure, get professional advice.
Normal Difficulties and Emotional Illness
Emotional upsets, like physical upsets, are very common. Minor emotional disturbances are a part of everyday life. Everyone is subject to them. It is common, for example, for a person to become angry about a petty annoyance, or get “down in the dumps” for no apparent reason. Reactions of this kind come, last for a time and disappear. But there are disturbances that don’t go away and linger for hours, days or weeks. They become deep and intense, and affect behavior. feelings and thoughts. When a condition reaches that stage, it is no longer an upset or disturbance, but a mentalemotional illness. We can look at a mentalemotional illness with the same attitude with which we regard a physical illness. We know that it has definite causes, makes us behave abnormally and requires care and treatment. When care and treatment are made available, improvement and/or recovery may be expected. Mental-emotional illnesses are not rare. It is estimated that one person in five suffers from serious mental-emotional disorders which require professional attention.
People With Mental-Emotional Illnesses May be People in Trouble
The first step to understanding a person with a mental-emotional illness is to realize that the disturbing behavior may be more painful to the individual than to anyone else. You should recognize, too, that problematic behavior without apparent cause may be the effect of an emotional illnesses rather than a character fault - that people with mentalemotional illness may be people in trouble. Several examples of problematic behavior that indicate a person is in emotional trouble and has developed inappropriate and ineffective ways of coping with life situations include:
Belligerence - walking around with a “chip on the shoulder,” ready to argue or quarrel at the slightest excuse. • Excessive Moodiness- long spells of “the blues”
or feeling “down in the dumps,” feeling that *nothing is worthwhile or really matters:
• Exaggerated Worry - continuous anxiety
about nothing, or feelings out of proportion to the cause.
• Suspicion and Mistrust - a feeling that the
world is full of dishonest, conniving people, that "everyone is trying to take advantage of me.”
Understanding Can Help
Understanding is more than sentiment. It has healing qualities. Mental health professionals agree that understanding can keep minor incidents from becoming worse and also helps people with mental illnesses to cope more effectively. There are two kinds of understanding. The first is sympathetic: the kind that you give to an individual who is sick with a physical illness. The troubled person - the person with a mentalemotional illness is also sick. The individual is as much in need of your sympathetic understanding as the person who has a physical ailment. The second kind is rational: the understanding of what is behind mental problems and why people who have mental illnesses behave the way they do. This type of understanding helps you to keep things in perspective and maintain a reasonable frame of mind.
• Selfishness and Greed - a lack of consideration for the needs of others, a “what’s in it for me?” attitude.
• Helplessness and Dependency - a wish to
let others carry the burden, difficulty in making decisions.
• Poor Emotional Control - exaggerated
emotional outbursts out of proportion to the cause, and at inappropriate times.
• Daydreaming and Fantasy - spending a
good part of the time imagining “how things could be” rather than dealing with them the way they are.
• Hypochondria - worrying about minor
physical ailments, experiencing imaginary symptoms of illness.
Resources Available to Cumberland County residents:
Alliance For The Mentally Ill
A support and advocacy group for family and friends of someone who has severe mental Illness. They meet the second Wednesday of the month in the rectory of St. Francis Of Assisi Church, in Vineland 856-69 l-3860 or 856-45 l-4864
GROW
12-step mutual help program for avoiding & recovering from breakdowns. Meets at 7:00 p.m. Thursdays at Lutheran Redeemer Church, Vineland. 856-88 l-2008
Living With a Loss/Children’s Bereavement Anxiety Disorders Support Group
Meets Sundays 7-8130 p.m. S.J. Hospital, Bridgeton Div. 856-455-4403; 856-825-3485 For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. HospiceCare of Cumberland County. Fred Goos. 856-794-1515
Mental Health Crisis Hotline - 24 Hours CASA Prac
Counseling and referral for Hispanic residents. 856-794-5644 856-455-5555
New Horizons
Support, socializing and advocacy for mental health care consumers. Drop-in center, 739 Wood St., Vineland. John Barile 856-696-8921
Catholic Social Services Regional Counseling
Counseling, information and referral in Newfield and Vineland area. 856-697-0744
School Children and/or their parents regarding the Community Health Care, Inc.
Medical, mental health and preventive services for children in Downe Township and Bridgeton Public Schools. 856-45 l-4440 children can consult with guidance counselors or the child study team in their school or school district.
South Jersey Hospital Systems, Bridgeton
In-patient & partial care mental health services for adults, children, adolescents and geriatrics. 856-45 l-6600
Compassionate Friends
Grief Support Group meets at South Vineland United Methodist Church, Vineland. 856-696-8883
Yellow Pages Checking the following Bell-Atlantic
headings may be helpful: Adolescent & Child Counseling l Clergy l Counseling - Personal and Family l Crisis Intervention Services l Drug Abuse & Addiction - Information & Treatment l Marriage, Family, Child & Individual Counselors l Mental Health Services l Phobia Treatment l Physicians & Surgeons - Psychiatry l Psychologists l Suicide Prevention Services
Cumberland County Guidance Center
Counseling, referral services, case management, partial care and aftercare including medication and monitoring for children and adults, 856-825-68`10
Family Support Coalition
Legal and advocacy services for persons suffering with mental illness and their families. 856-455-3188 or 856-358-7548
Vineland Regional Counseling Service, Inc.
Counseling and psychiatric services for all ages. Sliding fee scale. 856-691-4617
Double Trouble
Mentally ill chemical abuses support group meets Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. 856-45 l-8600. ext. 228
Grief Management
Self-help group for separated, divorced, or widowed persons. Meets Mondays at 7:30 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Vineland. 856-756-7957