The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

July 24, 2011

NAMI Greenbrier Valley to focus on schizophrenia

The Register-Herald

Editor’s note: NAMI Greenbrier Valley is replacing its next three meetings with news articles containing up-to-date, need-to-know information on three categories of serious mental illnesses. The first of the series focuses on Schizophrenia — Public Attitudes, Personal Needs.



Imagine being homeless, or having a son or daughter who went missing and has not been heard from in years. Imagine also fighting a health care system that is so fragmented that you can’t get what you need to recover from a serious mental illness.

More than 2 million Americans and their families face these conditions every day because of an illness called schizophrenia, an illness that is twice as common as HIV/AIDS.

Although it affects men and women with equal frequency, schizophrenia most often appears in men over the age of 18, while it appears in women in their late 20s or early 30s.

Interfering with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others, schizophrenia impairs a person’s ability to function to their potential when it is not treated. Unfortunately, no single, simple course of treatment exists. Research has linked schizophrenia to a multitude of possible causes, including aspects of brain chemistry and structure, as well as environmental causes.

Because the illness may cause unusual, inappropriate and sometimes unpredictable and disorganized behavior, people who are not effectively treated are often shunned and the targets of social prejudice. The apparent erratic behavior is often caused by the delusions and hallucinations that are symptoms of schizophrenia. A lack of appropriate services devoted to individuals living with schizophrenia has left many improperly placed in jails and prisons without the help they need.

Like any other illness, schizophrenia can often have a profoundly negative effect on people’s lives, on their families and on their communities. Suicide is a serious risk, occurring at a much higher rate than in the general public. Getting an individual to take medication for his or her illness is difficult, especially when the person does not believe he or she is sick.

To learn more about this illness, to read all the fact sheets and to take part in prepared quizzes, go to NAMI’s website at www.nami.org/schizophrenia.

NAMI Greenbrier Valley will meet on the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. beginning in October. Meetings will be at the Old Stone Church Fellowship Hall, Church Street, Lewisburg.

For more information, contact Carol Jones, 304-445-7866, or Suzanne Williams, 304-646-1236.

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