At the monthly Support Meeting in February, members of the Lunenburg County Chapter in Bridgewater received an art lesson from Janet Mason (pictured below), a marine artist who does Lunenburg artworks in oil, acrylic and watercolors.
Since 1976, Janet has dedicated herself to Nova Scotia paintings. Janet shared her joy of painting and how art is a form of therapy for many who live with mental illness.
Educational Bursary won by Sherry Veinot
Linda May Dagley presents bursary to Sherry Veinot.Winning submission by Sherry Veinot, student of the Continuing Care Assistant Course at the Nova Scotia Community College, Lunenburg Campus in Bridgewater:
On October 3, 2007 Jean Covert, Community Facilitator with The Canadian Mental Health Association and Linda May Dagley, a person living with schizophrenia spoke at a Lunch and Learn Session held at NSCC Lunenburg campus.Click on the photographs to enlarge them.
Jean began by telling us a little about her role as Community Facilitator with the Canadian Mental Health Association. Her objective is to promote good mental health for all people. She works directly with mental health consumers helping them to meet their challenges. She facilitates connecting with the community to provide education and promote understanding of mental health issues.
Schizophrenia is known as “youth’s greatest disabler” because it usually strikes between the ages of 15 and 25. It usually strikes males a little younger than females. About one of every 100 people develops schizophrenia. About 9,000 people in Nova Scotia have schizophrenia.
One of the misconceptions about schizophrenia is that it involves a split personality. This is not the case. Schizo does mean split but it is a split (or break) with reality. Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness. It is a serious but treatable medical condition that reflects a disturbance in brain functioning. A person must exhibit a cluster of symptoms over time to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Some of the symptoms are hallucinations (hearing, seeing or smelling something that is not there), delusions (beliefs that have no basis in fact), grandiosity (exaggerated ideas of own importance often involving religion, having special powers or a special mission, or a connection to the Royal Family or some other celebrity), paranoia (thinking that someone is out to get you), social withdrawal, depression and lack of motivation. People who have schizophrenia often have a lack of insight that is an inability to recognize oneself as being ill.
Schizophrenia is related to imbalances in brain chemistry. The frontal lobe of the brain is affected. This is the part of the brain that controls judgment, social interactions and personality. Some people have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. Having a parent with the illness increases a person’s chance of having it to one in ten.
Onset of schizophrenia can be sudden or gradual. Often the gradual onset is hard to pick up on and it may take years to get a diagnosis. The earlier a diagnosis is made the greater the chance will be of successful treatment. Environmental stressors such as childhood trauma, bad parenting, street drugs and alcohol do not cause schizophrenia but they may trigger it. Equal numbers of men and women develop schizophrenia. People with the illness tend to be passive, afraid and more likely to be a victim of crime than a perpetrator.
There are many drugs used to treat schizophrenia. They are in two classes, the typical/standard drugs and atypical drugs. Some have serious side effects. Finding the right drugs for a certain individual is somewhat a process of trial and error. Even after a person is on the right drugs for them, they need to be monitored and drugs changed and adjusted as needed.
Jean closed by telling us that it is important not to define a person by their illness or disability.
The second half of the presentation consisted of Linda May Dagley telling her personal story of living with schizophrenia. Linda Gave a very heartfelt and moving talk. She talked about her childhood and her present circumstances. I learned the most from Linda. I already had a pretty good handle on the facts that Jean gave us. Linda’s story made me begin to understand schizophrenia. When she talked about her imaginary friends and the fact that she still has some of them it gave me a funny feeling of going to a place that I really can’t comprehend. Something like the feeling I get when I think about the vastness of the universe. She took us into her reality and made us feel a bit of what life is like for her. She is an amazing speaker. She spoke so well without a single note to refer to.
The Lunch and Learn for Understanding Schizophrenia was a very worthwhile event. I feel privileged to have been there for Linda’s honest sharing of her story.
