Have you read..?

 

The Outsider: A Journey into My Father’s Struggle with Madness

By Nathaniel Lachenmeyer (Broadway Books, 2000. 255 pages, $24 hardcover)

(Excerpted from a review by Nicki Sahlin, Ph.D., executive director of NAMI Rhode Island)

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, estranged from his father Charles since adolescence, engaged in detective work and countless personal interviews to trace his father’s history, which included long hospital- izations and nearly a solid year of homelessness in Burlington, Vermont, part of it during a winter of record cold. The author’s remarkable memoir has eleven sections with titles such as "The Sociologist," "The Father," and "The Patient," all roles of his father.

Charles Lachenmeyer had a Ph.D. in sociology, was for a time a professor at Hunter College, published two books, and, ironically, had specialized in analyses of the double-bind theory and schizophrenia. He was not just a competent sociologist; he was brilliant. His strength lay in the clarity and originality of his thinking, most of all in an unremitting application of logic to human behavior. A further irony is that when florid schizophrenia struck him, he exercised his intellect to perpetuate his denial, illustrating what a great leveler this illness can be. Nathaniel explains that Charles was convinced he did not suffer from schizophrenia, but was the victim of a conspiracy that used thought control to shape his behavior. 

 While a college freshman, Nathaniel corresponded with his father, but then let his father know he could not keep in touch with him when his symptoms were acute. Though many points in this history are heart wrenching, especially the great divide between a father and son who loved each other, Charles’s sufferings when homeless are most unbearable. Nathaniel was able to interview the very few willing to help his father during that time. To deal with stigma, Nathaniel suggests that the public needs to be taught tolerance. 

 This is an extraordinary book, one of the best about schizophrenia in recent years.

On the Web

www.pendulum.org

This site offers resources and support for persons who have a bipolar disorder. It gives information on treatments and links to other helpful sites. Articles on various people with bipolar disorder are interesting and encouraging.

 

www.afsp.org

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was established in 1986 to fund research to make progress in the prevention of suicide. Their site gives advice to survivors on coping with loss. There are also enlightening discussions of ethical issues concerning suicide.

 

In the News….

 

Increase in Social Security SGA Level

The Clinton administration is proposing to allow people on Social Security’s disability programs to earn more without losing cash benefits. Specifically, the administration announced that Social Security’s substantial gainful activity level (SGA), which was increased to $700 in 1999, will be adjusted each year after 2001 to account for inflation. By administrative action, the President has directed the Social Security Administration to begin adjusting the SGA limit for both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplementary Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries beginning in 2001. The SGA level represents the income ceiling, above which SSDI and SSI beneficiaries begin to lose eligibility to cash benefits, and in many cases, Medicare and Medicaid coverage.

(as reported by NAMI)

 

Zeldox

Zeldox, a new anti-psychotic drug from Pfizer, has recently been approved by an advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration as being safe enough to be sold in the U.S. market. Panel members said any heart-related risks, while hard to quantify, were probably minimal and outweighed by the benefits of fighting schizophrenia. Winning the committee’s support is a major step forward for Zeldox because the FDA usually follows the advice of its panels. Zeldox, which Pfizer sees as a billion-dollar-a-year seller, aims to treat multiple symptoms of schizophrenia. Studies showed Zeldox, known generically as ziprasidone, relieved symptoms with little or no weight gain.