What about consumers?

My boyfriend and I were thinking about attending a NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) meeting this week coming up. So I called up and asked someone for driving directions and the woman on the phone asked me who would be attending. I said myself and my boyfriend. Then she asked: “do you have a loved one?” I said no, that I suffer (from mental illness) and so does my boyfriend. Then she quickly said that they were looking to have consumers attend their meetings. That means that we will be the only ‘consumers’ to attend. Apparently their "support group" is for family and friends of the mentally ill. So, off the bat I automatically thought to myself: ‘great, a bitchfest.’ There are probably parents of mentally ill amongst the attendees and we are probably in for a long night.

I have issues with parents. I don’t think I’ve made it quite clear how much so in my blog as of yet, but it is sure to come up in future posts. The major reason for that is that many abuse their children.

Here are some important facts from:

http://www.annafoundation.org/D-MI.html

The references for this article are at the bottom of the above webpage.

“Facts and Discussion Points:

1--Fifty to seventy percent of all women and a substantial number of men treated in psychiatric settings have histories of sexual or physical abuse, or both.1-3

2--Up to 81% of men and women in psychiatric hospitals who are diagnosed with a variety of major mental illnesses have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. Sixty-seven percent of these men and women were abused as children.4

3--Seventy-four percent of Maine ’s Augusta Mental Health Institute consumers, interviewed as class members, reported histories of sexual and physical abuse.5

6--Childhood abuse can result in adult experiences of shame, flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug use, feelings of humiliation and unworthiness, ugliness, and profound terror.12-18

7--Adults who were abused during childhood are:

* more than twice as likely to have at least one lifetime psychiatric diagnosis;

* almost three times as likely to have an affective disorder;

* almost three times as likely to have an anxiety disorder;

* almost 2 1/2 times as likely to have phobias;

* more than 10 times as likely to have a panic disorder; and

* almost 4 times as likely to have an antisocial personality disorder.19

9--Adults who were abused as children may be more prone to developing schizophrenia. A high rate of childhood physical and sexual abuse is evident among children later diagnosed as schizophrenic, with a strong link between childhood abuse and hearing voices. In addition, changes in the brain seen in abused children were similar to those found in adults with schizophrenia.21

11--For adults and adolescents with childhood abuse histories, the risk of suicide increases 4- to 12-fold.23

12--Most self-injurers have a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse. Forty percent of persons who self-injure are men.24–26 "

Note that I did not include all of the facts from the article, the rest can be found at the webpage above. I myself was abused as a child, both physically and verbally/emotionally (see #9).