SEARCY — Many people have a form of mental illness — some are high-functioning; some are not. Mental illness doesn’t discriminate, and it can affect a person’s mood, thought process or ability to relate to others.
Serious mental illness may include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or borderline personality disorder.
The National Alliance of Mental Illness is working to create awareness of mental illness and offer information on agencies that help those who have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
In White County, the NAMI support group has been meeting for 25 years.
“We provide advocacy, education and support groups,” said Pat Bolding, leader for the Searcy NAMI support group that meets at 6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at White County Medical Center in Searcy.
“At the meetings, basically, what we do is, we try to invite people to come speak who might have a relevance to the members of our group,” Bolding said.
All meetings are confidential.
“Anything you hear here has to stay here,” Bolding said. “After the speakers, people ask questions and ask for advice.”
Bolding said people who come to the meetings often have family members who are dealing with a mental illness. The families are looking for help and support.
“If you’re a caregiver, you need support,” she said. “When a family member is psychotic and not willing to go into treatment, that caregiver has a psychotic person living in their home. The caregiver needs to know they aren’t alone. … Just knowing there’s another mother or another dad who is going through something similar is comforting. Phone numbers are exchanged, and they don’t feel so isolated.”
Bolding said many people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, are high-functioning.
“The importance of having local NAMI Arkansas affiliates in all areas of our state is so that we can have the mission of providing support, education and advocacy to persons with mental illness and their family members where anyone can either get help or be one who helps,” said Kim Arnold, executive director NAMI Arkansas. “NAMI is the largest grassroots organization that focuses on mental illness, and we at NAMI Arkansas believe mental illness is treatable and recovery is possible.
“We also know that there is such a stigma to mental illness and because of this, many persons do not seek treatment or they carry shame in thinking they have done something to cause this. Not being able to admit to an illness because of how others may think of you is horrible.”
Other issues that are addressed at the NAMI support group meetings are medication reactions and issues with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“People need to know where to go [for help],” she said.
According to the NAMI national website, one in four adults — approximately 57.7 million Americans — experience a mental-health disorder in a given year. One in 17 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder, and about one in 10 children live with a serious mental or emotional disorder.
Bolding said sometimes when people make it to the support group meetings and manage to stabilize their lives, they come back to help other people.
“They’ve managed to stabilize, and they are able to be there to demonstrate to other people, ‘Hey, this is what my life used to be like, and here is what it is like now,’” she said. “We’ve had some fabulous people who have come through and spoken to the group to show that you can be stable.”
Arnold that the support groups are there to help people find the help they need.
“Our support groups also help serve as the community’s voice on mental illness, and because [the support groups] are connected to [NAMI Arkansas], they can help advocate for better mental health treatment and services in our state.”
To learn more about the organization, visit the NAMI website, www.nami.org.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.