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Health & Fitness

Fellowship Place Executive is Guest of Rotary: Myths & Facts of Mental Illness

The Executive Director of the Fellowship Place in New Haven delivered a very informative talk on mental illness to the North Haven Rotary Club.

Founded in 1960, the Fellowship Place in New Haven labels itself “A supportive community fostering mental health”.  The Executive Director, Mary Guerrera, recently described the numerous services provided to “help adults with chronic and mental illness lead more meaningful and healthy lives” to the North Haven Rotary Club. Once a social club for psychiatric patients, the Place has evolved into a “full service psycho-social rehab center” open 365 days a year, serving over 600 people.

Since the focus of the program at the Breakfast Nook was simply a glimpse at how little people understand mental illness, the administrator summarized a dozen of the myths and facts about the topic for her audience. The basic facts discussed were as follows:

  • There are 100’s of different psychiatric disorders.
  • Mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.
  • Parents do not cause mental illness in their children.
  • Schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and major depression are biologically based brain disorders.
  • Stress may be a trigger in these 3 very serious illnesses, but they are biological in nature.
  • Most people with mental illness have average to above average intelligence.
  • These people are no more prone to violence than the general public.
  • Although the prognosis for patients differs, it is much better than those with heart disease.
  • The brain of a person with schizophrenia (1 out of 100) has difficulty in interpreting reality.
  • Extreme mood swings result from a brain afflicted with bipolar disorder (about 2% of people).
  • Major depression results in a lasting feeling of great sadness and helplessness. (2-5 % M, 5-9 F)
  • A great number of people with mental illness lack insight as to what is happening to them.

 For further information, go to www.fellowshipplace.org

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