Poster Session 2007

This blog entry is dedicated to my peers who got on the plane.  Or drove up or took a train. Twenty percent of the attendees at the NAMI 2007 Convention in San Diego were people diagnosed with a mental illness: those of us on the front lines who deal with ravaging symptoms every day, and get up and face the world, and embrace a better tomorrow.

If you got on the plane, or drove, or took a train to the conference, I salute your courage! In the coming blog entries I’ll talk in detail about specific knowledge I gained that will benefit readers of my blog.  Starting here, I’d like to print the content of my poster session.

That’s where I stood in front of a poster board and talked up my agenda: A Successful Recovery From Schizophrenia.  I tacked up the narrative top-to-bottom, and on the left and right of that, I taped photos to illustrate my key points.  To show how family support is crucial, I posted a photo of my mother and father and me; to illuminate a healthy lifestyle, I used a picture of my Pumas and 5 lb. weights.

Here now I’ll transcribe the content:

A SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA

Hosted by Christina Bruni, M.L.S.

15 years hospital-free

1.

STATISTICS:

·        3 million people in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.

·        According to all five long-term studies (exceeding 20 years’ duration): approximately 60% of those diagnosed achieve an outcome of full recovery or significant improvement.  Among the 40% who do less well, good improvement is possible.

·        Courtenay Harding, Ph.D. tracked patients released from a Vermont state hospital in the 1950s.  By the 1980s, 62% to 68% were significantly improved or completely recovered.  45% no longer had signs or symptoms of any mental illness.

·        In a Sustained Employment Study conducted by Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation (2001-2004), psychiatric diagnosis was not associated with participants’ ability to sustain employment during the two years prior to entering the study.  80% of all participants had at least one psychiatric hospitalization.  93% of all participants were taking psychotropic medications at the time of entering the study.

2.

STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITAL:

·        Take your medication as prescribed.

·        See your psychiatrist regularly and talk about what’s going on.

·        Decide to make your recovery the #1 focus of your life.

·        Develop an action plan to handle increased stress.

·        Be honest with your doctor about any new and unusual symptoms.