April/May 2002: Volume VII, no 2
NEW YORK CITYVOICES
A Consumer Journal for Mental Health Advocacy
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A Lesson From Jacob
By KURT DOUGLAS SASS

"...I will remember Jacob as one of the most caring and courageous fathers I've ever known; someone who took action at a time his child needed him the most. "
Andrea Yates Verdict: The System is a Failure
By JOE GLAZER

"There are no easy answers. But we must begin to seek them, as a just and humane society cannot tolerate many verdicts so foul."
Art of Healing Conference
By DANIEL FREY
"People have told me that our conference has been a life-changing experience for them."
Coping With Obsessive Thoughts
By ROBERT WEISEL
"I have OCD and I have found that what helps me to deal with the illness is to recognize the intrusive thoughts as just a manifestation of my illness."
A Meditation on Geodon
By DEBORAH A. HUDSPETH
"I was trained as a researcher and writer. To be unable to read anything at all for six of the past seven years that I have been in psychiatric treatment has been my worst anguish."
Making It Through College With A Mental Illness
By WILLIAM JIANG, MLS
"If you can get through college with a mental illness, it means that the mental illness doesn't own you. You are bigger than your mental handicap!"
Hey Media, It's Our Turn
By KURT DOGULAS SASS
"The media has come a long way in showing minorities, women, mentally retarded individuals and gay persons in a much more honest and truthful light. It's about time they did the same for people with mental illness."
A Revealing Look at Adult Homes
By DANIEL FREY
"…adult homes are often places of misery and neglect, just like the psychiatric institutions before them."
Queens Mental Health Council's Legislative Breakfast
"The Queens Mental Health Council is a group of consumers, service providers, family members, government employees and others who share a concern for the needs of people living with mental illness "
Why Self-Help?
By SHIFRA LAWNER
"Hindsight can be a wonderful teacher. We often do not know the purpose of the journey we undertake until we are far into it. "
Working for the Common Good Helped Winston Churchill Battle Depression
By BECKY ROSER
"How could a man with a disease that makes getting out of bed nearly impossible stand up to the force that was blacking out the world?.. Working for the common good helped him win his daily battles with depression."
The Friend-Making Organization
By ALICE COHEN
"The Friendship Network, sponsored by NAMI Queens/Nassau, is a service whose sole focus is to help adults, recovering from mental illness, alleviate isolation by forming friendships. "
Ward Stories: Poetry by
  • WADE JENNINGS
  • ANONYMOUS

Our Special Café: Excerpts from a speech given by WILLIAM MCDERMOTT
"We have this café-the food is great, the place has the look and feel of a diner, and it is fully staffed by people who are suffering from mental illnesses."
A Beautiful Mind: The Way I Understood it
By ERIC JACKSON
"I will give you a chance to learn to manage your symptoms without having you incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital and I will help you through the process."
2003 Bush Budget Cuts Hurt Consumer Programs
By SUSAN ROGERS
"...the Bush administration is ignoring a growing body of evidence indicating the value of supporting and promoting mental health consumer-run self-help services."
Tribute to NYC Voices' Director of Circulation Jacob Frey
By PAM SILVESTRI
"Jack was definitely a special human being; a special father; a special friend."
Supportive Housing Options in NYC, Part 2
By LAUREN BHOLAI-PARETI and DANIEL STERN
"For more information or for assistance with applying to mental health housing, call the Residential Placement Management System at the Center for Urban Community Services (212) 801-3333"
LifeNet to the Rescue
By DANIEL FREY
"One man, a construction worker, called because he could not deal with all of the death and destruction he found at the site."
Putting Borderline Personality Disorder on the Map
By PERRY D. HOFFMAN, Ph.D
"Estimated frequency of BPD in the general population is two to three percent, greater than the frequency of schizophrenia. Women make up 75% of the population with BPD."
Picnic for Parity Coming Soon
By MIRIAM WEXLER
"What is parity? It is equality. It means mental illness is treated like physical illness for the purposes of insurance coverage."
Understanding and Healing My Pain
By ROZILAND ASHFORD
"There are times in my life when I go to a dark place. I find it hard to run or hide from this symptom that feels like it controls my life. It's called self-mutilation or cutting."
Depression Despite Success and my Mother's Love
By SHEILA HAGEMAN
"I hate it when depression rains on my happy day. I want to be satisfied with the fact I've done a good job. But no…my depression is there when bad or good things happen-my depression is there."
And S/He Was Said To Have A Long History of Mental Illness
By KISHA HAMILTON
"To remain silent, means society can pretend we do not exist."
Better Treatment for the MICA (Mentally Ill Chemically Addicted) Patient By MARK LAZARUS
"Fortunately, there are now proven techniques that we can utilize to boost and maintain motivation."
Mental Health Screening Day Extended to Year-Long Effort
By MARY GUARDINO
"The tragedy of September 11, the resulting war and the ongoing fear of future terrorist attacks has left many Americans in heightened states of anxiety and stress and has increased the need for mental health services."
Do Neuroleptics Hinder Recovery?
By WILLIAM JIANG, MLS
"What do I think about the National Empowerment Center's message that the psychiatric establishment is lying about the necessity of treatment? I think it is ridiculous and dangerous."

Clubhouses for Ongoing Support
By GARTH R. HARDING
"At my clubhouse, members engage in activities such as sports, picnics, outings, birthday parties and more, which helps us to heal together when we enjoy ourselves together."
A Grandmother's Journey Through the Mental Health System
By JOAN COPPOLA
"I want everyone to treat people with disabilities with respect."
Readers' Voices/Letters and E-mails to Voices Editors
Consumer Profile: Mervyn Matthews
By ADELE STICH
"He holds two jobs, he's active in the community, being part of NAMI; going to therapy twice a week at one time (individual and group), seeing a psychiatrist once a month and being involved in a beautiful relationship."
Albany Advocate: Share Your "Beautiful Mind"
By JOSEPH A. GLAZER, Esq
"In the world of advocacy, nothing makes a better case for an issue than the stories of the people who most greatly need the change being sought."
Film Review: The Politics of Memory
By PHILIP J. MALEBRANCHE
"Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor… and writes to preserve, to honor and protect the memory of lost lives… 'So [the children] will know where they come from, and what their heritage is.' Persons with psychiatric disabilities have a heritage...."
What I Learned About PTSD
By SARA ABEND
"The World Trade Center disaster would certainly qualify as a terrifying ordeal… Bodies flying, collapsing buildings, loved ones lost, blinding smoke, complete devastation at ground zero, fits the definition of a situation which could result in PSTD."
People with Borderline Personality Disorder, Suffering in the Shadows
By VALERIE PORR
"Within the New York City mental health community, a group of people remain in the shadows, stigmatized, misdiagnosed, inappropriately treated, misunderstood or ignored. These people suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)..."


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