Guest Writer

The following article was written by John Hoelzel, NAMI President of Grayson, Fanin and Cooke counties and is published with his permission.

Mental Health and You -What is a Nervous Breakdown?

What is a Nervous Breakdown? A "Nervous Breakdown" is a popular term, not a clinical term, having nothing to do with nerves, that was originally used to describe a mental disorder that a person experiences. It exists largely due to the stigma of mental illness (to be covered later in another mini-series) since some people preferred to have a physical (Nerves) illness as opposed to a psychiatric illness. It generally describes an experience like "snapping" under immense pressure, mental collapse or mental and physical exhaustion. This vague term can be used to hide a diagnosis; to avoid the stigma of a diagnosis; and also when the reasons for certain loss of functions are unknown or denied. There are many disorders that can fit within the criteria of "Nervous Breakdown", but modern psychiatry breaks the term "nervous breakdown" into more precise mental illness diagnoses (analogous to specific cancer diagnoses), covered in our next article. The specific disorder that mimics a vague "Nervous Breakdown" most closely is Major Depressive Disorder (Clinical Depression).

Very generally a "nervous breakdown" can be the acute manifestation of a specific mental illness and as such can sometimes lead to considerations of suicide, or attempts at self-harm. The sufferer can experience what they feel as the total breakdown of ability to deal with even the most minimal stresses of day-to-day living, and in extreme cases can become entirely non-functional and withdrawn.

Causes or triggers of "breakdowns" can include our prior topics on chronic and unresolved grief, including loss of job, academic or job stress, serious or chronic illness in a family member, divorce, death of a family member, and other traumatic life changes. Whatever the cause, the sufferer typically becomes aware of their limits and tolerance to stress.

Surveys show that about one-third of Americans feel on the verge of a nervous breakdown at some point. Studies estimate that 50-million Americans suffer some form of mental illness in their lifetime. Mental Illness treatment (a future article in this series) can include medication and counseling such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Peer group participation and "expecting recovery" (future topics) also provide remarkable hope for improvements in meeting life goals and restoration of more normal functioning.

A Reminder to Us All - From the WOW Newsletter

A message for all women

THIS IS MOVING. HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET.....IF ....WE EVER KNEW......WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.


The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.


And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards, wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing, went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.


They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.


When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks, until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because - why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself.
'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.'
The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made