MHDD offering mental health first aid courses

Feb. 04--Of all the medical disorders Americans experience, mental illness is amongst the most complicated -- and the most heavily stigmatized and culturally exploited -- according to Donn Edgington, a community education specialist for Hill Country MHDD.

Images of violent schizophrenics and bipolar disorder patients committing serial or mass murders are among the most profitable -- and exploitative -- pop culture themes, but the truth is far less shocking, Edgington said.

"Those are the extreme examples," Edgington said. "Schizophrenics are rarely violent."

Hill Country MHDD is offering a National Council for Behavioral Health mental health first aid class to teach the public how to identify and assist a person having a crisis until help arrives.

"It's for anyone who interacts with other people," Edgington said. "One in five Americans, statistically speaking, have a mental health issue. If you come into contact with five people in a day, you statistically have come into contact with at least one of those people. The faster that someone gets help, the better their outcome is going to be."

MHDD began offering the classes for those working with adults and youths two years ago.

Edgington said classes are available of groups of at least 10, with a limit of 30 participants.

"It's free for those who work in the educational system through a Texas Education Agency grant," Edgington said, including teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, school nurses, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

Specialized programs are available for a small fee to cover workbooks for those working with older adults, in higher education and public safety, including first responders, police and dispatchers.

"We're even coming up with a faith-based program," Hill County MHDD Centers veterans services west director Mike Cagle said.

A separate program was introduced by Edgington and Cagle a year ago for veterans, their families and military service workers, addressing a culture whose problems Cagle said are too different from the mainstream to address in a basic class.

A primary goal is overcoming pop culture myths regarding the correlation between mental illness and violence, Cagle said.

"Mental health problems are very common, and the stigma associated with them is a problem," Cagle said. "Everyone gets out there and stereotypes them, like a person who is suffering from major depression or bipolar disorder, and they tend to stay away from them. They feel like, 'If I stay around them long enough, I am going to end up catching the disease,' which is absolutely wrong. Back as far as the mid to late '80s, mental health issues were taboo to talk about, because no one understood it, because they didn't understand it, and they reason they didn't understand it was they were scared of it. It's the same things that go on with a lot of things in society because they are scared of it."

Less than 4 percent of the U.S. population have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder -- two longterm conditions involving a spectrum of medical, emotional, cognitive and social functioning issues.

A person is far more likely to experience a mood or anxiety disorder that can be managed or overcome through therapy and medication, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

NAMI statistics show that 18 percent of adults have experienced an anxiety disorder, such as post-traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder or phobias.

Almost 7 percent have experienced a major depressive episode.

Serious mental health issues cost Americans an average of $193 million a year in lost earnings, according to the group's statistics.

Cagle disputes the notion that mental illness is a lifelong or progressive condition.

"It has a higher rate of successful treatment or being cured than a lot of physical illnesses," Cagle said.

For more information, call MHDD at 792-3300.

___

(c)2016 the Kerrville Daily Times (Kerrville, Texas)

Visit the Kerrville Daily Times (Kerrville, Texas) at www.dailytimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.