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A PERSONAL LOOK AT MENTAL ILLNESS

Northern Valley Suburbanite (Englewood, NJ) - 4/7/2016

ENGLEWOOD -- A town hall aiming to reduce the stigma experienced by those with mental health issues gave a personal look at one man's fight to take back control of his life after mental illness took hold.

The town hall, which was at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center on March 31, invited keynote speaker Eric Arauz, founder and president of the Trauma Institute of New Jersey and author of "An American's Resurrection," to discuss his experiences with overcoming bipolar disorder, addiction and developmental trauma.

The meeting was put together by the city's Stigma Free Task Force, which has partnered with the Municipal Alliance to hold events to start conversations about mental illness in the community. The group also held mental health first aid training for public school district employees, police officers and health department employees last year.

"The reason that only 40 percent of people get treatment is because of stigma," said Vicki Sidrow, CEO of Vantage Health System and member of the task force. "The more we talk about mental health and addiction and create less fear, the more people will get help."

Arauz said it was a "great honor" to speak about his life in his home state of New Jersey, the place that has seen his "great triumphs and greatest miseries."

After being locked up in three maximum security psychiatric hospitals, and being told he would never leave, Arauz was able to overcome his struggles with mental illness to lead a successful career, including becoming co-creator of a the state's first Opiate Task Force for the NJ Governors Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and acting as a state officer for Governor Chris Christie.

Arauz gave a personal account of his struggles of mental illness, including how his father also struggled with mental health issues. His father, once a successful man with a large house, would eventually die homeless after spending 10 years on the streets of Paterson.

"I was terrified of my father," said Arauz. "I didn't understand what was going on ... what's hard about a loved one when they start developing serious mental illnesses, you can't see it. They don't turn a different color. You can tell when they're not really moving with you."

Arauz was diagnosed with developmental trauma after his father attempted to run him over with a car while Arauz was walking home from school as a child. After years of reflection, Arauz realized that this wasn't the worst memory he had of his father; it was the memory of his father realizing he was losing control of his life that haunted Arauz.

"I remember him sitting on a bed with me and I remember my father crying," said Arauz. "I remember him openly weeping and he couldn't figure out what was happening with his life."

One of the first times Arauz experienced having mental health issues of his own was while he was attending college for computer science in Memphis after serving in Desert Storm in the Navy. One night, while watching television, Arauz said he felt like "his chest moved" and thought the people on the television were talking to him personally.

"To understand how mental illness strikes, it doesn't strike as a thought for someone like me," said Arauz. "...You feel this energy come over you."

Later on his life, Arauz had a "full maniac episode" at New York University after using cocaine and experiencing the effects of bipolar disorder, which landed him in Veterans Administration Psychiatric Hospital in 1996. He would end up developing posttraumatic stress disorder after being held in restraints for more than 24 hours.

"There's a place that you get where every part of you is ill," said Arauz. "When someone stands in front of you and are begging for you to change, there is no you at certain stages. At certain stages, the disease is everything."

Arauz eventually went into treatment for mental illness, addiction and developmental disorder and has been sober since 1996, free of bipolar disorder symptoms since 2000 and free of medication since 2007.

"One of the things I'm most proud of is being here tonight and hoping I've offered you a different story about someone that's been on these same streets, walking around completely psychotic, who is now living the life he always dreamed of."

Email: noda@northjersey.com