Yesterday, I served on a panel of family members who have loved ones with mental illness, where we talked to a room full of police officers (approximately 30 of them) as part of their crisis intervention team (CIT) training. NAMI-WCI (West Central Indiana) provided the training.

As I prepared my story for the presentation, I realized that I am never the one who calls 911 when my wife is experiencing a manic episode. My wife has always been the one to call, usually because she is experiencing paranoia and psychosis and feels the need to call the police for protection.

This made me wonder… why?

The other day, I was looking through a very helpful publication entitled “What To Do in a Psychiatric Crisis in Indiana,” published by NAMI Indiana. I read it before and mentioned it in a previous post entitled “What To Do in a Psychiatric Crisis,” but what struck me this time was the discussion of calling 911. If you call 911 to report a psychiatric crisis, the dispatcher is most likely to send the police, and NAMI cautions:

It is important to note that depending on the police officer involved and other contingencies, s/he may take your loved one to jail instead of to the emergency room. Be clear about what you want to have happen.

That’s excellent advice, but wouldn’t it be better if you called 911 to report a psychiatric crisis, and instead of just the police an ambulance arrived, too? After all, bipolar disorder is an illness, and ambulances have medications that can calm a person down. Also, wouldn’t someone who’s experiencing a major mood episode be more inclined to voluntarily go away in an ambulance than in a squad car? Wouldn’t it be less stigmatizing?

Several years ago, when my wife was recovering from a major manic episode, she turned over the task of paying our bills and managing the checkbook to me.

We were just looking for ways I could help, and that was an easy one. The other day, however, I came across an article by Ginnie Graham published on the Tulsa World website entitled “Bill-paying program helps mentally ill avoid becoming homeless,” and it made me realize that missed payments could lead to major problems for those with bipolar who don’t have someone who can take on that task, especially during a major mood episode or during recovery.

Date: 2nd Thursday of every month starting May 10, 2012

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Place: Crawfordsville First United Methodist Church, 212 East Wabash Avenue, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Group type: For people with serious mental illness and family members and friends who have loved ones with serious mental illness

More info: Visit the Crawfordsville NAMI website for additional information.

(I posted the following when we were training to become NAMI support group facilitators and added the information above as we geared up to actually start our support group.)

My wife and I and one of our neighbor friends spent part of our weekend in Lafayette, Indiana training to become NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) support group facilitators. We’re planning to start a support group in our town, Crawfordsville, Indiana later this spring and offer a Family-to-Family course in the fall.

I’ve been to several NAMI support group meetings in Lafayette (and Indianapolis when we lived there), and I’ve found them to be very helpful. Even when everything is going well in my family and I don’t really need the support, spending time with others who’ve struggled with mental illness in their families and having an opportunity to help someone by sharing the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years feels great.

The meetings always start and end on time, and the facilitators have been very good about giving everyone a chance to speak and not allowing any attendee to monopolize the meeting.

NAMI Indiana has some very valuable information about what to do in a psychiatric crisis in Indiana. It actually publishes a small book called What To Do in a Psychiatric Crisis in Indiana.

Along with that, you can go online at namiindiana.org, click What to do in a crisis, and click your county to find out which Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) to contact, the number to call for police, whether the police have Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers who are trained to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis, and additional helpful information.

Basically, what you do is contact people who can help:

When you’re experiencing a major mood episode, having key information available is essential to ensure that everyone on your treatment team is brought into the loop and the doctor on call has detailed information about your medications.

If everything’s on an even keel right now, you probably don’t want to think about the possibility of a future crisis, but a period of relative calm is the best time to prepare.

Prepare an information sheet that contains all of the following information:

Cathi asks…

My friend’s 9 year old has had severe behavioral problems and several alternating diagnoses. The Dr. has prescribed Focalin, Trileptal, Lamictal, and Seroquel. She has no concentration, violent outbursts, hallucinations, etc. She has been diagnosed, at present, with ADHD, Bipolar, ODD, and PDD. She will not do work at school; instead, she sits and picks at her skin. She has been violent and tried to choke other individuals. Mam says she can’t even leave the house with her.

My friend has no money. The state has removed an older child due to DMH reasons. She is afraid of the state agencies, but has nowhere to turn. Court appointed attorney said to call if she won the lottery. What happens to these children? These medications seem excessive and risky considering her age, the possibility of adverse interaction, and off label usage. Any advice or help. We are desperate. Thank you.

Dr. Fink answers…

This is an all too common situation in children with multiple levels of developmental, emotional , and behavioral symptoms, especially when the family’s resources are limited. The first place to start is with the current doctor to get a clearer picture of the reasons for the current medications and to express clearly the ongoing symptoms that are not being addressed.

This past weekend, I participated in NAMI’s Family-to-Family training program to become a facilitator (presenter) for the course. My goal is to work with others to start a NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) affiliate and one or more mental health support groups in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and offer the Family-to-Family course to people in the area who have a loved one living with a “persistent and serious mental illness” – bipolar disorder (manic depression), schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, panic and other anxiety disorders including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Family-to-Family is a unique 12-week course (2.5 hours per class), taught by people who have loved ones who are living with one of the serious mental illnesses mentioned previously. The course is designed to lead family members through the three stages of emotional responses:

1. Dealing with catastrophic events: Characterized by crisis, chaos, shock, and denial.
2. Learning to cope: Characterized by anger, resentment, recognition, and grief.
3. Moving into advocacy: Characterized by understanding, acceptance, and advocacy/action.

One of our readers recommended that we include a link to the Social Security and Disability Resource Center. We checked it out, and it seems to contain some valuable content. Here’s a description of the site from our reader:

The Social Security and Disability Resource Center website provides answers to questions concerning how to apply for disability, how to appeal a claim in the event of a denial, how to navigate the federal system, and how to avoid certain mistakes that are commonly made by applicants filing for either SSD (social security disability) or SSI (supplemental security income) benefits.

Specifically, she thought our readers would find the article “Can I Qualify For Disability and Receive Benefits based on Depression?” relevant.

We’re also adding the link to our Blogroll (on the left), so you have convenient access to it on return visits.

Photo by First Baptist, available under a Creative Commons attribution license.

Bipolar disorder affects not only your health and well being – it can also negatively affect your personal finances. In the U.S. right now, job loss typically equates with the eventual loss of insurance and no income to pay out of pocket for treatment. So where can you turn for help when you can’t afford to see a doctor or purchase the medications that doctor eventually prescribes?

Check to see if your county has a health department (I believe that most do or can refer you to a neighboring county that does). As we explain in Bipolar Disorder for Dummies, a doctor will need to do a thorough evaluation to rule out other possibilities, such as thyroid problems or other medical or psychiatric disorders, that could cause similar symptoms.

In our book, we also point out other free or low-cost care options, including the following: