In January 18, 2011, The New York Times’ A. G. SULZBERGER and BENEDICT CAREY report again from Tuscon: on the challenge of getting someone to treatment.

Dr. Jack McClellan, an adult and child psychiatrist at the University of Washington, said he advises people who are worried that someone is struggling with a mental disorder to watch for three things — a sudden change in personality, in thought processes, or in daily living. “This is not about whether someone is acting bizarrely; many people, especially young people, experiment with all sorts of strange beliefs and counterculture ideas,” Dr. McLellan said. “We’re talking about a real change. Is this the same person you knew three months ago?”

Those who have watched the mental unraveling of a loved one say that recognizing the signs is only the first step in an emotional, often confusing, process. About half of people with mental illnesses do not receive treatment, experts estimate, in part because many of them do not recognize that they even have an illness.

But the reason we’re launching Mental Health First Aid in our community, is described precisely by the words above I’ve quoted:

  • “Is this the same person you knew three months ago”
  • “those that have watched the mental unraveling of a loved one”
  • “an emotional, often confusing, process”

Only friends, colleagues, family members are even in a position to recognize these changes. That’s why they (people like you an me) have to be trained on what it looks like.   And the range of consequences, some severe, of inaction.

Linda Rosenberg, president of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, said, “The failure here is that we ignored someone for a long time who was clearly in tremendous distress.”

“There is so much fear and mystery around mental illness that people are not even aware of how to recognize it and what to do about it,” Ms. Goldman said. “But we get a feeling when something is not right. And what we teach is to follow your gut and take some action.”

The article goes on to talk about the difficultly of “pushing a person into treatment legally,” and you can read the article about that topic.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post on this NYT article, the benefits of mental health screening for the military.

We also had a good two hour meeting this afternoon, the official first day of work for the SHYMCA’s HOP coordinator Susan Visser. But more on that later. Susan has posted on this site before.