NAMI Black Hawk County Newsletter
Nov./Dec. 2012
A grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the
lives of people who have mental illness and their families
NAMI Free Program and Activities Calendar for Nov. & Dec.
NAMI Peer Support Group for Adults with Mental Illness and Mental or Intellectual Disabilities
Wednesdays: November 7 and November 28/December 5 and December 19
Cedar Valley Club, 616 Allen Street in Waterloo, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Sharing and Caring Evening Education and Support Group for
Family Members and Individuals Affected by Mental Illness
Tuesday, November 13 Topic: Bipolar Disorder
Tuesday, November 27 Topic: Anxiety Disorders
Tuesday, December 11 Topic: Coping and Communication
Hawkeye Community College Metro Center, 844 W. 4th St., Room 228, 6-8 pm
NAMI Daytime Education/Support Group for
Adults with Mental Illness and their Families
Thursday, November 1 Topic: Bipolar Disorder
Thursday, November 15 Topic: Anxiety Disorders
Thursday, December 13 Topic: Coping and Communication
Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial Street in Waterloo
Entrance with the metal canopy nearest the highway; 2nd Floor-Rotary Room, 2-3:30 pm
**Our education and mutual support groups are for people with mental illness and their family
members. Staff members are also welcome to come with their clients. You can attend any
group, no matter your diagnosis or your family member’s diagnosis. In the first part of the
group, we cover information on the topic listed. The open support part of the group that follows
is for all questions, concerns, and anything people wish to share. We do not replace but
strengthen the help people receive from mental health professionals by allowing them to share
information, receive support, and learn about effective coping skills. **
NAMI Annual Meeting and Board Meetings
Thursday, November 8-Annual Meeting & Board Meeting, 5-6:30 pm
Tuesday, December 4-Board Meeting, 5:30-6:30 pm
First Congregational Church, 608 W. 4th Street in Waterloo, Lower Level Parlor
NAMI Educational Event and Holiday Party
Thursday, November 8, Veterans Issues and Services, Robin Knight, Financial Aid & Veterans Advisor,
Hawkeye Community College and Nancy Edwards, Administrator, Bremer County Veterans Affairs, 7-8 pm
Tuesday, December 4, Holiday Party-7-8 pm-Everyone is Welcome!
First Congregational Church, 608 W. 4th Street in Waterloo, Lower Level Parlor
The NAMI Office will be closed from December 24-January 1
LOCAL NEWS & INFORMATION
Make a Donation to NAMI Black Hawk County
As we near the end of 2012, we hope you will make a contribution to our agency. You will find a donation form
on the back of the newsletter. We appreciate your consideration and wish you happy holidays.
NAMI Thanks Community Foundation Fund Supporters
The agency appreciates the financial support it receives in order to do its work in the community. We would like to
thank the following funders that support us through the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa: the Pauline Barrett
Fund; The CBE Group, Inc., Fund; Cedar Valley Corp. Fund; Ann F. Enderlein Fund; Dennis and Jennifer Eslick
Family Fund; Warren & Dorothy Holden Family Fund; Ruth M. Huntley Fund; Loveall Family Fund; Leighty Fund;
Polly & Harry Slife Family Fund; James H. Slife Endowment Fund; Spokesman Club Fund; and Dick & Immy Young
Family Fund.
NATIONAL NEWS & INFORMATION
The Continuing Struggle: Helping Individuals and Families in the Criminal Justice System
Too often, individuals with mental illness fall through the cracks of the mental care health system and end up in jail.
Currently, about 16.9 percent of jail inmates and 24 percent of state prisoners live with serious mental illness. In
addition, 70 percent of youth in juvenile justice centers lives with one or more psychiatric disorders, with at least 20
percent having a serious mental illness that interferes with everyday life. This reality is outrageous and due, in large
part, to the barriers that people with mental illness face in accessing the services they need. For example, individuals
often cannot get treatment because of a highly under funded and uncoordinated mental health care system. Even if these
services are available, many people--especially lower income individuals--lack insurance coverage to pay for them. The
unfortunate result is that many individuals living with mental illness have to deal with the criminal justice system,
which frequently fails to identify the need for treatment. NAMI’s national office HelpLine staff members report that
they receive about 200 calls a month regarding criminal justice issues.
An individual with an untreated mental illness may become involved with the criminal justice system by exhibiting
bizarre or unusual behavior in public or by having a psychiatric crisis, which often results in a call to the police. Police
officers who are not trained to recognize the symptoms of mental illness and who believe there is a probable cause to
make an arrest may see no other recourse but to take the individual to jail. The individual may then be required to stay
in jail until a set trial date. Individuals with mental illness may also be arrested because of aggressive or violent
behavior, (although the link between mental illness and violence has been shown to be relatively weak). The risk for
being charged with violent crimes does increase with the use of drugs or alcohol and is greatest for individuals with a
mental illness and a substance abuse disorder. A small increase in risk of violence exists for individuals with severe
mental disorders such as psychosis, especially if they are not taking medication.
When individuals who live with mental illness are put in jail or prison, their symptoms tend to worsen due to the
stresses of their environment and a lack of access to adequate treatment. Some even develop a mental illness while they
are in jail or prison. Consequently, a large proportion of these individuals tend to remain trapped, cycling in and out of
the criminal justice system, which creates a situation that is burdensome to law enforcement and corrections facilities,
costly for communities, and unfair to the individuals who are living with these illnesses. NAMI has developed a Guide
to Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System as an aid for individuals and families navigating this system. To
supplement the guide, a Criminal Justice Self-Advocacy FAQ answers some of the questions people have regarding
criminal justice issues. It is meant to serve as a resource that will help empower people to better advocate for themselves
or their loved ones if they become involved with the criminal justice system. (NAMI’s Crisis Intervention Resource Center)
The Proposed DSM-5: Alterations and Altercations
One of the biggest stories in mental health over the past few years has been the proposed revision of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). As the main guide used by psychiatrists, psychologists, and social
workers in the U.S. to diagnose mental illness, the DSM is an important factor in our mental health system. The manual
often influences what type of care people get (or should get), how practitioners are reimbursed, and how people
diagnosed with mental illness view themselves and their recoveries.
While the DSM-5 has not been finalized, there are several big changes from the last manual, the DSM-IV, starting with
the title. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) used roman numerals on previous editions but will now use
Arabic numbers. Because Arabic numbers are more universally recognized, updates to the manual will be easier to
track. Prior changes were denoted by abbreviations, which did not indicate which came first. New updates will be
denoted DSM-5.1, DSM-5.2, etc., to show clearly which version is latest. Another noticeable change is the lack of axes
(e.g., Axis I for mood, anxiety, and thought disorders; Axis II for personality disorders) to classify illnesses. The DSM5 work groups felt that there was no scientific basis for this separation and abandoned the axis system for this version.
Instead, an attempt has been made to group similar disorders into 20 categories. However, there have been changes to
the familiar groupings. The former Mood Disorders chapter is now divided into two sections: Depressive Disorders and
Bipolar and Related Disorders. A brand-new category is Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, which includes
hoarding, compulsive hair-pulling, and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. While all these disorders can cause anxiety, their
main distinguishing features are repetitive thoughts and behavior. In addition, as the treatment for them is often different
from other anxiety conditions, they have been separated from Anxiety Disorders, which still contains Panic Disorder,
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, etc. Some other changes are the elimination of Aspergers as a separate disorder and
merging it into Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The section on Personality Disorders has also changed, with new
criteria for some and the elimination of Schizoid, Paranoid, Histrionic, and Dependant Personality Disorders.
Researchers feel that people in these categories rarely needed professional help and that many of their symptoms could
be better described by the remaining personality disorders.
The creation of the DSM-5 has been more contentious than past revisions. Opponents of the new manual feel that
thresholds for the diagnosis of many disorders have been lowered and many people whose behavior is not currently
considered “disordered” will now be labeled as ill. For example, some fear that the removal of the grief exclusion from
Major Depressive Disorder will cause a normal and necessary part of life to be treated as a sickness. The APA has tried
to address this issue by adding a note to the proposed criteria for depression clarifying that while grief itself is not a
disorder, grief and depression can co-occur. Since this difference is not noted explicitly in the criteria, however, some
feel that practitioners may overlook the distinction.
On the other hand, the new definition of ASD may result in fewer diagnoses. This possibility concerns some who feel
that children may lose their ASD diagnosis, ending their eligibility for public programs that their parents have found
useful, if not invaluable, for their children’s development. Critics also claim that researchers have not done all the
testing needed to validate the new criteria, perhaps to meet deadlines in the development of DSM-5. The APA counters
that more fieldwork and validity testing have been done for this revision than for any in the past. It also claims that there
has been more input, partly thanks to the internet, from many mental health professionals and the public. Opponents say
that while the APA has accepted much input, it has disregarded most from outside the association.
How will the new DSM affect the practice of psychiatry and people living with mental illness? Will it change who is
considered to be living with mental illness? We will only learn after its release in 2013. The intent of the authors of the
manual, and the hope of everyone touched by mental illness, is that the new DSM will produce more accurate diagnoses
leading to better treatment. The fear is that many normal behaviors will be considered symptoms of illnesses resulting in
unnecessary labeling and intervention. Ideally, DSM-5 will make for better diagnoses, allowing practitioners to identify
and treat mental illness before it shatters people’s lives, yet without wrongly labeling others. It is a tall order but, at the
very least, both sides in this debate will have learned much on how well this process has worked and how it can be
improved in the future. (National Alliance on Mental Illness website)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Black Hawk County’s Voice on Mental Illness
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THANK YOU to Exceptional Persons, Inc. for helping to sponsor our newsletter
NAMI Black Hawk County . Allen Hospital . 212 W. Dale . Waterloo IA 50703
319-235-5263 . namibh@qwestoffice.net