“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” — Glenn Close
Mental Illness and addiction among in the Deaf community and Disabled people in the community – continue
“Immediate and short-term attention has been directed to the negative mental health effects of COVID-19 in many countries. However, such attention needs to be put to more ambitious use.
Now is the opportunity to make securing the emotional and mental wellbeing of humanity a common expectation of global governance”[1].
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542519621000371
“Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me.” ― Vincent van Gogh
One in five New Zealanders have a disability, and 80 per cent of those are invisible ones. People with hidden disabilities experience challenges as they travel or visit facilities around the country. https://bit.ly/3ATAUtp
In New Zealand, 24% of disabled people and children (1.1 million) and 26% of the Maaori population identified as disabled (176,000). The data in impairment rates is Psychosocial/psychiatric 5% while in adults 12% and children 21%. In the children rate is the high percentage of 49% existed at birth. One problem that does not provide a clear result is another cause of impairment in adults, 23% and children 33%. Jean is not specific if this data is the cause of impairment linked to D/deaf, for example, D/deaf children with other/multi disabilities. Data from Stats. Govt.NZ 2013
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/disability-survey-2013
How can Jean put down about Crisis intervention, Psychosocial, communication, the need for qualified interpreters, Mental Health and Addiction Services for all D/deaf people and deaf with other disabilities people? There is a vast list of Deaf Mental Health and Addictions, the services we need for the Deaf communities, and research papers through Universities and books.
How does psychological or mental Illness be diagnoses, and when these diagnoses discover? While diagnoses were recognised as far back as the Greeks, it was not until 1883 that German psychiatrist Emil Kräpelin (1856–1926) published a comprehensive psychological disorder system around a pattern of symptoms (i.e., syndrome) suggestive of an underlying physiological cause.
Here is an example in detail from one article in 1963.
“Before the organisation of the Mental Health Project for the Deaf on April1, 1955, it had long been known to rehabilitation specialists, family counselors and genetic guidance workers that early deafness created unique adjustment problems and posed a special chalenge with respect to psychiatric help. Because of formidable roadblocks in comunicating with the deaf and a general lack of knowledge about the type and severity of their problems, few if any psychiatric diagnostic and treatment facilities existed for this large group.” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED018016.pdf
Here is another one from the USA about churches, qualified interpreters and non-qualified interpreters.
“Rosa is a Deaf woman, diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness. As a single mother, she had frequently been accused of abusing her young children, and indeed, she possessed few effective parenting skills. The psychiatrist treating her used a qualified interpreter, but after numerous objections and protestations from Rosa, the psychiatrist agreed to allowing Rosa to bring her own interpreter from her church, whom she claimed to understand much better.
Unknown to the psychiatrist, the church which Rosa attended believes strongly in faith healing, and has little confidence in treatment by mainstream medicine. The interpreter regularly “reported” to the church everything that was happening in Rosa’s therapy, and soon she discontinued treatment against medical advice. Shortly thereafter, her children were placed in protective care by the state social service agency, and Rosa herself was “put out” of her church because of her mistreatment of her children. Since she was court-ordered to return to treatment, she did so and also agreed to use an interpreter selected by the clinic. After a period of re-stabilisation on appropriate medication and taking some basic parenting skills classes, her children were returned to her care, and she continues to function in the community, with ongoing support from the Mental Health Center.” https://mh.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ODS_DeafMI.pdfhttps://nobaproject.com/modules/history-of-mental-illness
There are several types of mental disorders where D/deaf people and D/deaf with other disabilities have similar to ordinary people in the community except for their sign language. Mental disorders which break down that affect children and peoples’ moods, thinking, feeling and behaviours.
There are:
- anxiety
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- bipolar disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTS)
- schizophrenia
- personality disorders
- depression
The types of mental disorders’ symptoms include fatigue, feeling sad, thoughts of death or suicide, fear, worry, compulsions, mania, e.g. angry, happy, impulsive or irrational at different times. The symptoms of schizophrenia can be like lack of emotion, changes in facial expression or personality disorders like mood swings, social anxiety through brutal making friends, need to be the centre of attention, externalizing and blaming the person or the world for one’s behaviours and feelings.
In New Zealand, we struggle to get more funding for Deaf mental Health and Addiction Services and provide more qualified interpreters. The most important thing that everyone must remember is that any Deaf person with mental health and addiction requires an interpreter available in the court, hospital, counselling services, and resources. Without the interpreters, the specialists or judges will misdiagnose or assume any D/deaf person with mental health in the wrong places and receive no help.
In New Zealand, we struggle to get more funding for Deaf mental Health and Addiction Services and provide more qualified interpreters. The most important thing that everyone must remember is that any Deaf person with mental health and addiction requires an interpreter available in the court, hospital, counselling services, and resources. Without the interpreters, the specialists or judges will misdiagnose or assume any D/deaf person with mental health in the wrong places and receive no help. In the churches ministry and a small number of Social Services, there is not enough awareness involving the D/deaf people with mental health and addiction because they do not know about the Deaf organisation or Deaf counsellors available there to help. For example, in the past, Jean referred one Christian counsellor who was happy to assist one Deaf man. This Christian counsellor learnt more from the Deaf culture than this counsellor assumed this Deaf man was similar to an ordinary person in the community. This counsellor asked Jean if she has any books about Deaf Mental health, counselling services and, of course, Deaf culture. Yes, Jean gave the book to this counsellor and learned more about resources of help and advice. In New Zealand, there are a small number of qualified Deaf counsellors around the country and two/three Deaf Mental Health and Addiction Services here. There are many other Mental Health and Addiction Services such as Centre 401 in Hamilton or Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries (Christian).
Jean knows many people suffered mental health over many years, and there are some in Jean’s family, even a couple of family members as workers such as a psychologist.
It is okay to ask for help through any family member, D/deaf friend, staff of the Social Services like Jean, the doctor, the church minister, Vocational, guidance and residence counsellors, teachers, independent living skills specialists, interpreters, and administrators of programs for the Deaf. Do not bottle up to yourself or hide your feelings from your friends; otherwise, you push your friends away.
One of the books to look up even to buy book. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315806549/culturally-affirmative-psychotherapy-deaf-persons-neil-glickman-michael-harvey
https://www.everydayhealth.com/pictures/worst-mental-health-treatments-history/
https://historianruby.com/2019/01/08/in-the-news-edvard-munch-exhibition-at-the-british-museum/
