THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701300177
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 165 lines
HALF A CENTURY ago the diagnosis of cancer, tuberculosis or mental illness in a family member was discussed only in hushed tones and with the closest of relatives and friends. Now, thanks to new medications, effective treatments and greater understanding, bouts with cancer and tuberculosis are openly admitted and discussed.
Not mental illness.
Often, for families faced with schizophrenia and bipolar disease (manic depression), the old taboos still apply. And that, according to Tommie Cubine, a licensed clinical social worker, is a real tragedy.
It is a situation that mental health workers across the country hope to be able to remedy through the use of educational programs and support groups such as the Mutual Education, Support and Advocacy (MESA) Family Workshops, which Cubine leads through Virginia Beach Comprehensive Mental Health Services.
``Families need to be able to talk among themselves, with other families and with the mentally ill person about the illness,'' said Cubine, who for more than 30 years has worked with the city's mentally ill.
Even though major mental illnesses are now believed to have a physical basis just as cancer or diabetes do, the stigma remains. The same families who readily admit to other diseases still go to great lengths to try to hide the nature of a member's psychiatric problems.
``The sooner a family can accept the mental illness and talk about it, the better the outcomes will be,'' Cubine said. That is one of the messages that she strives to get across to the families with whom she works.
The other is even more hopeful. ``This is the most positive time we've had so far in the history of treatment for the mentally ill,'' she explained.
``It doesn't mean that the treatment is perfect, but there are a lot of saving factors. Families need to know that not everybody has to be sick all of their lives.''
What has led to those saving factors are major advances in the use of medications, especially in the past five to 10 years. The effectiveness of the newer drugs in reducing the dreaded thought disorders of schizophrenics is one of the threads to which families of the mentally ill cling. A second thread to which they cling is each other.
``The family groups really bring us together,'' said one woman, the mother of a 29-year-old schizophrenic son. ``You don't have too many people you can to talk to.''
Like many family members, she asked that her name not be used. Her concern for anonymity is not for herself, she said. It is for her son's chances of rebuilding a normal life once his symptoms are controlled and for the young granddaughter she is raising.
``She's having a rough time, this is really hard on her,'' said the woman, a middle-age computer specialist whose face showed the stress of dealing with her son's illness and his daughter's needs.
``Sometimes,'' she admitted, ``it's like I have two small children at home. When I get her something, he wants to know why he can't have something, too.''
This woman and her husband began attending MESA at the suggestion of a counselor at the Veterans Affairs hospital where her son was being treated. ``He was getting into trouble down in Georgia after he got out of the service,'' she explained, ``so we went down there and brought him home.''
Bizarre episodes, commitment hearings and hospitalizations - six to date - followed. Like many parents of mentally ill persons, she and her husband initially thought that drugs and alcohol were the cause of the young man's problems.
Cubine and her co-leader talked about drug and alcohol use at one of the first classes the woman and her husband attended. Like all MESA co-leaders, the man seated next to Cubine that evening has a close family member who suffers from mental illness.
He told the group that while about 17 percent of the general population abuse substances, nearly 47 percent of schizophrenics do.
``For many, that's their way of self-medicating, of getting some temporary relief from the symptoms,'' the co-leader explained. As he talked about substance abuse treatment and 12-step programs tailored to the needs of the mentally ill, those around the table nodded in agreement and added stories of their own family member's battles with drugs and alcohol.
Finally, the woman said, she realized she was among people who knew the problems she was facing, who were discussing them openly and who could give her concrete suggestions for dealing with them.
For her it was a welcome change from the reaction that disclosure of her son's illness often triggers. ``I've even had people tell me that I should commit him to a hospital and leave him there because my life is in danger,'' she said, shuddering slightly at the memory. ``People really don't know what mental illness is all about.''
If Ben and Julia Hebner have anything to do with it, more people will know what mental illness is all about and will be more tolerant of it. The Virginia Beach couple's 16-year-old-son, Dan, was diagnosed with schizophrenia last year.
``The more we're open, the more the disease will be recognized as what it is - a disease,'' said Ben Hebner. Like the previous couple, the Hebners thought at first that they were dealing with drug abuse problems as Dan struggled to remain functional in a world that was making less and less sense to him.
One of four children, he was a hard worker who had come close to becoming an Eagle Scout at the age of 13. ``He was always making plans, doing something,'' said Julia Hebner, ``and he always had wonderful friends.''
Then the problems began. Over the next two years he became involved with drugs, his grades plummeted, he was suspended from school and he attempted suicide. Three times the family made the difficult decision to have him detained for a mental health evaluation. ``At that point my only concern was, can we keep him alive,'' said Julia Hebner.
Last May, Dan was committed to Central State Hospital in Petersburg. ``I guess we were lucky we couldn't afford private treatment,'' said Ben Hebner, whose wry sense of humor is one factor that has helped the family make it through their difficulties. They feel strongly that his treatment in the state's only public facility with an adolescent unit has been exceptional.
Keeping family members up to date on new treatments and helping them communicate more effectively with mental health practitioners is one of the goals of MESA and family support programs.
``We help them become advocates for what their family member's needs are,'' said Cubine. ``We also want them to realize that there are people who have these disorders who are perfectly functional,'' she added. Some who fall into that category have one or two acute episodes of mental illness in their teens or 20s, then never have another.
Most who return to normal or near-normal functioning are those whose symptoms are controlled by medications which, like the insulin-dependent diabetic, they must take for the rest of their lives.
``When we first heard the diagnoses of schizophrenia I was scared to death,'' Julia Hebner said. ``I thought, oh no, his mind and intellect and personality are all going to be gone.''
Shortly after Dan's hospitalization the Hebners got a call from Cubine, inviting them to join the MESA group, a move that has helped dispel many of the myths the Hebners had heard.
Recently, through the combined efforts of Central State and Comprehensive Mental Health Services staff, Dan was able to be placed on the effective but very expensive medication, Risperdal, to which he is responding well.
``We're just thrilled to death,'' Julia Hebner said. ``He's had no side effects so far and he's back to doing a lot of the things that he used to. We're really looking forward to seeing the child that we knew come back and we're finally seeing signs of that.'' ILLUSTRATION: ON THE COVER
Charlie Meads photographed the mirror portrait of Julia and Ben
Hebner.
Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Ben and Julia Hebner, whose 16-year-old son, Dan, is schizophrenic,
learn about new treatments for mental illness through MESA.
``Families need to be able to talk among them-selves, with other
families and with the mentally ill person about the illness,'' says
Tommie Cubine, who has worked with the mentally ill for more than 30
years.
Graphic
WHERE FAMILIES CAN GET HELP
MESA's series of family workshops is designed to teach families
of the mentally ill about the illnesses and give them the tools they
need to understand and help their loved ones. The program was
written by two licensed clinical social workers, Tommie Cubine of
Virginia Beach and Phyllis McCafferty of Richmond. Train the Leader
seminars for the program are sponsored by the Virginia Alliance for
the Mentally Ill. Workshops are offered twice yearly by the
Community Services Board's Comprehensive Mental Health Services.
Call Cubine at 437-5778.
Alliance for the Mentally Ill offers information and support,
including a weekly family support group. Call 499-2041.
Comprehensive Mental Health Services has information on MESA
workshops plus support groups for spouses, parents and siblings of
the mentally ill, including those who are incarcerated. Call
437-5778.
Support Group for Parents of Children and Adolescents with Mental
Illnesses or Emotional Disorders. Call 468-0471.