Word: bmc
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...BMC: Bottom line: you can't get out of either one of them alone. You absolutely need help. In the same way that slavery had absolute control over human beings, mental illness has absolute control over human beings, and in fact, turns many people into completely different people...
...BMC: Bipolar disorder exists in a little more than 1.5% of the population - several million people. The latest research says that mental illness is increasing. Depression and anxiety disorders happen more frequently than do disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. One out of four families will face mental illness in their lifetime. These diseases cannot be cured at this point, but they can be controlled with a combination of therapy, sometimes medication. Certainly having a good diet, basic and proper nutrition is helpful. Also, in many cases, designing your life so that it is as stress-free as possible...
...BMC: Oh, yes. I think that the word crazy brings all kinds of connotations to people. We feel that the mentally ill are violent, and some of them are when they're not in treatment. However, mentally ill people are more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of violence. The other myth is that somehow, this is a by-product of bad parenting. The research shows is that mental illness has a genetic component. So it's more a DNA thing than a parenting thing, although there are environmental factors and triggers, and stress triggers...
...BMC: Absolutely. People of color feel the stigma more keenly. No one, regardless of race or gender, wants to say, ?I do not have control of my mind.? No one wants to say, ?My family member doesn't have control of his or her mind.? But African-Americans and people of color already feel stigmatized by virtue of our race. Therefore we really don't want to own up to something else that could be used against us. So we're going to go into complete denial. The other part of that is African-Americans don't trust the medical...
...BMC: My mother was a social worker, and so I grew up with a lot of social workers for friends. And the era, the backdrop for my life, was the civil-rights movement. So that comes quite naturally to me. To me, there's no point in writing merely to entertain. I have to entertain, because if I don't entertain you, you're not going to continue reading. But if I'm not out to enlighten, or change your mind about something, or change your behavior, then I really don't want to take the journey...