May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the US since 1949. Every year during the month of May, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) joins the national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public, and advocate for policies that support the millions of people in the US affected by mental illness. 

During Mental Health Awareness Month, NAMI joins the mental health community to reaffirm our commitment to building our understanding of mental illness, increasing access to treatment, and ensuring those who are struggling know they are not alone. This year, NAMI is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month with the “More Than Enough” campaign!

It’s an opportunity for all of us to come together and remember the inherent value we each hold — no matter our diagnosis, appearance, socioeconomic status, background, or ability. We want every person out there to know that if all you did was wake up today, that’s more than enough. No matter what, you are inherently worthy of more than enough life, love, and healing. Showing up, just as you are, for yourself and the people around you is more than enough.

You’re invited to share on social media why you are more than enough by using the hashtag #MoreThanEnough. Update your Facebook profile with the NAMI #MoreThanEnough frame and encourage others to do the same! Together, we can create more than enough meaningful change in mental health!

With NAMIWalks, you can help knock down walls and topple obstacles. Our rallying call, “Mental Health for All,” is closer than ever before. No one is alone because everyone is encouraged. There is a spirit of inclusion at NAMIWalks that makes the event feel special. So many stories are shared and traditions started. Participants are united by the knowledge that they are making a difference by coming together for mental health.

Millions Are Affected by Mental Illness

22.8 percent of US adults experienced mental illness in 2021 (57.8 million people). This represents one in five adults. More than five percent experienced serious mental illness in 2021 (14.1 million people). That’s one in 20 adults.

Only around 47 percent of adults in the United States with a mental illness receive treatment in a given year, according to NAMI, and even about a third of people with a serious mental illness remain without treatment in any given year.

 

Empowerment Not Stigma!

Recovery from serious mental illness requires that people with such a condition retain a sense of empowerment—a belief in their ability to take charge of their lives and manage the complex challenges of their illness.

Empowerment is essential if people with a mental illness are to overcome the many prejudices that too many Americans still carry with them: the stereotype that makes them believe a person with a mental illness is incapable, unpredictable, even violent, and worthless. 

The late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner dedicated most of his life to fighting the stigmatization of people with mental illness. Colorado Recovery has been utilizing the Warner method to empower adults with mental illness for many years now. Our program approaches mental healthcare based on a path of self-reliance through developed practiced skills. Recognizing the importance of empowerment for recovery, our non-institutionalized philosophy offers comprehensive levels of care supported by an expert medical and clinical team, engaging patients in increasing community participation. 

Our treatment facility provides the services needed to address schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

 

Can Ketamine Research Offer New Insights into the Causes of Psychosis in People With Schizophrenia?

Problems abound in defining schizophrenia. Its primary symptom is psychosis; the two most common functional psychoses are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness). The distinction between the two is not easy to make and psychiatrists in different parts of the world at different times have drawn the boundaries in different ways.

The cause of the illness is equally hard to pin down. “There is no single organic defect or infectious agent which causes schizophrenia, but a variety of factors increase the risk of getting the illness—among them, genetics and obstetric complications,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner, MD, in his influential book The Environment of Schizophrenia. “

New research reported in the European Journal of Neuroscience into how the NMDA receptor inhibitor ketamine affects the brains of rats may eventually lead to a better understanding of the causes of psychosis in people with schizophrenia.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a treatment for depression, a pain management tool, and—like similar substances—sometimes misused as a recreational drug. Ketamine was derived from phencyclidine in 1962, in pursuit of a safer anesthetic with fewer hallucinogenic effects.

In healthy individuals, ketamine can induce a mental state similar to psychosis. “In normal healthy subjects and rodents, complex integration processes, like sensory perception, induce transient, large-scale synchronized beta/gamma oscillations in a time window of a few hundred ms (200-700 ms) after the presentation of the object of attention (eg, sensory stimulation),” researchers wrote. “Our goal was to use an electrophysiological multisite network approach to investigate, in lightly anesthetized rats, the effects of a single psychotomimetic dose (2.5 mg/kg, subcutaneous) of ketamine on sensory stimulus-induced oscillations.”

“Researchers monitored rat responses to having their whiskers stimulated before and after ketamine administration. Microelectrodes implanted in the animals recorded electrical activity in the thalamus and the somatosensory cortex, a region of the brain responsible for processing sensory information from the thalamus,” Jolynn Tumolo explained on Psych Congress Network.

“The discovered alterations in thalamic and cortical electrical activity associated with ketamine-induced sensory information processing disorders could serve as biomarkers for testing antipsychotic drugs or predicting the course of disease in patients with psychotic spectrum disorders,” Sofya Kulikova, a member of the research team told Psych Congress Network.

Ketamine increased the power of beta and gamma oscillations in the cortex and the thalamus, even in the resting state before the stimulus occurred, the research team reported. The amplitude of beta/gamma oscillations in the 200–700 ms post-stimulus period at each cortical and thalamic site was significantly lower following ketamine administration, which appears to be associated with impaired perception.

“By inhibiting NMDA receptors, ketamine also added noise to gamma frequencies in the post-stimulation period in one thalamic nucleus and in one layer of the somatosensory cortex,” Tumolo reported the result of the analysis. “This noise increase further impaired the ability of neurons to process incoming sensory signals, researchers believe.”

The researchers believe “the present findings support the hypothesis that NMDA receptor antagonism disrupts the transfer of perceptual information in the somatosensory cortical-thalamo-cortical system.” The findings could eventually lead to new methods for the treatment of psychotic episodes in schizophrenia.

Colorado Recovery provides services for adults with serious mental illnesses that will stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

We provide residential and outpatient treatment options for schizophrenia, bipolar, schizoaffective disorder, and other mental health conditions. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

New Hope For People with Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)—also known as “social phobia”—is a longstanding and excessive fear of social situations. According to the Mental Health Foundation, “the average age of onset of SAD is between 10 to 13 years, and SAD is rarely diagnosed after the age of 25.”

“In social anxiety disorder, fear and anxiety lead to avoidance which can disrupt your life,” informs the Mayo Clinic. “Severe stress can affect your relationships, daily routines, work, school, or other activities.”

SAD can have a severe impact on a person’s quality of life. “Social anxiety disorder is a chronic mental health condition that causes sufferers to be anxious in social situations where they may be exposed to scrutiny and perceived judgment,” Scott Anderson explained on Psychology Today. “Everyday social interactions can lead to embarrassment, fear, and excessive self-consciousness.”

Now, there is new hope for patients with this condition. Researchers recently looked at a known culprit: the gut-brain axis. “Since the first mouse experiments a decade ago, the gut-brain axis has been found to be involved with anxiety, depression, autism, dementia, and schizophrenia,” wrote Anderson. A new study by Butler, Cryan, et al. from University College Cork (UCC) now adds social anxiety disorder to that list.

“The human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) harbors a vast assembly of microorganisms, predominantly bacteria but also fungi, viruses, protozoa, and archaea,” the authors wrote. “It is estimated that the number of bacteria in the human gut is slightly in excess of the total number of human cells, at approximately 380 trillion, and that the collective genome of these bacterial cells vastly exceeds the amount of human DNA present in the body. Given this enormous, modifiable reservoir of genetic potential, it is unsurprising that there is keen interest in the potential role of the gut microbiome in the etiology and treatment of many disease processes.”

This microbiome is interconnected with the host body in intricate ways. It has now been recognized to be deeply involved in bidirectional signaling between the gut and brain, with the term ‘microbiome-gut-brain’ (MGB) axis describing this communication network.

The UCC study demonstrates, “for the first time, that the gut microbiome is compositionally and functionally altered in people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) compared with healthy controls. Moreover, it increases the growing evidence linking social brain function and the microbiome.”

“If microbes play a role, that’s good news,” concluded Anderson in his Psychology Today article because “we can manipulate our gut microbes with dietary changes, and that might provide a valuable lever to lift the anxiety.”

The study discovered two species of bacteria in particular that correlated to anxiety, one positively and one negatively. “Levels of the bacteria Anaeromassilibacillus An250 were higher in the anxiety group. This tracks with a 2022 Harvard study finding that negative emotions were also associated with higher levels of Anaeromassilibacillus An250,” reported Anderson.

“On the positive side, the study noted that levels of the beneficial bacteria Parasutterella excrementihominis were higher in the control group than in the anxiety group. Microbes that are associated with better mood have been termed psychobiotics. The study found other psychobiotic microbes as well, all diminished in patients with social anxiety disorder.”

In conclusion, the authors of the UCC study wrote that “the gut microbiome of patients with SAD differs in composition and function to that of healthy controls, raising the possibility that the MGB axis may represent a biomarker reservoir and potential therapeutic target for this early-onset, chronic disorder.”

Further studies are required but there is new hope that innovative dietary approaches and new medications can in the future help find better treatment modalities for SAD and other mental health conditions.

If you are searching for treatment options for yourself or someone you care about following a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other severe mental health conditions, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

The Psychodynamic Approach to Treating Schizophrenia 

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness in which people interpret reality abnormally. “Schizophrenia is a psychosis,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner, MD, in his influential book The Environment of Schizophrenia. “It is a severe mental disorder in which the person’s emotions, thinking, judgment, and grasp of reality are so disturbed that his or her functioning is seriously impaired.”

Schizophrenia is not easy to diagnose and its symptoms can be confused with other conditions such as bipolar disorder. “There is no single organic defect or infectious agent which causes schizophrenia,” wrote Dr. Warner, but patients “can be treated effectively in a variety of settings.”

In an article in the Psychiatric Times, psychotherapist Mark Ruffalo, MSW, DPsa, recently looked at the psychodynamic approach to treating schizophrenia.

“At the heart of the psychodynamic approach to schizophrenia is the idea that psychotic symptoms are not random or meaningless phenomena, but rather rich, symbolic expressions of the patient’s inner world,” wrote Ruffalo. “Hallucinations and delusions are concrete representations of abstract ideas, wishes, and conflicts.”

Emerging from the work of Sigmund Freud, the psychodynamic perspective emphasizes unconscious psychological processes and contends that childhood experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality.

“We must remember that the patient’s need for communion with others is great and that a part of the patient—the part that remains healthy despite the psychosis—yearns for human relationship,” Ruffalo wrote. This is also a central aspect of the Warner treatment model which aims to empower adults with mental illness, and those who support them, with an unrelenting optimism for recovery, purposeful involvement in the community, and an enhanced sense of meaning in life.

“Contrary to the beliefs of professionals prior to the 1970s, and to the impression still promoted by the popular media, there is no evidence… that family or parenting problems cause schizophrenia,” Warner clarified in The Environment of Schizophrenia. Ruffalo nevertheless believes that “family dysfunction, attachment problems, and other adverse events in childhood contribute to the development of schizophrenia in some patients. A bio-psycho-social approach considers these environmental forces in the etiology of the disease.” Warner agreed that the reaction to stress can be an important factor in the onset of the condition.

In The Environment of Schizophrenia, Dr. Warner laid out his bio-psycho-social model of schizophrenia. “From the womb to the workplace, the environment shapes schizophrenia. The physical world and human society control how many people will develop the illness and how its course will run. Biological factors are particularly important in establishing the predisposition to the illness; psychological factors, such as the reaction to stress, can trigger the onset; and sociocultural factors, like the domestic environment or stigma, influence its course and outcome.”

Dr. Warner distinguished between “complete [psychiatric] recovery” and “social recovery,” which he defined in functional terms: economic and residential independence with low social disruption. Ruffalo feels that psychotherapy is currently underutilized in the management of schizophrenia.

“In the author’s experience—and consistent with some recent data—the psychodynamic method, which is best considered a complement to pharmacotherapy, can help patients make sense of their odd and seemingly senseless experiences and reconnect them to the outside world. It forms an important part of a bio-psycho-social approach to the most fascinating and complex of human illnesses.”

The Colorado Recovery treatment model created by Dr. Warner is based on a warmer and more human familial setting, comprehensive levels of care that result in a path of self-reliance, and community engagement for connection and a feeling of contribution.

Since Dr. Warner’s passing in 2015, we continue to innovate based on these core principles. It is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

Financing Treatment at Colorado Recovery

Colorado Recovery is not in-network with any insurance provider. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t afford treatment for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and other psychiatric disorders at our first-class facility.

Unfortunately, Medicaid and Medicare will not reimburse for any treatment services at Colorado Recovery. However, most Medicare plans and Colorado-based Medicaid will provide coverage for medications and laboratory services at the same rate as the benefit amount in the insurance policy.

Colorado Recovery is a private pay provider, meaning payment in full is expected upfront and ongoing throughout the treatment process. Colorado Recovery does not submit claims to insurance companies for payment but will help you submit claims.

“Our billing department will help you with a claim that you can submit to your health insurance to be processed out of your out-of-network benefits,” says Colorado Recovery billing coordinator Lee Russo. “Not everybody gets reimbursed, it really depends on what kind of out-of-network benefits the client’s provider offers. Every insurance is different.”

We can help identify a client’s out-of-network insurance benefits prior to entering treatment. If a client has out-of-network benefits, our team will complete the necessary pre-certification and ongoing authorizations as requested by the insurance company. 

“I provide that service for anything that’s billable—residential or outpatient—they only have to submit their details to me and I do the rest,” says Russo. “And if people are on Medicaid—which we don’t take—we will nonetheless help them find an appropriate treatment facility that does. We certainly don’t just say ‘sorry’ and hang up. When people call we explain all their options that we know of, so they can get the help they need.”

Sometimes people want a guarantee that out-of-network costs are covered and learn that we cannot guarantee that. “We can try and help them submit claims with their provider but we have to be upfront with clients that there is no guarantee,” explains Russo. “A lot of people like our non-institutional environment very much and try hard to find a way to finance treatment at Colorado Recovery. We are not set up like an institution, we’re set up more like a home with a family atmosphere.”

A warm familial setting, dynamic levels of care leading to a path of self-reliance, expert staff to improve diagnoses and treatment plans, and community engagement for clients—these are the hallmarks of the Warner model utilized at Colorado Recovery.

Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner distinguished between “complete [psychiatric] recovery” and “social recovery,” which he defined in functional terms: economic and residential independence with low social disruption. Two important components of that are employment and independent housing. We recently added an affordable and flexible independent living option for clients who are ready for this low level of therapeutic support.

At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or how to finance our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.



Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Similar to Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder But Different

Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD)—also known as schizotypal disorder—is a mental health condition marked by a consistent pattern of intense discomfort with relationships and social interactions. People with STPD have unusual thoughts, speech, and behaviors, which usually hinder their ability to form and maintain relationships.

While patients frequently present with similar symptoms to schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, STPD is quite distinct. “The biggest distinction in diagnosis, at least, is that schizotypal disorder is one of the personality disorders (along with borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and several others),” wrote Lisa Miles on PsychCentral. “Delusions and hallucinations are the hallmarks of schizoaffective disorder, almost akin to schizophrenia. In schizotypal disorder, however, these two traits are not so extensive as they are with people with schizophrenia.”

Indeed, psychosis is the primary symptom of schizophrenia, as the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner explained. “Schizophrenia is a psychosis—a severe mental disorder in which the person’s emotions, thinking, judgment, and grasp of reality are so disturbed that his or her functioning is seriously impaired,” Dr. Warner wrote in his book The Environment of Schizophrenia. 

Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions (psychosis), and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania.

Several schizotypal disorder symptoms mimic those of other mental illnesses, so it’s not always easy to diagnose it correctly. People with STPD feel pronounced discomfort in forming and maintaining social connections with other people, primarily due to the belief that other people harbor negative thoughts and views about them. 

Peculiar speech mannerisms and socially unexpected modes of dress are also characteristic. Schizotypal people may react oddly in conversations, not respond, or talk to themselves. They frequently interpret situations as being strange or having unusual meanings for them—paranormal and superstitious beliefs are common. 

Schizotypal patients frequently disagree with the suggestion that their thoughts and behaviors are a “disorder” and seek medical attention for depression or anxiety instead. It is estimated that STPD occurs in three to five percent of the general population and is more commonly diagnosed in males. Some people with schizotypal personality disorder later develop schizophrenia.

Signs and Symptoms

According to the Cleveland Clinic, persons with schizotypal personality disorder may:

  • Have intense social anxiety and poor social relationships.
  • Not have close friends or confidants, except for first-degree relatives.
  • Have peculiar behaviors and mannerisms.
  • Have odd thoughts and speech, such as using excessively abstract or concrete phrases or using phrases or words in unusual ways.
  • Have unusual perceptive experiences and magical beliefs, such as thinking they have special paranormal powers.
  • Incorrectly interpret ordinary situations or happenings as having special meaning for them (idea of reference).
  • Be paranoid and suspicious of others’ intentions.
  • Have difficulty with responding appropriately to social cues, such as maintaining eye contact.
  • Have a lack of motivation and underachieve in educational and work settings.

Personality disorders, including schizotypal personality disorder, are among the least understood mental health conditions. Researchers currently think the cause of STPD is mainly biological and genetic because it shares many of the brain changes characteristic of schizophrenia. Treatment for STPD may include psychotherapy and low-dose antipsychotic medications. 

At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

Leaving the Comfort Zone Behind

Healthy activities for those with a mental health diagnosis - SnowshoeingLike everybody else, people with mental health issues strive to live meaningful and satisfying lives. Colorado Recovery approaches mental healthcare based on a path of self-reliance through developed practiced skills. This non-institutionalized social recovery offers dynamic levels of care supported by an expert medical and clinical team, engaging patients in increasing community participation.

One important element of this approach is the great outdoors surrounding the Colorado Recovery campus in Boulder. During the winter months that includes snowshoeing excursions in the Rocky Mountains. 

“It’s important to get people out of their comfort zone,” says outpatient and transitional living manager Terry Stiven. “Many of our clients have not been in these kinds of mountains before, so some of them get a little nervous on the car ride up the mountain. They wonder ‘What if I can’t do this?’ It’s a great opportunity to work on any anxiety or fears they may have.”

It’s not only the snowshoeing itself, clients learn to prepare and organize for the trip. It’s about getting out of the house and not only for an hour-long therapy session but pretty much for the whole day. 

And then there’s the physical challenge. “Most have never done anything like this and wonder about getting tired too soon,” says Stiven. “If they start to have doubts, we challenge them to go a little farther and when they find that success, it gives them confidence for other challenges in life.”

 

Getting out there and taking a little risk creates a lot of self-esteem. Some clients have to overcome previous negative experiences. Stiven recently accompanied a person who had been in a car accident and didn’t really feel like driving up the mountain. “We did some calming breathing exercises and said ‘Let’s give it a try’ and they did and really enjoyed the excursion in the end.”

Another client also wasn’t sure he could do it but ended up being the most eager of the whole group and really loved it: the fresh mountain air and the gently falling snow felt good and provided a solid grounding. 

“We drove for about 45 minutes up to an altitude of 10,000 feet in an area where you can overlook the continental divide and we followed a beautiful trail,” Stiven remembers. There was also the power of a shared experience, of people encouraging each other on the trail. 

“It’s great to get out of traditional forms of therapy for a while and out into the wilderness,” says Stiven. “Any Colorado Recovery client at any level of care can join in, they just have to be willing to step outside the box.”

This kind of empowering endeavor is central to the Warner Model utilized at Colorado Recovery. “Treatment should include social rehabilitation,” wrote Dr. Warner in The Environment of Schizophrenia. “People with schizophrenia usually need help to improve their functioning in the community. This can include training in basic living skills; assistance with a host of day-to-day tasks; and job training, job placement, and work support.” 

And the self-esteem necessary to succeed in the wider community can be strengthened on a wilderness trail in mid-winter. At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

Colorado Recovery’s New Independent Living Program

One of the main treatment goals at Colorado Recovery is to have patients achieve a certain degree of social independence.

Our recovery model is a holistic, patient-centered approach to mental healthcare. This model is based on the simple premise that it is possible to recover from a mental health condition. Not that long ago, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar severe mental health conditions were considered chronic and beyond the reach of any meaningful recovery.

“A central tenet of the recovery model is that empowerment of the user is important in achieving a good outcome in serious mental illness,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner in 2010. 

The recovery model counteracts feelings of disempowerment and worthlessness in the patient. Its key tenets—“optimism about recovery from schizophrenia, the importance of access to employment, and the value of empowerment of user/consumers in the recovery process—are supported by scientific research,” wrote Warner in 2009. “Attempts to reduce the internalized stigma of mental illness should enhance the recovery process.”

Dr. Warner distinguished between “complete [psychiatric] recovery” and “social recovery,” which he defined in functional terms: economic and residential independence with low social disruption. Two important components of that are employment and independent housing. 

A unique feature of our continuum of care allows clients to move to transitional housing and if they need more support they can move back to residential care at Balsam House for stabilization and then move back to transitional housing when ready. 

From Transition to Independence

If they are doing really well they can now move on to the independent living program. 

Bernadette Robinson is a life skills coach and transitional living coordinator at Colorado Recovery. “An assessment will be made by the treatment team to determine whether clients are ready for this level of care,” she says. “They would continue to be Colorado Recovery clients but may see a therapist only occasionally. One of the criteria is that they will continue to be involved in our organization in some way.”

The new service starts with one apartment: one unit with three bedrooms. The accommodations are being offered to Colorado Recovery clients ready for this level of care. “A life skills assessment will determine whether they have the ability to clean and cook for yourselves, figure out transportation, can take care of their personal hygiene,” explains Robinson. 

It’s a month-to-month lease allowing for maximum flexibility, so clients don’t have to commit to a whole year which may seem too overwhelming for them. “If patients run into problems down the line they can easily revert back to other levels of care like transitional living or even residential treatment if that is required,” says Robinson. “It would be an easy adjustment since they are already familiar with the Colorado Recovery system and its therapists.”

In fact, clients remain in the Colorado Recovery treatment orbit while in the independent living program—as long as they are working with a Colorado Recovery psychiatrist or therapist. It’s all part of our dynamic levels of care to support clients in the best way possible. 

“We are quite flexible depending on where the person is,” says Peggy Caspari, Colorado Recovery’s executive director. “This flexibility is really empowering clients which is our core philosophy. We want to do what’s in their best interest and meet them where they are in their recovery.”  

At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

Microaggressions People with Schizophrenia Face on a Regular Basis

People unfamiliar with schizophrenia often make a number of misguided assumptions about this mental illness. These misconceptions can lead to hurtful microaggressions that people with schizophrenia encounter all too often.


Lisa Guardiola has been living with schizophrenia for 17 years. In a recent blog post for WebMD, she described how in her interactions, she “found that most people aren’t only surprised that I am living with schizophrenia, but that they don’t know what to say to me. As well-intended as they may be, some have asked questions or made statements to me that have been more harmful than good.”


The awkwardness of such encounters is typically based on a pervasive lack of knowledge about schizophrenia. In 2012, psychologist Patricia Owen looked at portrayals of schizophrenia in entertainment media and found that “one of the more prevalent stereotypes found in movies is the depiction of a character with a serious mental illness as dangerous and violent.” She wrote that “media analysts have criticized movies for associating schizophrenia with unpredictable and often violent behaviors.”  


In his book, The Environment of Schizophrenia, Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner listed a number of widespread stigmatizing misconceptions about schizophrenia including


  • Nobody recovers from schizophrenia
  • Schizophrenia is untreatable
  • People with schizophrenia are usually violent or dangerous
  • Everything people with schizophrenia say is nonsense
  • People with schizophrenia are unable to make decisions about their lives
  • People with schizophrenia are unpredictable
  • People with schizophrenia are unable to work


The items on this list are very familiar to Guardiola. Among the microaggressions, she has encountered is the question “Do the voices you hear tell you to hurt people?” Such a query is very stigmatizing and offensive. “Unfortunately, there’s a misconception that people who live with schizophrenia are violent and that the voices they hear are all negative and homicidal,” she wrote. “In fact, not all people who have auditory hallucinations will hear the same thing. For some, their voices may tell jokes or make sounds that aren’t violent and can be quite comforting to the person experiencing the auditory hallucination. So to assume that every person who lives with schizophrenia hears negative voices is so wrong.”


Another stigmatizing but unfortunately common question to be avoided is “How many personalities do you have?” This very problematic “because many don’t understand that schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as split personality) are two different disorders,” explained Guardiola in her article.  While someone with schizophrenia may have a hard time distinguishing what is real and what is not, people with dissociative identity disorder have multiple, distinct personalities. 


Instead of asking pseudo-psychiatric questions or telling people “it’s all in your head!” it’s much more appropriate to treat people with a mental illness with courtesy and respect—just like other people. They are usually neither homicidal maniacs nor people with “special abilities.”  


As Guardiola wrote, many “people often have this romanticized perception that all those living with schizophrenia are creative. While some who live with this disorder are creative, this perception really feeds into the stereotype and detracts from their natural artistic qualities. For those living with schizophrenia who aren’t creative, it can make them feel as though they are lacking in their abilities. Creativity is not dependent on the fact that a person lives with this disorder.”


It also doesn’t make you someone who is “really awesome in bed,” another awful stereotype. “There’s the assumption that people, especially women, who live with schizophrenia are wild in a sexual way. People who have this diagnosis can and do have healthy and satisfying relationships, but that doesn’t mean that they are wild or overtly sexual just because they live with schizophrenia,” wrote Guardiola.  

 

The Warner treatment model at Colorado Recovery is based on the idea that people with schizophrenia can and do live very purposeful and fulfilling lives. Our treatment professionals empower their patients by giving them roads to be productive, to help them perceive a positive meaning in life and a sense of belonging that can significantly improve treatment outcomes. We offer a variety of vocational services to help clients with their short-term and long-term career goals, including job-seeking skills, career exploration, and resume creation.


The recovery model counteracts feelings of disempowerment and worthlessness, partially driven by stigmatizing prejudice prevalent in our society. “A central tenet of the recovery model is that empowerment of the user is important in achieving a good outcome in serious mental illness,” wrote Dr. Warner in 2010. “To understand why this may be so, it is important to appreciate that people with mental illness may feel disempowered, not only as a result of involuntary confinement or paternalistic treatment but also by their own acceptance of the stereotype of a person with mental illness. People who accept that they have mental illness may feel driven to conform to an image of incapacity and worthlessness, becoming more socially withdrawn and adopting a disabled role. As a result, their symptoms may persist and they may become dependent on treatment providers and others.” 


At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.


If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.