NAMI Eastside News - From the Editor: September 2002

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NAMI EASTSIDE
Family Resource Ctr.
16315 NE 87th Street
Suite B-11
Redmond, WA 98052
425-885-NAMI (6264)
info@nami-eastside.org

NAMI Eastside News - From the Editor

The NAMI Eastside News “From the Editor” column is penned by Susan Rynas. You can reach Susan via e-mail at sgrynas@yahoo.com (include "Newsletter” in subject line) or contact the NAMI Eastside office at 425-885-NAMI (6264).

FROM THE EDITOR: SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2002

Since our last newsletter, I was privileged to attend the NAMI National 2002 Conference in July in Cincinnati, Ohio. National conference participation is a MUST for family members and consumers and NAMI Eastside members and supporters are encouraged to begin making plans now to attend next year's conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Meeting, comparing notes, and interacting with not only family members and consumers from around the world but also with numerous state NAMI leaders as well as national staff and leadership is an exhilarating and enlightening experience.

What information stays with me from this experience? The most important information to me involves cutting edge science and treatments currently being pioneered at different sites. They are all harbingers of hope and, therefore, all exciting and newsworthy.

However, some treatment breakthroughs are closer to my heart than others. One such cutting edge treatment is briefly outlined below from information gathered during a presentation facilitated by a team of therapists working with this modality at PLAN of NE Ohio:

While the latest theoretical research and findings on Schizophrenia find little application in current standard psychological treatments and rehabilitation practices, one exception is Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET). This treatment utilizes some of the practice principles from closed head injury and adapts them to the rehabilitation of mentally ill persons. It is an exciting innovative rehabilitation intervention based on the following assumptions:

1. Schizophrenia is a disorder of neurodevelopment that impacts cognitive and social cognitive development. Subtle disturbances in brain development make paying attention, remembering, solving certain types of problems and understanding many social situations difficult.

2. Brain development may have slowed down or stopped in some forms of mental illness. With stimulation and exercise, the process of neurodevelopment and social cognitive development can be restarted and some of the loss of social and vocational functioning can be restored.

3. Mentally ill persons are intellectually capable of understanding their illness. Given information and treatment, they are capable of compensating for many of their disabilities.

4. Many theories focus on changing behavior, teaching skills or even exploring the unconscious. CET takes a different approach, challenging participants in a way that encourages the learning of new skills. The treatment program is designed to promote brain and social development. CET assists individuals in making the difficult developmental transition to being productive and independent adults.

Individuals are evaluated with a neuropsychological and social cognitive assessment and individualized treatment plans are designed on the basis of their disabilities. Participants are paired with a partner and begin to work on specially designed computer exercises (75- 100 different computer exercises) to improve attention, concentration, memory and problem solving abilities. For one hour or more weekly, for more than a year, individuals exercise their brains, while simultaneously learning to work as a team.

Participants are also members of a social, cognitive psychotherapy group where they learn more regarding the nature of their illness, increase attention span, do homework assignments, learn to accept other points of view and learn how to respond appropriately in new and increasingly complex social situations.

Certain individuals are most likely to benefit from the CET rehabilitation program:

Acute symptoms and psychosis must be in remission

Participants need to be medication compliant

Basic intellectual skills are needed. An individual with a dual diagnosis of mental illness and mental retardation would find the program too challenging.

Participants dually diagnosed with a mental illness and a substance abuse disorder must be "clean" for six months prior to admission to a CET program.

Personal motivation and commitment must be strong to sustain the time and energy needed to complete the treatment.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy is a treatment that helps move individuals with Schizophrenia from maintenance modality toward genuine rehabilitation and recovery. It encourages consumers and family members to hope for and want to work together toward a better tomorrow. It deserves to be investigated further and supported in Washington state especially for the treatment of cognitive deficits often resulting from this particular brain disorder.

Till next time, take good care. Susan