Topics covered in the course

• Schizophrenia, Major Depression, Mania, Schizoaffective Disorder - Diagnostic criteria, characteristic features of psychotic illnesses, clinical treatment, dealing with critical periods in mental illness, keeping a Crisis File.

• Mood Disorders and Anxiety Disorders - Types and subtypes of Depression and Bipolar Disorder (formerly called manic depression), causes of mood disorders, diagnostic criteria for Panic Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, clinical treatment, sharing stories of the attendees.

• Functions of key brain areas - Research on brain abnormalities in the major mental illnesses, chemical messengers in the brain, genetic research, infectious and developmental factors involved in mental illness, the biology of recovery.

• Problem-Solving Skills Workshop - How to define a problem, problem-solving, setting limits.

• Medication Review - How medications work, basic psychopharmacology, medication side-effects, key treatment issues, stages of adherence to medications, early warning signs of relapse.

• Inside Mental Illness - Understanding the subjective experience of coping with a brain disorder, problems in maintaining self-esteem and positive identity, gaining empathy.

• Communication Skills Workshop - How illness interferes with the capacity to communicate, how to respond when the topic is loaded, talking to the person behind the symptoms of mental illness.

• Self-Care - Learning about family burden, sharing in relative groups, handling negative feelings of anger, entrapment, guilt and grief, how to balance our lives.

• The Vision of Potential Recovery - Learning about key principles of rehabilitation and model programs of community support, local and other services available, a first-person account of recovery.

• Advocacy - Challenging the power of stigma, learning how to change the system, and how families unite together against this disability.

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For specific questions, please contact ashley@namisf.org