Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 8

(F'W iiiyyi'ynuyniimiHW'wr iW'wwVPr TWO D-2 Richmond Times-Dippetch Sun Feb 21 1982 Study details bitter plight by families Scratching where it itches Angie who one assumes smoke does occasional- her Hampton barn made a pretty good scratching post ly have other urges to satisfy and she found the door of Qr maybe making goo-goo eyes at a boy hone had taken the children to their grandmother's home because bis wife was hospitalized After talking to the father McAndrews said he tried to scare the children so they would not repeat their pranks' "We take any court action on it because they were too young I told them if they were a little bit older I would arrest he said first they laughed They thought it was fenny I could: see their dad was getting quite McAndrews said "He went out of the room and came back with a wg black belt and said see how funny it is He told me Til take care McAndrews added "We heard from those kids tors track them down The pranksters reported their pari address and accidentally dropped their family name while bantering with the dispatchers McAndrews then visited their father and played the tape "The man said Those are my He was quite suri McAndrews said The father a dty employee living in Twin Canal Village However unlike manic-depressives schizophrenics whose intelligence affected by the disorder were able to recognize to some degree that their illness was a burden to their families Dr Schulz said At an age when most young adults are establishing their independence many young schizophrenics lounge around the house day and night dropping cigarettes on the floor Dr Schulz said They typically withdraw alone to their rooms for hours where they talk incessantly or suddenly do something unpredictible like leaving town unannounced or refusing to eat because a voice told them the food was poisoned For example one young schizophrenic woman misjudging her ability to cope on her own would get involved with unsavory men who took advantage of her A son would make sexual overtures to his mother and make grossly inappropriate remarks and when reject him race the fondly car until it ran out of gas One young man would habitually break into the house next' door to take a shower A daughter would make scenes where her mother was teaching a college class A son went naked to the apartment of a woman who know him to propose marriage Dr Schulz said violence is "emphasized nunc than it happens but be He said outbursts usually happen because a paranoid patient is trying to defend himself against imaging threats of attack or is striking out like youngsters exasperated by the control of their supervisors "They Just go and push the nurse or their mother down And very hud to take No mother likes to be pushed down by her 42-year-old schizophrenic son but it He noted that brothers and sisters of schizophrenics "did a pretty good of adjusting to the disruption in their lives caused by their siblings were surprised at the lack of uniform The physician said that the suicide rate among schizophrenics is about 10 percent "so many families end up having to deal -with that too" However when siblings and some schizophrenics wanted to marry a number indicated they wanted genetic counseling to determine the likelihood of any of their offspring becoming schizophrenics Siblings of schizophrenics have a 9 percent chance of developing the disease themselves Offspring of siblings without schizophrenia have a 3 percent chance of having the disorder the risk to children of a schizophrenic married to a nonschizophrenic is about 12 percent But the identical twin of a schizophrenic and the children of two schizophrenics have a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of developing the illness he said Schizophrenia "is not a rare disease One in 100 is not Dr Schulz said "All the studies say that concentrated in families although there are cases of people with schizophrenia in which nobody else in the family has He said enough scientific evidence exists to point to the need for genetic counseling for families of schizophrenics but Dr Schulz noted that siblings of schizophrenics usually overesti- mate the risk to their children "genetic counseling -always involve saying have Changing approach However schizophrenics consistently underestimated the risk of passing along a vulnerabilty to the disorder to their own children and two-thirds of those studied said they planum! to have children Dr Schulz said that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are changing in their approach to helping families of schizophrenics "In the old days we used to say bad parents if only loved Billy more he wouldn't have these crazy thoughts He hallucinates to get away from his awful relationship with In general that's not done now We think we can help families deal with these severe burdens by helping them the same way you help families of leukemics and multiple sclerosis he said Other researchers in the study were Eleanor Dibble executive secretary of the National Institute of Mental Social Work Education Review Committee Dr Steven Tsrgum research director at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington Dr Daniel van Kammen NIMH neuropsycho-pharmacology unit chief and Dr Elliott Gershon NIMH psychogenetics section chief By Betty Booker Timet-Dupatch Staff Writer Families living with a relative who has schisophrenia the mental disorder of hallucinations delusions and strange behavior that affects one in every 100 people suffer severe emotional burdens say research findings to be published this spring in a rational scientific Journal The study led by a psychiatrist and clinical social worker at the Medical College of Virginia reported that family life is often so awful that families unanimously said that the burden schizophrenia is worse than that of other serious illnesses ithat figures in their lives $: But the extreme stress and disrupted way of life that the often irrational bizarre behavior inflicts on their families isn't widely known even by many professionals Patricia Schulz a MCV clinical social worker and Dr (Charles Schulz director of the MCV Schizophrenia Program jp The study scheduled for publication in the spring issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin was conducted with four other special- fets at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda Md Home life with many schizophrenics is Mrs Schulz said in a recent interview "Families want to send their children off when adults but these families When the disorder strikes usually between the late teens and lmid-SOs such a tremendous change in all their lives that the resulting psychological misery and depression is like prolonged grief that never gets she said i-TTs a purgatory-type experience with tearfulness and crying like the person has died One sibling said it was like the person was gone but he was still walking around the She said the researchers were "amazed how enraged and Embittered the parents were that more being to give the families occasional breaks from the day-to-day care of the children "They really get desperate The parents were asking for kings like euthanasia They hated to see the deteriorating xmrse of the illness and when they started seeing that they vanted to spare their children They would wish their child tad cancer instead because at least that had an Only 29 percent of the parents studied said they would have tad children if they had known what they know now about the llness Getting to that point usually Is the result of many years of inguished watching as their children revolve in and out of isychosis and repeated hospitalizations "The worst part of the acute episodes is that he a schlzo-ihrenic child empathize with our grief he can't tell that re lamented one parent Dr Schulz a psychiatrist said only about IS percent of teople who have a single schizophrenic episode don't have pother Scientific advancements in medication and good reatment help diminish but not eliminate symptoms of about 0 percent of schizophrenics But about 20 percent to 20 percent till have hallucinations and delusions despite good treatment nd medication Schizophrenia is caused by a genetic vulnerability triggered interaction with environmental factors like upbringing tress or drugs Dr Schulz explained Hallucinations (seeing and hearing things that aren't there) elusions (fixed false beliefs that can be bizarre or paranoid) nd disordered thinking (illogical incomprehensible or made-p words and statements) are the hallmarks of the disorder be aid! Topically the husband and wife research team said the imiliee studied were troubled by the patients' unpredictabili-r irrational sense of logic severe withdra wal extreme apa-ly and inactivity lack at motivation lack of interest in irtually everything Inability to function during acute episodes nd occasional violence The degree of financial strain and dependence on the parents great because most schizophrenics are unable to be fully self-i upporting The patients worried about their lack of indepen-( ence and also feared hospitalization and recurrence of the icute stages of the illness All of the family members studied said the disorder could yin the life but only 41 percent of the patients (nought it was a longterm disabling illness the study found inety-two percent of the parents compared to 25 percent of patients said schizophrenia caused an extreme burden 'RLH-TV starts broadcasting WRLH-TV new 9-J0 am "The 10 am "The Three 11 am The Rifleman" 11:30 am Thrzan Theater' 1 pm "The Sunday Movie Escape From the Planet of the Apes' pm "The Flick Love Me Tender' 5 pm "35 Theater Rebel Without a Cause' 7 pm "Battles tar Galsctica' 8 pm "Old Time Gospel Hour' 9 pm "Ernest Angley Crusade' 10 pm "Best of the 700 11 pm "The listings will be carried on the nt TV station has fi-illy made it on the air 1 The UHF channel plagued adverse weather that prevented installation of the an-qmni on top of the tower last Week signed on at 8 pm yesterday schedule for Chan-iiiel 25 which is located on the UHF dial is as follows: 7 am £rusade for Christ' 7:30 am fluff Cook Gospel Sing" 830 am "Penelope Pits top' 9 VIRGINIA BEACH (AP) -After a teacher taught them the telephone number fin reporting fires a 7-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother used their newly found knowledge to call in a barrage of false alarms to emergency dispatchers The false alarms which were received for two days aggravated the dispatchers to no end said fire investigator PJ McAndrews Tapes of the calls recorded by the Emergency Communications Center showed the children to be playful impudent and sometimes insulting "Hello the girl said to a female dispatcher in me conversation Later when the dispatcher persisted with questions about the location of the fire add the child's name the toother threatened you shut up Tm going to bop During a 20-minute flurry of calls Feb 8 that sent firefighters on a wild-goose chase to an address in Twin Canal Village one dispatcher warned "You better tell me your name going to burn up little boy if you tell me what your name Later the dispatcher told the boy "Tm going to have a police officer come out and arrest you for making false phone The children were not intimidated They continued to phone in folse alarms and general insults on Feb 8 and 10 But they made two crucial errors that helped investiga- i- A LlMITEDTlME OFFER: TwoWsToSaveOn Bay new end beat the 298? price mcieose Save op to Ibu ran raid the price lncrene Simply order your Mow Wore Much 31 NS2 and take advantage of 1981 price 2 Bay now and get S2S worth ofacceuontt free At an added bonus Vermont CMtlnp It oflertng 825 worth of free Actetaaries when you order your Mow before the Much 31 deadline Apply thli 825 towards the purchase of wanning behes mitten rack andirons gow doora and much more delay Come in by March 31 1982 Order nVermoniCatdngntooe at 1981 pricet end get $25 iportk ofacceuonet free Ita Defiant ItaViGiiJurr'te tesountf Tapfoot WILLIAMSBURG Street 515 York 229-3722 TfctMrtVNi sftteDrtMi'mdVwfom toGAhif APHTTimdBisIsMiii esnUMBf tori wad wWssGwdsilDtSBiwniridsRSMdcligiBtttjstBttsRsfyBMrlwimFiEwjirewBFtWmisimsBtomi ml sMmMpiisi emn4 mm4v tabwniiy ssrErishs m4 stMPBgt wsb4 Mwcsql mm bMxmmbb MltiPsiMrGBaitomlv MNNa" Nutrition Centers Amenta's 8est Nutrition Values are at Nearly 1000 Stores Coast to Coast BOND 500 mf VITAMIN vmuunt WHO LX RAW fiQ OXBRIDGE SQUARE HULL ST AND COURTHOUSE RD 745-4150 STORE HOURS MON -FBI SAM TIL BOO PM SATURDAYS A TIL 6 VISA ALMONDS 99 HOME CENTER am "Dastardly It iDli1 6 oz EXPIRES 22782 GNC QUALITY AT liSS THAN CHEAP CUT-RATE MAIL ORDER PRICES! 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