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May 11, 2006

Rebuilding: Brain Training and Schizophrenia

Lisa Halpern tells her personal story in an article in the APA Journal of Psychiatric Services April 2006. She is a woman who graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with distinction in two majors. She received two merit-based fellowships: fully funded tuition and living expenses at the distinguished graduate program in Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

But during her studies at Harvard she experienced a psychotic illness, was hospitalized at McLean Hospital and given a diagnosis of schizophrenia and was discharged on heavy doses of medication. She tells of her struggle to regain her mental functioning. She describes just how bad it was at its worst: "...as my thought disorder worsened, I lost my memory and my ability to count change, write checks, operate laundry machines, and find my way though a subway station. My IQ plummeted into the 70s. My facial expression flattened, my personality disappeared...As things got worse I limited my speech, knowing I was not making sense. I mumbled. I talked to myself. Almost mute and terribly confused, I would stare blankly at walls or, when around people, look down at the ground. I had loved reading the New York Times, but I remember when the font became too bright and the pictures jumped off the page..."

She had always enjoyed fitness activities and sports as a child, and by the age of 10 she was nationally ranked in the 400 meters and among the top 3 in the 800-meter race in her state. She applied the lessons that she learned about "training" to her recovery from her severe mental illness. When she came home from the hospital her Mother started to read to her to help her shut out other thoughts. Gradually she began to read a few lines herself from material that did not require much attention but might be of interest. She said: "familiarity and repetition helped". She began to read children's books and played card games like "Go Fish" to help her with her concentration and her memory. Playing other card games strengthened her memory and her mathematical thinking. As she writes: "Once my verbal skills increased and some of my characteristic resolve returned, I began working my memory -which meant old fashioned practice." She began to memorize passages from famous authors like Shakespeare and Eleanor Roosevelt. She continued to push herself because: "As a young competitive runner and wilderness-challenge enthusiast, I had learned the value of discipline, determination, hard work, and long-term goals. These values turned out to be equally important in reconnecting and strengthening the brain."

She was able to return to school, obtain a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Harvard, work for the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for two years, leaving to work with a community treatment team working with severely mentally ill patients. She summarizes her views as follows: "The process of rebuilding a schizophrenia-ravaged brain strikes me as analogous to rebuilding a severely injured body. Rehabilitation of the body requires daily physical therapy and a transition from being bedridden to walking in gradual stages as the body strengthens; rehabilitation of the brain requires continuing practice and adjustment as the mind strengthens. The two kinds of rebuilding - brain and body - are extremely time-consuming, humbling, and exhausting, both mentally and physically."

Posted by admin at May 11, 2006 11:37 AM