The Positive Mind: Is it Enough?

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Armand DiMele, for his radio show on WBAI in NYC, which airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1 PM.

We talked about many things, using my book Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope as a launching pad for advice for families.

What Armand most wanted to cover was the need for early detection (when does "my child is a little bit off" become "this is a possible mental illness"?), the experience of other family members (siblings, spouses, children as well as parents of those with a mental illness), and the need for communication skills and self-care in dealing with our loved ones. He rightly saw our family story as a platform for introducing others in similar situations to the need for things like education (such as NAMI, and of course HealthyPlace.com), support, advocacy, respect and self-care.

When I entered the offices of the DiMele Center in NYC, where we taped the interview, I saw several items in the waiting room that illustrated the mindset of positive thought, from the Zen sandbox on the coffee table to the "Positive Attitude " books for sale in the corner. I wondered if this interview might turn out to have an anti-medication platform. I hoped not.

While part of me would love to corner Tom Cruise on a talk show somewhere and argue him out of his uneducated and ignorant statements about "drugging our children" on the Today Show years ago, I certainly didn't want to spend this hour-long interview defending Ben's medical treatment. Thankfully, I didn't have to. What I had been prepared to agree to, however was this: medication alone cannot do the job in mental illness recovery. It is the major cornerstone in the foundation, of course - but a "positive mind" helps immeasurably.

What is a Positive Mind?

What do I mean by "positive mind"? Well, lots of things:

• The belief that recovery is helped by community
• The faith that the recovering individual is capable of success, especially with support, structure, and opportunity.
• The positive value of respect - for the individual and for their families.
• The value of things like purpose, exercise, fun, nutrition - and especially a place to belong.
• Love. Respect. Hope. A chance.

According to the website, "The program and all its archives are now being heard worldwide through streaming, podcasts and iTunes. Listeners write in from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America" - and Armand was an insightful, compassionate, knowledgeable interviewer. You can tune in to WBAI , 99.5 FM in NYC or at their website for live streaming, or access the archives of the show after the fact at thepositivemind.org.