Thursday, November 01, 2007 Magsaysay: Hope for ‘beautiful minds’ By Jo Magsaysay Whatever
SHUNNED by their families, shunted from one institution to another unwilling to accept them; stigmatized by a society that has no sympathy for them, the most miserable of the human beings and living in the darkness of their minds, the mentally ill will be able to find their place in the sun. Thanks to clinical studies and medical research findings that mental illness may be treatable in most cases and even curable in some.
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The above reprise of an article I had written for Sun.Star Cebu seven years ago should serve me in good stead again while I am still dopey and woozy from a relapse of my own illness. It is as good an introduction as any for an important announcement.
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The Hospitaller Day Care Center in Talamban in known as the Luis Y. Aboitiz Therapeutic Center is undergoing a facelift, a make over, a re-Christening if you will, which has been functioning effectively in the past seven years, is henceforth to be known as the Maria Josefa Recio Therapeutic Center (MJRTC) named after one of the two ladies of charity in Spain who worked with Fr. Benedict Benni whose heroic efforts dedicated his life in caring for the mentally disabled during the 19th century. The Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus inspired by the passion to help the mentally ill of its founder, the newly sainted Fr. Benni, have since taken up this selfless charity work. Still intensely dedicated to the mentally handicapped, the MJRTC will continue to render services like the psychological rehabilitation, out-patient consultation, psychotherapy for individual and family counseling, psychological testing, mental health education for caregivers. Chief administrator of the Center is Clara Sanchez, psychologist and the board of directors headed by Luis Montenegro Aboitiz, son of the late Don Luis Yrastorza Aboitiz, in whose the original therapeutic center had been named.
One of the consultants is Dr. Edwin Menguito who has been a member of the staff of Dr. Pureza Onate seven years ago. Dr. Menguito is a medical graduate of the UP Philippine General Hospital in Manila. Gentle and soft-spoken, the scholarly looking psychiatrist inspires faith and trust among the patients.
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Some myths about mental illness have been dispelled by facts like, “Mentally ill people are violent.” Fact: Studies have shown that violence is actually less likely among the mentally ill members of our society. “People with mental illnesses cannot tolerate the stress of holding down a job.” Fact: All jobs are stressful to some extent.
Anybody can be productive when there is a good match between the employer’s needs and the working conditions. “Mental illness can’t or won’t happen to me.” Fact: Mental illness affects people from all walks of life and ethnic background, every level of education, the rich and the poor. Mental illness can affect anybody. “People are at fault and responsible for their own illnesses and can just snap out of it.” Fact: People can’t just “snap out” of it.
People with mental illness need medical attention and treatment just like a person with heart disease, diabetes or any other medical condition. Mental illness is in fact an illness where effective treatments are available.
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The MJRTC has a simple message: there is hope. People can and do recover from mental illness and go on to lead happy, productive lives. There is an effective help available right here at the MJRTC.
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A bittersweet echo of this hope for the mentally ill resonates in a conversation with someone who has recovered from his illness. A bit disjointed, in spurts and starts of embarrassment at first, he recollects: “Depths of despair and melancholy, the heights of grandeur, of excesses; it is heartbreaking, this brokenness; losing my abilities, my composure. I am a freak upon whom people look, stare and laugh at. Is this insanity? I pray to the Lord to give me back my life, to take me out of the darkness of despair. Each breakdown takes away a bit of me every time. But each of us has to bear a cross and this is mine, given by God and only He can take away this suffering.”
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My friend has not lost his sense of humor and I guess that helps him a great deal now that he has joined the mainstream. He runs a small but thriving business, and he tells me has been surfing the net and discovered geniuses, the greats and near-greats have at one time or another, been stricken by mental illness. Take for example: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Isaac Newton, Vincent van Gogh, Ludwig van Beethoven, Winston Churchill, and latter-day celebrities, like Vivian Leigh (Scarlet O’Hara), Ted Turner (the giant network of CNN), Carrie Fisher (Princes Lea of Star Wars and daughter of Debbie Reynolds), Patty Duke (Academy Award winner for the Miracle Worker and Helen Keller's teacher). “I am in excellent company, don’t you agree?” he told me with a twinkle in his eye. I believe he has a very Beautiful Mind, but an even more beautiful spirit. God continue to bless you, my friend.
