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The 41-year-old La Crosse woman has been in and out of state hospitals. She said she has had trouble functioning to the point that she can’t keep a full-time job, and her two children were taken away from her due to her mental illness.
Maus has a form of schizophrenia known as schizoaffective disorder, in which people have symptoms of schizophrenia and a major mood disorder such as depression.
She has experienced hallucinations and delusions along with depression and anger. She said she has flashbacks to her childhood, when she was sexually abused.
Maus said she cut herself with a razor and burned herself with a cigarette many times.
“I haven’t been allowed to feel,” she said. “The burning and cutting helps with the trauma and stress.”
She has been in therapy and on medication for 14 years. Maus now lives in a group home and hopes to transfer next to a foster home before returning to independent living.
“I feel pretty stable now. I’m hopeful I can function and live on my own some day,” she said.
Maus said she often stops by Recovery Avenue, known as RAVE, a drop-in center in La Crosse for people with mental illness.
Dr. George Melnyk, a psychiatrist and chairman of Franciscan Skemp’s psychiatry department, said schizophrenia is a complicated disease that can totally incapacitate a person. “They live in a world in themselves, with delusions and hallucinations,” he said.
Melnyk said schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, though both quite disabling, differ in that people with bipolar disorder can function, he said.
“They have unbelievable energy and are good workers,” he said. “Bipolar is a mood disorder, and one of the most difficult to diagnose and treat.”
Julie McDermid, a mental health specialist with Independent Living Services in La Crosse, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1998. She said she struggled in high school and college with an eating disorder and depression.
McDermid, 37, who was sexually assaulted as a child, said she had a breakdown several years ago.
“I didn’t care for my house anymore, and it was a mess,” McDermid said. “Rodents were all over the place. I was hearing voices, and I thought people were following me. I was also cutting myself with razors.
“I was locking myself in the house,” she said. “I knew something was wrong.”
McDermid said she has been hospitalized about 20 times. She said she found some help with therapy and medication.
“I still have a long way to go, but I made a choice to get out of my pattern of behavior,” McDermid said. “I realize that nothing is going to change unless I make a choice to change.”
McDermid said the La Crosse County chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and drop-in centers such as RAVE and Powers in Empowerment can help people with mental illness and their families.
“We’re still working on stigma,” McDermid said. “People don’t realize how mental illness can impact a person and a family. People can be careless about what they do and say.”
Melnyk said bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are treatable with therapy and medication, but it can take years.
He said fewer people with the disorders need hospitalization today and, if hospitalized, the stay often is shorter.
“There is a lot of hope,” Melnyk said. “Today, there also is more acceptance of mental illness, and it’s better understood.”
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a serious disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and acts. Someone with schizophrenia may have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary; may be unresponsive or withdrawn; and may have difficulty expressing normal emotions.
The cause of schizophrenia still is unclear. Theories include: heredity, an imbalance in the brain’s chemistry, and/or possible viral infections and immune disorders. Scientists recognize the disorder tends to run in families.
Symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disordered thinking and speech, social withdrawal, extreme apathy, lack of drive or initiative and emotional unresponsiveness. No cure for schizophrenia has been discovered, but it can be controlled with treatment.
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is an illness involving one or more episodes of serious mania and depression. The illness causes a person’s mood to swing from excessively “high” and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, with periods of a normal mood in between. More than 2 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder.
Although no cure is known, bipolar disorder is treatable through a combination of medications and psychotherapy.
While a specific genetic link to bipolar disorder has not been found, studies show 80 percent to 90 percent of those who are bipolar have relatives with some form of depression.
Source: National Mental Health Association
Where to get help
Great Rivers 211, a 24-hour crisis line and referral service. Dial 211 or 1-800-362-8255
La Crosse County Crisis Line, (608) 784-HELP (4357)
La Crosse County Resource Center, (608) 785-5700
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-La Crosse County, (608) 784-7532
Recovery Avenue (RAVE), (608) 785-9615
Partners in Empowerment, (608) 782-6900
Mental Health Coalition of the Greater La Crosse Area, www.mentalhealthlacrosse.org
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
