Re: Mental Illness in Cohousing & Society
From: Tree Bressen (treeic.org)
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 02:08:04 -0600 (MDT)
Hi Zev & others,

>I was just curious, of those of you on this list who are already living in
>cohousing, how many of you have members of your community who have some kind
>of mental illness that is under the supervision of a doctor.  Obviously no
>names should be given but I am curious to see how many communities are
>dealing with the specific challenges this situation can bring on.

>The reason for my initial question about community members with some
>"officially diagnosed" mental illness is two-fold.
>
>First, I am wondering if cohousing is attracting a disproportionate number
>of people in this situation, and secondly, and much more problematic, is how
>might a cohousing community in its development stage, openly have
>discussions about this as the future members are getting to know one
>another?

These types of questions frequently arise in intentional communities other
than cohousing as well.  I think of mental health as one of the topics that
comes around regularly, like pets, guests, food preferences, etc.  

Having lived in 3 different communities and visited over 70, my impression
is that community living does not attract a higher than usual percentage of
people with mental health problems, but that mental health problems are
more common in society than many people realize, and that sometimes the
intensity of community living brings out problems that were previously latent.

Since joining community in 1994, i've lived through situations including:
(1) a member with serious years-long depression making it difficult for the
person to fulfill community responsibilities; (2) a serious relapse on a
morphine addiction followed by abrupt detoxing with the community thrown
into caring for that person (without having been asked first, and in a
community that has a clear rule about no illegal substances even allowed on
the property); (3) the suicide of a community member; and more.

As to how to have discussions on it, i agree that it is quite a sensitive
area.  I think the topic should be approached with care and compassion, in
a setting (such as the "salons" recently mentioned on this list) that
promotes safety and allows for emotional expression as well as thoughtful
analysis and explanations.  It might be helpful to start out with some
anonymous methods, such as conducting a no-name survey on people's history
with final data reported only in aggregate, or allowing people to write
questions anonymously that a facilitator reads out during a sharing session.  

When faced with a particular situation, the communities i've lived in have
occasionally invited a medical professional to make a presentation to us so
that we could better understand the situation and the possibilities.

Watching how dysfunctional the culture we grow up in is, seeing lots of my
family and friends rely on (legal) psychoactive drugs for months or many
years, and having experiences over the years with people in a wide variety
of states, i've come to see mental health/illness as a continuum rather
than a category, and one that many of us occupy different places on at
different times in our lives.  I've found that the policy which serves me
best is to continue to relate to each person as a full humyn being, while
trying to accept whatever their limitations are.  Rather than putting
someone in a box, i strive to maintain a real relationship that can provide
a solid basis for communication even during difficult situations.

Hope this helps, and best of luck to you,

--Tree



-----------------------------------------------

Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 484-1156
tree [at] ic.org
http://www.treegroup.info
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