Lois Bruce helps victims, families cope with disease

Lois Bruce knows all too well that schizophrenia is the great disabler of young people.

As a mother, Bruce suffered the heartbreak of losing her third child, Larry, a 32-year-old who took his own life in 1992 because he couldn't cope with the growing disappointments in his daily existence and couldn't see any hope around the corner.

Now, as president of the Saskatoon chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan, Bruce takes telephone calls daily from individuals and their families looking for answers about one of Canada's most serious health problems.

Schizophrenia is a biological disease of the brain caused by the imbalance of certain chemicals. Precise causes are unknown, but through the increasing use of medications, it is treatable.

"We are making advances in the treatment and care of those affected by the disease but, sadly, we need so much more help for them," says Bruce, who was a co-founder of the Saskatoon organization that started around a kitchen table in November, 1989. It was only two years ago the chapter secured accessible office space in the Community Service Village.

"The statistics show that the disease strikes men between the ages of 16 to 25, and women just a little later between the ages of 23 to 30. What is most frightening is that between 12 to 15 per cent of schizophrenics will commit suicide because they cannot handle the severe depression and they don't think they have a bright future.

"In my son's case, he was about 20 when he was diagnosed with the disease. There wasn't very much literature available, many books were out-dated and medication wasn't as effective as it is today. He wanted to go to university but the stress was too much and he couldn't keep up the pace. He went into the work force, had a good paying job, but gradually as the disease took hold, his responsibilities were decreased.

"The whole family rallied around him, supported him and we took him to several doctors. But he was so disappointed that he couldn't maintain the kind of a job he wanted and he didn't think he ever would.

"There are students who will accept the challenges of going to university but they will take the courses at a slower pace. They need to avoid stress and may do so by not trying to cram everything into a year's schedule.

"There are very few companies, who will hire those affected by the disease. Our people need a certain flexibility in hours, and companies should realize that if they have employees on medication, there isn't a major loss in productivity. When it comes to getting a job, the stigma attached to the disease is often as harmful as the disease itself."

Bruce says that if persons are left untreated, they may hear and obey voices that nobody else can hear, see things that nobody else can see, suffer from extreme anxiousness, lose variation in moods, withdraw completely from family and friends, deteriorate in performance at school or work, have difficulty concentrating and sleep or eat poorly.

There was a time before the 1950s that those affected by the disease were placed in institutions. Now the use of antipsychotic medication allows patients to leave hospital beds, opening up the possibilities of independent living. Bruce notes there is not nearly the funding available to have enough careworkers, counsellors or trained people to support the mentally ill once they are out of hospital.

"Medications can correct the imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, people can learn to live with varying degrees of assistance, and mostly they need friends."

It was the first-hand involvement with her son that led Bruce to what amounted to the founding of the Saskatoon chapter.

"Jennie Dickson brought a speaker up from Regina for a meeting in the Park Town Hotel. We put an advertisement in the newspaper and at meeting time, the room was filled with people. They were typical of those who needed a support group, somewhere they could go and talk about their feelings of isolation and helplessness. Within eight months, Jennie and I made some calls, invited eight to her place and that's where we began the Saskatoon chapter."