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Thursday, July 5, 2007
Mental illness: The silent killer
Continued from page 1B
higher than the burden of
disease associated with all
forms of cancer. It is esti
mated that one in every,
five Americans will experi
ence a mental illness at
some point during their
lives. In general, persons
of color endure a greater
burden from unmet mental
health needs, which can re
sult in unnecessary suffer
ing and impact overall
health and productivity.
Alarmingly, suicides
among African American
youth^ages 10-14 years are
incre _sing at a rate nearly
double the rate of increase
among white youth of the
same age.
The time could not be
more appropriate to think
seriously about our fami
lies and community mem
bers. We cannot afford to
remain silent on an issue
that is affecting our fami
lies and community on a
daily basis. While many
questions remain, an in
escapable question is, What
does it take to grow our in
vestment in mental health
awareness regardless of
age, race, gender, socioeco
nomic status, or place of
origin?
Moving to action for im
proving psychological
health
Improving the psycholog
ical health and well-being
of family and community
members should be prior
ity in the African-American
community. So why are we
resistant to increasing our
conversations about this
personal health and public
health issue? Action-ori
ented thinking will ask
what we can do now for the
health of the future to help
promote family and com
munity awareness of men
tal illness. First, we must
be clear that family and
community attitudes and
beliefs about mental health
must be adjusted in order
to ensure that all in our
community get the care
they need. There are ac--
tion-oriented strategies we
can use to increase mental
health awareness and men
tal health literacy. A few
steps you can take include:
1. Make efforts to learn
about the symptoms of
common psychological
conditions, such as depres
sion and anxiety-
2. Pay attention your own
emotional well being and
notice the situations that
trigger stressful feelings
and negative emotions.
3. Use characters and sit
uations from movies and
television to stimulate and
advance family awareness
and conversations about
psychological health.
4. Challenge mental ill
ness stigma by encourag
ing open discussions about
feelings, emotions, and
psychological well-being.
5. Add mental health
awareness to church min
istries.
6. Avoid the use of lan
guage that describes men
tal illness in derogatory
terms.
7. Remember that mental
illness does not define an
individual;
8. Understand that dis
ruptive behavior in school
by children could be re
lated to underlying mental
distress. Children experi
ence psychological distress
also.
9. If you are experiencing
psychological distress,
seek care.
Contribution by Drs.
David L. Mount and Monica
Rivers, Tierra Rudd and
Orita McCorkly.
For more information or
to learn about health re
sources, call the Maya An-
gelou Research Center on
Minority Health at (336)
713-7578;
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Cost keeps college out of reach
for many U.S. minority students
Continued from page 1B
for example, around 7 per
cent of its student popula
tion is black.
"Cost is becoming a bigger,
and bigger barrier for that
constituency," said Byron
Wiley, director of access and
equity at Clemson.
Wiley said the increase in
tuition coupled with few
need-based financial aid op
tions is hurting the univer
sity’s efforts to recruit more
black students.
"A lot of kids I work with
would love to come here,”
said Levon Kirkland, Clem-
son’s coordinator of minor
ity recruitment initiatives.
"It’s always heartbreaking
when the reason they don’t
come is the financial rea
son.”
Among Clemson’s efforts
to attract more black stu
dents are summer pro
grams, such as an SAT
workshop aimed at top mi
nority students and a sci
ence and engineering
summer camp for rising
eighth-grade girls from di
verse backgrounds.
Lander University in
Greenwood has had greater
success diversifying its stu
dent population since an ini
tiative pushed by
then-president Larry Jack-
son when Lander became a
public university in 1973,
said Charlotte Cabri, a Lan
der spokeswoman.
At Lander, 24 percent of
the students are black,
"it was easy to get in
volved,” said Anna Pinck
ney, a 2005 graduate work
ing in the school’s admis
sions office. "It wasn’t about
black and white. Each organ
ization involved everyone
from every type of culture.”
in South Carolina, total
college enrollment rose be
tween 2001 and 2005 and
black enrollment rose at the
state's teaching, two-year re
gional and technical col
leges, according to the state
Commission on Higher Edu
cation.
But the percentage of
black students decreased at
the state’s research univer
sities: Clemson, the Univer
sity of South Carolina and
the Medical University of
South Carolina.
"We are making progress,
although it is somewhat eas-'
Rats in your home? Don’t shriek
ier to make that progress in
the high-growth and lower-
cost institutions," said Gail
Morrison, interim executive
director of the state Com
mission on Higher Educa
tion.
“We have a tremendous
need to help students com
ing frorh impoverished
backgrounds,” Morrison
said. “Unfortunately in
South Carolina, poverty is
often linked to race.”
That means those stu
dents likely will need schol
arships.
Of $276.2 million in state
scholarships and grants for
the 2006-07 academic year,
just $50.3 million were pro-
videji for need-based pro
grams, according to state
Commission on Higher Edu
cation figures. The remain
ing $225.9 million went to
merit-based programs.
T H L C n A K I I: S T 0 W nous 1:
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Chorlotte, NC
704.333.4441
Continued from page 1B
"Compared to many other
rodent species, such as mice
and gerbils, rats are highly
social creatures,” he explains.
They’re also smarter than
you think.
"Experimental investigation
of rat cognition has found
that they are very trainable
and have excellent memory,
especially for spatial and
odor information," says Blais-
dell. "They are also good at
timing events, such as learn
ing when a second event will
follow a first. In fact, they
may even share some strik
ing cognitive abilities with
humans—though at a rudi
mentary level, such as rea
soning about cause and
effect, and expressing knowl
edge about what they do arid
do not know.”
Rats also share our ability
to be life-long learners.
Their varied diet in the wild
means that they can take ad
vantage of many different
food sources (and that they
enjoy the Froot Loops that
Blaisdell uses as a reward in
some of his research).
Rats w’ill sample small bits
of new food to see if they’re
safe— unless they can check
out what’s on a friend’s
plate. “If they smell a novel
food on the breath of an
other rat, they will immedi
ately Incorporate that novel
food into their own diet.”
Still, brains aren’t every
thing, and rats are clearly
loved mainly for their affec
tionate nature. The only dis
advantage mentioned
repeatedly was their short
lifespan.
"However, you also must
understand that despite a
lifespan of only 2-3 years,
rats live that time to the
fullest," says Somjen.
They offer complete and
utter love, are hilariously
funny creatures that want
nothing more than to be
with you."
Fewer
see kids as
key to
marriage
Continued from page 1B
good marriage, just 41 per
cent said so in the new Pew
survey.
Chore-sharing was cited as
very important by 62 percent
of respondents, up from 47
percent in 1990.
The survey also found that,
by a margin of nearly 3-to-l,
Americans say the main pur
pose of marriage is the "mu
tual happiness and
fulfillment” of adults rather
than the "bearing and raising
of children."
The survey’s findings but
tress concerns expressed by
numerous scholars and fam
ily-policy experts, among
them Barbara Dafoe White-
head of Rutgers University’s
National Marriage Project.
“The popular culture is in
creasingly oriented to fulfill
ing the X-rated fantasies and
desires of adults,” she wrote
in a recent report.
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