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Families Meeting the Challenge of Mental Illness

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Changing Culture Starts at the Bottom

By

by Aayush Kishore, NAMI Mercer Intern
How Can We Improve and Change Culture

Culture is defined as, “the values, beliefs, language, rituals, traditions, and other behaviors that are passed from one generation to another within any social group (APA, 2023).” If we want to improve our culture and community, we have to start within our circle of influence and move outwards from there. We have to focus on influencing from the bottom. Start small. Start at the bottom. Advocacy can be both informal and formal.

We can start in the smallest areas of influence and work our way up to larger areas of society. We can embody the values and principles we are advocating in our workforce or at school. While this doesn’t erase factors or influences that are outside of our control, it does shift the frame from having no power and control to having some power and control. We each have limitations to our power to influence culture but oftentimes we underestimate our power because we don’t know how to use it. According to, “Changing Organizations From Below”, there are always highly motivated, change-craving employees that are highly motivated who can develop informal power to effect change. Oftentimes ordinary people possess tremendous amounts of informal power that can produce radical lasting changes but this requires these people to know how to wield that power (Ma, 2024).” We can all start in the areas we have control, and by reshifting our focus increase our own feelings of empowerment to make cultural changes.

According to BetterCulture, “Culture that is only defined from the top can quickly become culture theater—where the right words are said in presentations and posters, but day-to-day behaviors don’t match (Hoogeveen).” There are several core tenets of a bottom-up approach to improving culture. Creating a strong environment and culture involves people at every level taking ownership of the culture, modeling the right behaviors, and collaborating with your peers to build a better culture (Hoogeveen).

Another element is consistent and thousands of micro-behaviors among peers. These behaviors then compound to shape the culture. Another core attribute is, “Top-down programs are limited by bandwidth. Peer-led behavior spreads faster, sticks better, and travels farther (Hoogeveen).” By peers taking on a leadership mindset, leadership becomes multiplied.

Another tenet of this approach is practicing the behaviors that you want to see in the culture regularly. As peers, when we see what we like we can reinforce it positively, provide recognition, and hold each other accountable when we fall short of that standard. Lastly, we can use these behaviors to form rituals, systems, and routines to further embody these cultural changes as a part of everyday life rather than isolated one-off behaviors (Hoogeveen).

“The bottom-line message for anyone seeking to change things from below is: Don’t wait for the formal power structure to create needed change: they rarely will. Rather, acquire and wield informal power to change things by finding and nurturing relationships with people who have the same motivation you do (Hasseltine, 2024).” Top-down leadership is important, it’s not zero-sum, either-or. Strong leadership from above can be useful for casting a mission/vision, setting standards, and providing resources and opportunities (Hoogeveen). However, for the average person who may not hold a position in a formal power structure, start at the bottom, start where you are. If you do have leadership/authority: therapists, coaches, teachers, managers, etc., that’s great because now you have the capability to influence culture from both the top and the bottom. Through this model, “everyone is a leader—because everyone is a culture builder (Hoogeveen).”

How Can We Be Better Mental Health Advocates?

Specifically, we can start to be better advocates for mental health by educating ourselves on the basics of mental health if we are not informed. If we have an understanding of mental health already, we can learn about areas we’re not as familiar with (7 Steps). We can advocate for reducing stigma around issues related to mental health such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance use disorder, panic disorder, and more. One of the ways we can destigmatize these topics is by speaking about them openly. As a disclaimer, when advocating through self-disclosure, it is of course each and every person’s decision to share what they are comfortable with. By talking about issues openly, we are modeling that it is acceptable to have struggled and overcome these issues and making these topics less taboo (SonderMind, 2023).

Another way you can help is by supporting someone who needs help. This could mean a family member, a friend, a coworker, etc. You can support someone who you feel is struggling in your circle by listening and withholding judgment, and providing emotional support and validation. This can help people in your circle know that they have a support system within their family and friends and that professional support is there if they want/need it (SonderMind, 2023).

Language is another way we can influence general attitudes, connotations, beliefs, and perceptions towards mental health or certain topics and conditions. Policing or regulating minor mishaps may not land or deliver well. However, we can advocate for language that is supportive rather than stigmatizing through our own language in our day to day life. Being mindful of our language does not mean not being candid, it means being precise, direct, accurate, empowering, and supportive in the language choices you make in conversation (SonderMind, 2023).

Last but not least, you can embody the philosophy of the cultural change you want to see through your actions in your everyday life. You can advocate in multiple domains/areas of your life. Keep in mind that advocacy does not have to be grand or

loud or involve big hauling interventions. It can mean modeling these ideas at school in the classroom if you’re a student. Other common areas and situations where you can advocate and model these ideas are: at work, with your family, with peers and acquaintances, in public spaces with strangers, in your friend group, with your sports team.

Some Examples of Improving Culture and Mental Health Advocacy

  • Learning about a certain topic of mental health when you’re unsure of how to deal with a certain situation or support someone more effectively
  • Disclosing a mental health struggle with a friend or significant other to let them know it’s okay to talk about it
  • Demonstrating vulnerability to your children as a father
  • Checking in on a coworker to see how they are doing or handling stress at work
  • Checking in on your sibling who seems to be struggling, checking in on your child, asking how they’re doing or handling things
  • Offering nonjudgmental listening to your friends or significant other
  • Encouraging your fellow teammates to talk about mental health struggles they may be facing in their sport or outside of their sport
  • Using language like, “My friend has struggled with bipolar in the past” rather than “she’s bipolar”
  • Supporting a fellow classmate if they seem stressed
  • Including people of different ethnicities and backgrounds into conversations

Overview of Actionable Solutions

  • Educating ourselves on mental health
  • Self-disclosure – share your own mental health experiences
  • Supporting someone who needs help
  • Language – being precise, accurate, direct, empowering and supportive
  • Embodying the philosophy of the cultural change you want to see through your actions in your everyday life (“practice what you preach”)

References

 

The Object of All Desires

By

Bella Santulli, NAMI Intern

The definition of obsession is: an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind. In some lights, obsession can be beautiful–a devotion to a routine, a person, an object of desire, and others–the mere actions of making you whole again are also tearing you apart. To have someone kneel to your every want and emotional satisfaction while their gloom spreads over their heart. To twist the doorknob three times before opening, so the doors in your mind will not collapse around you. But how far does that insatiable light extend? What are the connotations attached to the extent of our illness that consumes our souls? 

In the realm of psychopathology, or mental health disorders, obsessions frequently look like fears about becoming contaminated by things, aggressive impulses that one fears acting on, thoughts about keeping things in order, doubts about whether something happened or is true, or sudden and intrusive sexual thoughts. As you might imagine, given the content of these thoughts, they are frequently experienced as upsetting, especially by people with diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder or an anxiety disorder. 

While people with certain mental health disorders experience more frequent, long-lasting, and distressing obsessive thoughts than people without mental health disorders do, most people–as many as 90% of adults in the general population–report that they have had obsessive thoughts at least once. These obsessive thoughts tend to be similar in their nature to the obsessive thoughts of people with OCD or anxiety, but just not as intense and difficult to learn to cope with. For this reason, psychologists think of obsessive thoughts as existing on a spectrum from relatively harmless to extremely distressing or impairing.  

I find the stigma surrounding obsessions an interesting study due to the particular standards we uphold as a society. Why is it that obsessing over your craft or work in attaining greed, fame, or pleasure is deemed acceptable, but it is “weird” or you are framed as a “geek” if you have obsessions about special interests or comic books? I have always been seen as a nerd/geek since my younger years. Whether through my obsessions with the Marvel Universe, the genre of horror, or my love of reading, there have always been those comments that have spread into my life. I believe it is essential to ask ourselves why we always look to judge others when we should be looking at ourselves. Because in the end, we never know what someone else is going through or what thoughts corrupt our minds. 

Compulsions are repeated behaviors aimed at dealing with obsessive or intrusive thoughts. Obsessions differ from compulsions, but they often go hand in hand–some obsessions may even cause people to develop compulsions. However, compulsions can take on obsessive or extreme intensity. For example, here are some common examples of compulsions:

  • Reiterating the notion that you cannot hurt anyone—by removing all knives from your kitchen
  • Making sure appliances are turned off multiple times
  • Checking if doors and windows are locked various times before leaving home
  • Checking your body to make sure you don’t have physical symptoms
  • Reviewing or going over events or conversations that have happened

Sometimes, people develop compulsions because they feel they can keep negative things from happening by taking these compulsive actions.

The National Library of Medicine proposes that obsessions are caused by catastrophic misinterpretations of the significance of one’s thoughts (images, impulses). These obsessions will persist as long as these misinterpretations continue and diminish when the misinterpretations are weakened. On the contrary, weakening or eliminating these misinterpretations is expected to lead to a reduction in the intensity and frequency of obsessions. I recommend taking a look at a fellow NAMI Intern’s blog, Angelina Villalva, specifically the Observing OCD Post that outlines obsession in OCD and how to cope with intrusive thoughts. Additionally, multiple toolkits outline resources, help, and coping strategies for living with OCD/intrusive thoughts.  

Book of the Week: The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt explores the psychological unraveling of a close-knit group of classics students at an elite college, driven by intellectual elitism and a growing obsession with beauty, power, and control. As their fixation deepens, moral boundaries dissolve, illustrating how obsession can distort reality and lead to destructive consequences—echoing the these themes of psychological fixation. “I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.”

Resources

  • NAMI Mercer Helpline Phone Number: 609-799-8994 x17
  • NAMI Mercer Helpline Email: helpline@namimercer.org
  • https://iocdf.org/ocd-finding-help/other-resources/

References 

  • VanDerBill, Brittany. “The Psychology behind Obsessions.” Psych Central, 8 Apr. 2022, psychcentral.com/ocd/psychology-of-obsessions.
  • Rachman S. A cognitive theory of obsessions. Behav Res Ther. 1997 Sep;35(9):793-802. doi: 10.1016/s0005-7967(97)00040-5. PMID: 9299799.

Supporting Schizophrenia

By

Angelina Villalva, NAMI Intern

This summer I’ll be going into my third year of college, and when I reminisce on what it was like going into my first year, I can still remember how much more stressful it was to be starting out than to be returning. For a lot of incoming college students, their minds are teeming with anxiety for a million things at once. If you list it all out, you have to balance the pressure of taking harder classes, learning how to get to those classes, trying (and slightly failing) at making friends, joining clubs, learning the campus layout, living with a roommate, and maybe figure out who you are and what you’re doing with the rest of your life. All at 18. And a month after high school graduation. 

With all of those things bouncing around, the very last thing that any freshman would ever expect or be prepared for is to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

To clarify, I did not get diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, it would come as a surprise to many that schizophrenia has a track record of appearing amongst college students. Does this mean that all college students are prone to developing schizophrenia? No, not at all, in fact schizophrenia affects only 1% of the U.S. population. So, while the numbers might not be super small, they aren’t super large either. Nonetheless, it is still important to be aware of the symptoms and the signs of developing schizophrenia, especially since it arises in college students who may not have experienced or had the space to focus on their mental health. 

Most people are familiar with the basic overview of schizophrenia. We think of characters like Norman Bates and Donnie Darko, deeply disturbed and deeply affected by their deluded perceptions. In the movie Shutter Island, Andrew Laeddis/Teddy Daniels is stuck in a never-ending loop of psychosis, constantly tormented by his own head. While it is true that individuals afflicted with schizophrenia commonly deal with hallucinations and disorganized thinking, it is deeply ignorant to say that they are dangerous or that they are unable to be treated. 

Symptoms of schizophrenia are commonly grouped into 3 kinds: positive, negative, and disorganized. Positive symptoms refer to things that are abnormally present in an individuals life, while negative symptoms refer to things that are abnormally absent. Disorganized symptoms generally reflect behaviors and perceptions that are confused or disordered. 

Positive Symptoms: 

  • Hallucinations (hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that are not there) 
  • Delusions (fixed false beliefs that are held despite clear evidence that they are not true) 

Negative Symptoms: 

  • Lack of appropriate affect (unexpressive face, flat affect)
  • Poor motivation
  • Social withdrawal 

Disorganized Symptoms: 

  • Disorganized speech (word salad, loose associations) 
  • Unpredictable or inappropriate emotional response
  • Behaviors that appear bizarre

Schizophrenia tends to run in families, but others are prone to developing schizophrenia if they have one or more of these risk factors: 

  • Life experiences (living in poverty, stress, or danger)
  • Pregnancy and birth issues
  • Taking psychoactive/psychotropic drugs as a teen or young adult

Depending on the symptoms displayed, the severity of treatment may differ between individuals with schizophrenia. Typically, treatments involve a combination of both antipsychotic medication and psychosocial interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy. 

Stigma still persists among individuals afflicted with this disorder. As I stated earlier, schizophrenia is not dangerous. There are treatments available, and just as it is with any mental health disorder, the earlier it is addressed and the more support given, the better people tend to fare. 

As I’ve gone through these 12 weeks of posting, it has become more and more obvious that whether you are afflicted with a mental health disorder or not, whether you know someone who is or not, simply showing up and spreading kindness can go a long way. We don’t always need to understand to show support, and simply being a good listener can take someone from hurting to healing. 

I leave you for the last time with this final quote, a text sent to me today from one of my closest friends.

“We are all living this life together, and I’m so happy that we can be with each other and support each other through the ups and the downs.” 

Resources:

Citations: 

Processing PTSD

By

Angelina Villalva, NAMI Intern

Last Monday, I got into a car accident. I was driving home from my internship at NAMI, when suddenly I found myself sitting in a smoking car, wondering why I decided to get out of bed that day. My car ended up being totaled, and despite my insistence that I was uninjured, my family sent me to the hospital to get checked out. I was very lucky to have no major injury, and to be able to keep going on with my life as usual. 

Occasionally, I find myself thinking back to that moment of the crash. I can see the moment frame by frame– the sound of metal crunching and scraping, the smell of the smoke filling my car, the warm feeling of the airbag as it pressed against my chest. Although brief, that moment still takes up space in my day. I sometimes feel my hands start to sweat and my chest tighten when cars pass me by, and even the thought of driving back home is enough to make me nervous. 

These experiences are clearly a direct result of experiencing a traumatic event, but it is not to be confused with having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Commonly when we think of PTSD, we think of veterans, people who have seen and experienced things that the average person cannot understand. However, PTSD can arise from numerous types of traumatic events, including car accidents.

The next question that arises is then, what separates a traumatic event from PTSD? Why is one response to a car accident not considered PTSD, but another might be? The difference in discerning trauma responses, and therefore a separate disorder, from PTSD lies in longevity. 

Typically individuals experiencing PTSD have symptoms that can last for months or years, and greatly impair their ability to function daily. These symptoms can appear within the first 3 months after a traumatic event, but they may not appear until years later. But if these symptoms last more than 1 month and cause major issues in daily life, it may point towards PTSD. 

Symptoms are usually grouped into 4 types: intrusion, avoidance, changes in cognition and mood, and changes in arousal and reactivity. 

Intrusion: 

  • Involuntary thoughts 
  • Repeated memories
  • Distressing dreams
  • Flashbacks

Avoidance: 

  • Avoiding people, places, activities, objects, and situations that might trigger memories
  • Avoiding remembering or thinking about the traumatic event
  • Avoid resist talking about what happened
  • Avoid talking about how they feel 

Changes in Cognition and Mood: 

  • Low mood
  • Inability to feel happiness
  • Lack of interest in activities they used to enjoy
  • May have trouble with memory 
  • Ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame
  • Detached or estranged from others

Changes in Arousal and Reactivity: 

  • Having angry outbursts
  • Behaving recklessly 
  • Behaving self-destructive way
  • Being overly watchful of their surroundings
  • Being easily startled
  • Having problems concentrating or sleeping

Not everyone who experiences traumatic events develops PTSD. There are several other disorders that may present similar to PTSD, including acute stress, adjustment disorder, disinhibited social engagement disorder, or reactive attachment disorder. In the U.S., about 4% of U.S. adults and 8% of adolescents are diagnosed with PTSD. While the causes of PTSD may vary in each individuals, those with the following risk factors are more likely to develop the disorder: 

  • Prior history of trauma
  • Childhood adversity
  • Member of a marginalized group
  • Immigrant status

Treatments for PTSD will vary depending on the severity of the symptoms. Occasionally, symptoms of PTSD may subside and lessen over time. For individuals with more severe and persistent symptoms of PTSD, treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medications for comorbid disorders like depression may be used in combination. 

Recovering from any traumatic event, whether it results in PTSD or not, requires strong support. If you, or someone you know, is going through struggles related to trauma, it is important to reach out. Rely on the people around you, and share in your struggles together. If you don’t have someone to rely on, find local resources in the community. No one should be alone in their emotions and thoughts, and know that no struggle is too small or too big, you are worth it. 

Resources:

Citations: 

Observing OCD

By

Angelina Villalva, NAMI Intern

Have you ever entered a space and felt something was off? Perhaps it’s a slightly off-centered painting in a living room. Or some books haphazardly placed on a shelf without order. Sometimes it’s not even a space, but a thing, looking in the mirror and seeing that you have one hoodie string that is ever so-slightly longer than the other. 

While small, almost imperceptible to anyone else, to you these details scream out that something is markedly incorrect, and needs to be fixed immediately. To other people, these things may not matter, but for someone who strives for absolute perfection, it is imperative to have things the right way. As my mother liked to tell me growing up, “a place for everything and everything in its place.” 

Some may call it obnoxious, while others may call it obsessive. Most will say it is a clear sign of OCD, a Type A person who needs to have their whole life orderly and refined, all the way down to the laces on their shoes. 

The truth is, OCD is not as simple as needing to organize and keep things clean. It is distressing, and takes control over people’s lives in a way that causes them extreme anxiety and in some cases, physical harm. 

While exaggerated, it is true to some extent that individuals diagnosed with OCD may have issues with cleanliness and organization. However, this is not just due to a simple need to have things perfectionistic, but from feelings and thoughts referred to as obsessions and compulsions (which of course come together to an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). 

Obsessions consist of lasting and unwanted thoughts that keep recurring. These unwanted thoughts are similar to intrusive thoughts, often relating to fears and horrible imaginations that can completely take over your headspace. Some common themes of obsessions include: 

  • Fear of contamination or dirt
  • Having a hard time dealing with uncertainty
  • Needing things to be orderly or balanced
  • aggressive/horrific thoughts about harming yourself/others
  • Unwanted thoughts including aggression, sexual, or religious subjects

These obsessions then lead into compulsions, repetitive behaviors that are meant to reduce anxiety related to the obsessions. Compulsions are sometimes referred to as rituals, as individuals who have these compulsions often partake in them at specific times and must be completed in a specific way. While meant to reduce the anxiety of obsessions, compulsions often result in no pleasure and provide limited relief from the obsessions. Common themes of compulsions may be: 

  • Washing and cleaning
  • Checking
  • Counting
  • Ordering
  • Following strict routine
  • Demanding reassurance

Compared to obsessions, compulsions can result in physical harm. For example, obsessions revolving around cleanliness and contamination of germs can result in having compulsions of hand-washing until skin becomes raw. If an individual with OCD does not complete these compulsions, they will fear something bad may happen to themselves or the people around them (friends/family). 

Currently 1-2% of people in the US are affected by OCD. Anyone can be affected, although the average age onset is around 19 years. Causes of OCD can occur due to childhood trauma, genetics (family heredity), brain changes (damage to frontal cortex and subcortical structures) and PANDAS syndrome. 

Treatments for OCD include several types of therapy and medication. The three types of therapy treatments include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure and response prevention (ERP), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

  • CBT → helps to examine and understand thoughts/emotions
  • ERP → helps to expose individuals to feared situations 
  • ACT → helps to learn to accept obsessive thoughts as just thoughts and take power away from them

Current medication for OCD are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). There are several types of SSRIs, and it is important to consult with a doctor to determine which one may be the right treatment for you or someone you know. When taking medication for OCD, it often takes 6-12 weeks to see improvement, so it’s important to allow for time for the medication to work. 

OCD is a lifelong condition. Similar to most other mental health conditions, ensuring that you take care of both your physical health and mental health will allow for the most influential positive change. Participation and support of others in treatment such as friends and family may improve the likelihood of treatment success. 

For anyone who is living with OCD, always remember that your struggles are not small. Your fears are not silly.  It is okay to receive help and support. And you will be able to take back control of your life. QOTD by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.” 

Resources:

Citations: 

Pages of Peace

By

Bella Santulli, NAMI Intern

I live, breathe, and love characters across a vast spectrum of worlds. From letters of passion from the soul by Jane Austen to a character stricken with mad obsession and loyalty to his craft of scents by Patrick Suskind, I find myself in love with knowing the ins and outs of thousands of stories. The words inked on the page shape a movie in my mind and deepen themselves in the grounds of my memory, where I find new perspectives on society and myself, a changed person. Not only do I enjoy reading literary fiction, classics, and horror, among other genres, but I also find the colossal impact on my mental health to be full of benefits: and so does science. 
Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have demonstrated that reading is a complex task that engages various brain regions. 

  • Temporal lobe → which is responsible for phonological awareness and for decoding/ discriminating sounds
  • Broca’s area → in the frontal lobe, which governs speech production and language comprehension
  • Angular and supramarginal gyrus → links different parts of the brain so that letter shapes can be put together to form words.

By observing changes to blood flow, researchers can see that reading stimulates the brain’s neural pathways. This stimulation enhances brain activity, memory and cognitive function — ultimately boosting your creativity and expanding your capacity to learn. Additionally, I find the benefits to my emotional health & the capacity of my emotions increased from reading. Books can make you feel a scope of emotions, from pure joy, and surprise to fear, anger, or skepticism. Experiencing this variety of emotions helps to build your resilience and ability to face difficult situations & dilemmas. Furthermore, reading can help develop empathy and foster connections with others by learning about diverse experiences/cultures through storytelling. Not only does reading provide immense emotional health benefits there are multiple other mental health advantages as well. 

  • Stress relief: Speaking of stress relief, immersing yourself in the captivating world of books can help lower your heart rate and relax your muscles. Books are also a healthy way to help you compartmentalize when you focus on a story instead of a stressful event.
  • Cognitive health: Reading enhances your critical thinking skills and creativity. It also broadens your vocabulary, boosts your knowledge and stimulates your imagination.
  • Entertainment: There are many options for entertainment especially with digital devices and streaming services making shows, movies, music and podcasts more accessible now than ever before. Some of you may not consider books a form of entertainment, but they certainly can be. Books can make us laugh, cry, and create intrigue and excitement. Being entertained also has positive health benefits, including the release of endorphins in the brain. These feel-good hormones help you relax, manage pain, and relieve stress.
  • Social Engagement: Engaging with the world of books can enrich your social life. Staying social has significant benefits, including preventing isolation, which is a risk factor for depression and dementia.

Not only are there mental health benefits, but physical as well. Studies show that reading can help relax the body by lowering heart rate and easing muscle tension, with a reduction in stress of up to 68% in people who silently read a literary work for just six minutes. This results in an overall lower blood pressure and improved sleep quality. Similarly, researchers have found that, compared to using social media, reading helps improve concentration by increasing the capacity for longer attention spans. This can be particularly helpful for those who struggle with concentration or identify as neurodivergent. 

Especially with the rise of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), it is critical to centralize physical media in our lives. A new study from MIT is raising concerns about how A.I. affects learning and how convenience may come at a cost to your brain. This study examined essay writing across three groups: individuals using AI, a search engine, or their own brainpower. The last group, with no tools at all, showed the most potent brain activity and better memory recall. They were followed by search engine users, and in last place, people relying on AI, who displayed a decline in neural connectivity, which can eventually lead to brain atrophy. Although the purpose of technology is to make our lives easier, is this worth the cost of our originality? Our humanity? The very essence of what makes us human, stripped away, to teach AI to think for us, not to think for ourselves. We attempt to teach AI the elements of our souls – something no machine can build or recreate in pursuit of less work, but how much less work do we need? In my active goal of prioritizing physical media in a digital era, these are recommendations that contribute to my overall well-being: 

  • Swap scrolling through your phone for reading just once a day.
  • Develop a routine, such as reading before bedtime or listening to your favorite band while reading.
  • Select books on topics you’re curious about and have developed an interest in (Comics/Manga counts:))
  • Research what people you admire read to connect with them through books, whether a celebrity, colleague, parent, or best friend.
  • Join a book club, either in person or online/Create a book swap with family and friends.
  • Participate in groups on social media with fellow bookworms or enthusiasts of specific book genres.
  • Opt in for “suggested reading” lists, such as through your e-reader or social media.
  • Check out your local library — frequenting a library can also give you a sense of community. (It is also an option for those not interested in economically contributing)

It is not just a hobby; it is a form of care. Through the written word, we heal, grow, and awaken parts of our humanity that no algorithm can replicate. So turn the page, and in doing so, turn inward. Your mind, body, and soul deserve that moment of peace.

Book of the Week: Perfume by Patrick Süskind

Patrick Suskind’s classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest passion-his sense of smell-leads to murder. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift–an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”-the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

A Verse in Motion: 

[The Harmatia of Jean-Baptiste] 

A spritz of beauty and innocence– 

A love I’ve never felt in my days. 

Something I have wanted to achieve

since birth, finally within my grasp.

And I am left with a sensation of nothing. 

For I did not know yet–

The curse of achieving my life’s work

brings an unredeemable burden.

A void of loneliness and despair; 

Seeping through the marrow of my bones.

A dark hole clogs my olfactory senses– 

For smell is a gateway to the soul, and I 

have manipulated those to believe I 

venture the steps above when really 

I will burn beneath the weight of beauty’s deceit. 

A simple perfume distilled from virgin skins

bathed Paris in its light–

But the essence of purity is a poison we all inhale.

How beauty and innocence have corrupted our hearts 

to beat in sync with the sins we attempt to hide. 

Bella Santulli

Resources

  • NAMI Mercer Helpline Phone Number: 609-799-8994 x17
  • NAMI Mercer Helpline Email: helpline@namimercer.org

References 

  • Wright, Paul. “Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Reading Books.” Www.nuvancehealth.org, Nuvance Health, 8 Aug. 2023, www.nuvancehealth.org/health-tips-and-news/physical-and-mental-health-benefits-of-reading-books.
  • Edwards, Scott. “Reading and the Brain.” Harvard Medical School, 2016, hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/reading-brain.
  • Nataliya Kos’myna. “CNN: AI’s Effects on the Brain – MIT Media Lab.” MIT Media Lab, 2025, www.media.mit.edu/articles/a-i-s-effects-on-the-brain/.