Living with Alzheimer's: Ben and Robyn's story.

Ben and Robyn Ferguson

Ben and Robyn Ferguson, Texas natives, have spent the past 44 years in the “blissful trenches of matrimony.”  Ben spent more than 20 years as a psychologist in private practice while Robyn, 64, was a grant manager and director at Texas State University. 

Their lives took a turn 18 months ago when Ben was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at age 66. Once diagnosed, Ben retired from his practice and the couple moved to Chicago.  Ben could not receive the quality of treatment he desired in Texas.

It was a hard decision to retire because Ben considers his time helping children and families the best time of his life.

“You need to be in a world class city for world class programs,” Robyn said.

Ben’s first symptom was short term memory.  Originally Robyn thought he was hard of hearing but never thought it would be a cognitive problem.

Ben realizes this is only the beginning and the disease is slowly creeping in on him.

“[It’s] eating at my brain.” Ben said. 

The couple learned about Northwestern University’s research while reading an article in The New Yorker. 

“We hit the jack pot,” Robyn said.

At Northwestern, Ben is involved in multiple programs to spread awareness including the Buddy Program, speech therapy and several support groups.  Being part of these programs has helped Ben significantly since his diagnosis.

“[It] provides me relief of anger and sadness,” Ben said. 

“Northwestern is really helpful, we get together and talk,” Robyn said. ” The connection is helpful.” 

Ben and Robyn are part of these groups because they see Alzheimer’s as stereotyped and stigmatized. 

People see patients with Alzheimer’s as tied to wheelchairs in nursing homes and “throwaway people” but Robyn says Ben can still make significant contributions and there are ways to help.

The couple believes there is not enough funding for research but are hopeful that the situation will change soon, especially to be able to protect their children. Alzheimer’s is a very expensive public health problem and the only way to change these problems is to shine light on them.  In order for improvements, there has to be a collaborative effort.

“There has to be a nexus between federal money, biotech and pharmaceutical companies,” Robyn said.

Being part of psycho-social programs also requires a lot of money and the couple hopes to see these programs be available to everyone.

The couple still tries to maintain a normal lifestyle which includes traveling. However, these trips have to be shorter and ideally by train. As a result of Alzheimer’s, Ben’s capacity for dealing with stress has decreased and airport security makes him anxious. In the future, the couple has an Amtrak trip to Portland planned.

Since his diagnosis, Ben has also become interested in art, something Robyn said would have never caught his attention before. He is part of different art groups including a group for Alzheimer’s patients at the Loyola University Museum of Art. 

Being part of multiple programs has given the couple the opportunity to explore Chicago.  They enjoy their busy schedule and public transportation but try to avoid the red line.

Robyn now takes care of household responsibilities such as finances and their daily calendar. She says there is no way to prepare for Alzheimer’s.  Yet she jokes she has never swept a floor and Ben still takes care of that. 

“We’ve been a good team for a long time,” Robyn said.

By: Emily Brown and Anel Herrera

Selfie addiction

     Everyone takes them. Celebs, your friends, family, and you've probably take one or two in the past couple of years. Selfie was 2013's word of the year.

     While it is a fun and creative way to express yourself, selfie addiction is a real thing. Taking too many photos of oneself, scientists say, can lead to an addiction when in conjuction with certain previous psychological disorders. The Huffington Post reported the reality of selfie addiciton on March 25.

     NY Daily News reported a case of selfie addiction in Britain. Danny Bowman, 19, took 200 selfies per day. Bowman subsequently dropped out of school, stayed in the house for six months and lost 30 pounds. When Bowman couldn't get the "perfect photo," he attempted suicide. After his attempted overdose, his mother took him to see a psychiatrist and Bowman was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, technology addiction and obsessive compulsive disorder.

     “Danny’s case is particularly extreme,” Dr David Veal, who’s clinic has weaned the teen off his iPhone, told Mirror News. “But this is a serious problem. It’s not a vanity issue. It’s a mental health one which has an extremely high suicide rate.”

     While Bowman's may be the most extreme case, he isn't the only person to take countless selfies.
     Psychiatrist Dr David Veal told the International Business Times: "Two out of three of all the patients who come to see me with Body Dysmorphic Disorder since the rise of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly take selfies.

By: Emily Brown

Gaming app could help reduce anxiety levels

According to new research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a new gaming app could help reduce anxiety.

"Millions of people suffering from psychological distress fail to seek or receive mental health services. A key factor here is that many evidence-based treatments are burdensome -- time consuming, expensive, difficult to access, and perceived as stigmatizing," says lead researcher Tracy Dennis of Hunter College.

The treatment involves training patients to ignore a threatening stimulus and to focus instead on a non-threatening stimulus. This type of treatment has been used and proven to reduce anxiety and stress.

The study consisted of 75 patients who which some were asked to play the game for either 25 or 45 minutes. They were then asked to give a speech on videotape.

The game has patients follow two characters and their paths as quickly and accurately as possible.

 The patients who played the game were less nervous and had less negative feelings when videotaped compared to the group that did not play.

Although it is unclear how helpful the app could be in the long run, researchers are hopeful to be able to create apps like these to help other mental health illnesses.

A few mental health apps are already available, below is a discussion about the future of mental health apps as treatment for patients.

By: Anel Herrera

Loyola's Wellness Center: A Place for Students Seeking Therapy

As many know, the Wellness Center at Loyola University Chicago offers more than just immediate medical services. The Wellness Center also offers counseling to Loyola students who seek therapy for a number of reasons. These reasons can include students dealing with depression, anxiety, homesickness, sexuality issues and drug and alcohol issues, to name a few.

As a class, we recently sat down with Dr. David DeBoer, Associate Director of Loyola's Wellness Center and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, to discuss mental health issues and how they pertain to Loyola.

According to DeBoer, roughly 20-25 Loyola students are hospitalized for psychiatric reasons over the course of an academic year.


"When I first took the position at Loyola, I thought I was going to be dealing with students who were homesick, or having roommate conflicts, or relationship breakups," DeBoer said.

But, there are many other reasons that people seek counseling, and some can be more serious than others.

DeBoer provides consultation to the Dean of Students Office, where they review treatment options for students, meet with students and try to help them across a variety of visits. Currently, there are four psychologists and six social workers on staff. The Wellness Center typically offers six to eight visits of psychotherapy per academic year. If a student requires long term therapy, then they will be referred to other providers in the community.

Since our concern on this blog is mental health stigma, we decided to ask Dr. Deboer how much perceived stigma is present at Loyola. According to Deboer, Loyola students participated in a study a few years ago which examined students' level of perceived mental health stigma. These results were compared to other universities.

"I was pleased to hear that the rates of perceived stigma was lower at Loyola than on other campuses," DeBoer said.

He attributed this lower level of perceived stigma to Loyola Jesuit mission which promotes values and advocates "being a person for others."

DeBoer said that, at the very least, the Wellness Center provides a comforting experience for students in times of need. There has been no increase in recent years in the rate of Loyola students dealing with a mental illness. The percent of students with mental health issues is about 12 percent of the total population, which DeBoer says is "consistent with the national average."

While Loyola has greatly improved their student counseling services in the past decade, there are no major plans to expand their services.

Posted By: Torey Darin

Karen Brown

Karen Brown spoke with COMM 335 via Skype on Feb. 27. Brown is a radio and print journalist. Her focuses are mental health and health care, as well as topics regarding the human condition.

Before the Skype session, the class studied Brown's 2007 NPR radio story about one veteran's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how it affected his marriage. Brown did a follow-up story with the original parties six months after the first story.

She spoke with us about the process of creating that story, the specific interview approach she took to this story and who she spoke with for the information.

She first talked to the wife alone for one hour and realized what a compelling piece it was, and the poignant aspects of the story. She then talked to the husband afterwards, when she already had an idea for the outline of the story that she wanted to take.

She said she chose the format of allowing the husband and wife to exclusively tell their story because she "wasn't around for the entire story." It was the couple's story and she wanted them to be the sole narrators.

In the follow-up story, however, Brown said she had trouble convincing both individuals to tell the rest of their story.

Brown didn't originally set out to become a journalist. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from University of California-Berkeley, and five years later her went back to school for her master's in journalism.

She said that she wanted experience in the world before began writing.

However, she didn't have intentions, when she chose her undergraduate major to report on mental health.

"It was a coincidence," Brown said. "I chose psychology because it was my junior year, I had to declare something and psychology is what I had the most credits in. ... My interest in mental health evolved as I got into these stories."

About one-third to one-half of the stories Brown covers are metal health related. She has dipped her toes in many different types of media, but most recently she has been trying to immerse herself more in the print style of magazines, newspapers, and online.

One of her favorite stories that she has covered is a documentary she completed about children with bipolar disorder.

"I got to know the families well and understand them," Brown said.

A second story that stands out to her, is one she did about siblings of people with mental illness, the burden of people who are well.

By: Emily Brown

Rethinking word choices in media

This post was inspired by David deBoer, Associate Director of the Wellness Center at Loyola Univeristy Chicago. deBoer told our class one of his colleagues refuses to say the word stigma as a way to combat it. Word choice is of outmost importance, especially when covering mental health stories.

An article by Carey Goldberg suggests that the terms used in media about mental health diseases are to blame for the stigma associated with them. It suggests the use of 'people first' language. For example, instead of saying schizophrenic, say, a person with schizophrenia.

“Imagine if I said that about any other group," said Dr. Summergrad, psychiatrist-in-chief at Tufts Medical Center and chair of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine." It suggests that people who suffer with these conditions are somehow other than us, and can be put in a discrete and often stigmatized category. It creates a sense of otherness that is not the reality, statistically, of these illnesses.”

The Associated Press has also shifted to people first language as well.

"The AP’s decision to stop using “illegal immigrant” is part of a larger shift away from labeling people and toward labeling behaviors. For example, the new entry on mental illness says to refer to people “diagnosed with schizophrenia” instead of “schizophrenics.”

What is important to realize is the words can and will hurt people. It is better to take up a little more space in the paper and be more sensitive towards people in need.

Below is a video about the same subject from a clinical therapist.

Here is a helpful link to help you decide what terms to use. 

By: Anel Herrera

Our Skype Call with Marya Hornbacher

The three of us students were huddled around the laptop on wheelie chairs in the corner of the computer lab, Skyping with one of the most acclaimed authors covering mental illnesses.

“The best way to get ideas is to read," Marya Hornbacher zealously explained to us. "Read the back of the cereal box, read the news, books, watch movies. Find what engages you and what you’re passionate about then write."

Marya Hornbacher

Hornbacher is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author. She is the  recipient of a host of awards for her journalism and books, a Pulitzer Prize and Pushcart Prize nominee.

Her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia was published in 1998, when she was twenty-three. This memoir has been published in sixteen languages, is taught in universities all over the world and has changed the lives of thousands. She brought awareness to her own struggle with an eating disorder by maintaining her journalistic adherence to fact, she explained to us.

She did over thirty hours of interviews with each of her parents just to get all of the facts straight with what happened and conducted researched concerning mental illnesses.

She described her writing process as a 1,000-word brainstorm, where she sat and wrote everything before she was able to find what was necessary to include in the book and what was not.

“The difference in voice is what separates journalism with a research essay,” the author continued. “It’s about maintaining a certain balance with tone so that the reader can interpret for their own, instead of being told what to believe.”

As she cupped her oversize coffee mug and gently shooed her cats out of the view of the Skype call, she was able to make us laugh and capture our full attention with her eloquence.

Her writing covering mental illness avoids sensationalizing or dramatizing by controlling the tone.

“Sensationalizing comes down to the words you choose, the tone you are setting for your readers," Hornbacher said. "You don’t need to use tropes, you need to be an expert and know your disorder really well."

Marya writes best when she is alone in the early hours of the morning.
“I try to set at least 8 hours aside to write everyday," said Hornbacher. "Usually from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. I work best under isolation and free from distractions."

“I’m thinking about just going up to Northern Minnesota and buying a cabin just to write,” she stated. “People think I’m crazy when I tell them that. Only a writer would understand,” she laughed.

To check out some of Marya’s bestselling work you can visit her webpage here. 

By: Shirley Coenen