Bright Futures Ahead

He was the pride of his mother’s life--a bright 20-year-old attending a university on a scholarship.

Then, suddenly, he was struck by an illness that crippled his thinking: paranoid schizophrenia.

People were following him, he thought. People were talking about him.

“It was shattering to see such a promising young man have his world taken away,” his mother, Dolli Albert, said during a luncheon staged by the Mental Health Assn. of Orange County.

Watching her son descend into the nether world of mental illness was something she never expected to experience. “But I’ve learned that mental illness can strike anybody--any time,” Albert said.

Thankfully, her son, who is now 25, responded to medication and psychiatric treatment. “He’s in school again--trying to make it,” she said.

Albert was among 200 supporters of the association who attended its sixth annual awards benefit Friday at Aysia 101 restaurant in Newport Beach.

Recognized at the event for their work on behalf of the mentally ill were Alfonso Chu and Monica Kosman--winners in the volunteer category--and psychiatrist Himasiri De Silva, winner in the professional category.

Founder of the Board and Care Coalition of Orange County, Chu has helped develop standards of excellence for operators of residential facilities for the mentally ill.

Kosman is a board member of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and volunteers with the Southcoast Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

De Silva, medical director of outpatient psychiatry services at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, is a past president of the Orange County Psychiatric Society and a founder of the Depressive and Manic Depressive Assn. of Orange County.

Besides trying to improve the quality of life for the mentally ill, Orange County’s mental health professionals seek to eradicate the stigma associated with it.

“Mental illness is a disorder of the brain--the organ system that controls thinking and emotion,” said psychiatrist William E. Callahan Jr., president-elect of the Orange County Psychiatric Society. “We can have dysfunctions in the brain just like we have in any other human organ system.”

Negative attitudes toward mental illness are decreasing, Callahan observed. “But the stigma is still huge,” he said. “Our federal government reimburses for mental services at half the rate they do for other services through Medicare. That institutionalizes discrimination against the mentally ill--it’s a huge battle they face.”

In the past four years, landmark advances have been made in the treatment of mental illness, Callahan said. “We have more new medications and a greater understanding of it than we’ve had in the 10 years before that.”

The success is because of “research and an increased understanding of mental illness by the public,” Callahan said. “The gradual change of societal attitude toward mental illness is putting pressure [on the medical community] to find better treatments.”

For information on the association, call (714) 547-7559.

A Valentine’s Day Celebration

Members of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra League saluted volunteers who support its Music on the Move program with a Valentine’s Day luncheon.

Music on the Move seeks to enrich the lives of Alzheimer’s patients in Orange County by providing them with music listening experiences.

During festivities Monday at the Center Club in Costa Mesa, M.O.M. volunteers Mary Myan, Dorcas Preston and Eveline Eng performed for more than 100 league members.

“Bringing music to people with Alzheimer’s disease feeds the soul,” said Myan, who has chaired the M.O.M. program for the past five years. “When patients hear music, magic begins,” she said. “Their minds are so far away and then, suddenly, you see a slight movement of the hands and the feet--an animation that wasn’t there before.”

Guest speaker Cordula Dick-Muehlke, a clinical psychologist who is the executive director of Adult Day Services of Orange County, told the crowd that music has far-ranging benefits for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Music can decrease behavioral symptoms such as anxiety . . . in some cases, music can be more effective than medication in soothing the individual,” she said.

M.O.M. volunteer Barbara Sue Johnson, a singer, regularly performs for Alzheimer’s patients at the John Douglas French Center in Los Alamitos. “It’s always a heartwarming experience because they clap along, tap their feet and smile,” she said. “For a moment in time, you are helping them remember something they love.”

For information on M.O.M.: (714) 755-5788.

Ann Conway can be reached at (714) 966-5952 or by e-mail at ann.conway@latimes.com.