Improving life for women with mental ills
IREWG conference hears Ellen Grant-Bishop, county mental-health commissioner

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Editor

A longtime lack of community, medical and government support for women suffering from a range of mental disorders has prompted Erie County to take steps to try to improve life for these women, Ellen Grant-Bishop, county mental-health commissioner, told participants at the second annual Celebration of Women's Scholarship.

The conference, sponsored by the UB Institute on Research and Education on Women and Gender (IREWG), took place Friday in Harriman Hall and featured presentations by researchers from five disciplines and poster presentations by two dozen others that described research by or about women.

In her keynote address, Grant-Bishop discussed the large number of mentally ill American women who are neither diagnosed nor treated correctly because primary-care physicians do not properly diagnose the physical symptoms of clinical and sub-clinical depression.

She said that during her tenure, the county has moved to improve sensitivity training and education programs for its health-care workers, promote better outreach efforts and raise awareness of the consequences of substance abuse for the physical and mental health of women. It also has expanded day-care facilities to accommodate women in substance-abuse treatment programs, which has significantly increased attendance.

She warned that drug use is exceptionally dangerous for women, whether or not they are the users.

"A large number of black, Hispanic and poor women are living in homes where drug use is prevalent, and alcohol and substance abuse are very, very strongly linked with violence against women," Grant-Bishop said, quoting from the Commonwealth Study on the effects of substance abuse.

"Men who abuse drugs are 28 times more likely to abuse their wives than those who don't abuse drugs," she pointed out. "Women living in such conditions are 11 times more likely to be murdered than those in drug-free homes.

"Despite the serious threats to their mental and physical well-being," Grant-Bishop said, "these women often find mental-health services difficult to access, particularly in rural areas where there are few agencies and a lack of transportation. In the city, the lack of transportation and of child-care facilities on- or off-site makes it very troublesome for these women to avail themselves of the help that is offered.

"Eventually, this lack of care makes their condition worse and provokes serious problems in their children, family and community," she said.

Grant-Bishop also discussed the high rates of affective disorders, eating disorders, poor health care and physical and sexual abuse reported among teenage girls.

She outlined some of the programs that she and County Executive Dennis Gorski have helped institute to improve these conditions-cultural competency training for staffers working with people outside their own ethnic, racial and economic communities; day-care facilities at mental-health treatment sites, more outreach programs, values-clarification training, consumer training and mentoring.

The commissioner, a former vice president and director of the Community Mental Health Center at Buffalo General Hospital, called for programs that offer better linkages with churches and community groups, focus on the serious emotional problems facing many teens, promote upward mobility and help girls to develop a better body image.

A three-time UB alumnus, Grant-Bishop is a clinical instructor of psychiatry and family medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is the author of the book "Managing in Black and White."

Following Grant-Bishop's talk, scientists discussed the results of their research. Among them were presentations by:

- Jeri Jaeger, associate professor of linguistics, who discussed her groundbreaking research on the cognitive functions of male and female brains conducted with Alan Lockwood, professor of neurology, and Robert Van Valin, professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics.

- Patricia McCartney, who presented an innovative "Interdisciplinary Women's Health Microscopy" instructional module developed by nursing and microbiology faculty. She said the module has been used for the past three years to teach hands-on microscopy skills to advanced nursing graduate students.

- Janine Santiago, a graduate student in the Department of American Studies, who discussed how official history can be reconciled with the oral and "fictional" histories written by women from outside the recognized authoritative structure. In her talk, "Women Writing Women: How Do We Reconcile Official History with Fictional History?" she used "House on the Lagoon," a prize-winning novel by Puerto Rican author-and recent UB lecturer-Rosario Ferre to illustrate her point that "all histories are provisional" because they all involve issues of power and inclusion.

- Bong Hee Sung, research associate professor of medicine, who presented research findings that indicate that estrogen plays an important role in counteracting the negative effects of stress on women's blood pressure by preventing the restriction of venal blood flow produced in anxiety-producing situations. Her research associates on this study were Marilou Ching, clinical instructor of pharmacy, and Michael F. Wilson, professor of medicine and nuclear medicine.

The conference poster session included research presentations in such fields as cell biology (effects of phytoestrogens), American studies, literature and sociology (the relationship between idealized body types and women's physical and mental health).