THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609110170
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: 126 lines
The note on yellow, lined paper declares: ``I will get apt or group home soon - Norfolk, Va. Geep Guerry Gallup II.''
It didn't work the first time for the 31-year-old man with schizophrenia - a mental disorder that distorts reality, creating delusions and hallucinations.
``Kids trashed his apartment, gave him some drugs,'' said Gallup's mother, Anne Barbarisi..
Carol Evans, a founder of the local chapter of MESA (Mutual Education, Support and Advocacy) said most schizophrenics are victims of violence, although they are not violent. The organization is sponsored by the Western Tidewater Community Services Board, High Street United Methodist Church and Virginia Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
The National Alliance is trying to educate the public about the illness which, it says, affects about one person in one hundred.
Evans calls it ``a chemical imbalance affecting that part of the brain that could process the information that they have an illness.'' She said medication reduces disabling symptoms, so the person is more able to lead a normal life.
Other mental illnesses are depression and manic depression, disturbances of mood and judgment; and borderline personality disorders, which cause mood shifts and impulsive behavior.
Schizophrenia usually appears during the late teens or early 20s. Gallup, deaf since birth, developed it when he was 16. He works in Courtland, at a satellite center run by Elevare Inc.
Most of their employees are adults with mental retardation. Gallup, who puts grommets in credit card key chains, is one of the exceptions.
He is able to work, thanks to medication.
``He's tried many medications,'' said Barbarisi. ``They calmed him, but didn't help his ability to think. Clorazil works for him. He takes five tablets a day.''
The cost is $133 for a week's supply, and there are weekly trips to Southampton Memorial Hospital for complete blood counts.
Because Gallup's late father was a civil servant ``we're lucky enough to have access - financially - to hospitalization,'' Barbarisi said.
For the most part, that is not the case.
``Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia are all brain disorders, but only the first two are covered by insurance,'' said Melissa Wajnert, media relations coordinator for the Alliance. ``All three are neurological diseases but schizophrenia is not recognized as such by insurance companies or the public. Scientists know it's neurological.''
Insurance companies do not see it that way, ``lumping schizophrenics with mental health patients,'' said Valerie L. Marsh, executive director of the Virginia Allianc.
Gallup, a chain smoker who moves about nervously, seems fascinated as people discuss his behavior.
``At one time, a big red balloon followed and threatened him,'' Barbarisi said. ``Then, it would float over his head.''
Writing about the balloon, Gallup refers to it as ``a ufo red devil.''
``Geep,'' as he calls himself, often makes notes, or sketches of the things he sees. He has seen and written about ``black spirits - wall'' ``white ball of light and fog spirit'' ``a girl angel - tear.''
He sketched a ghost he described as ``all body - black - all.'' Another picture shows Buddy, also a ghost, with a black body and wears a red mask covering black eyes.
``My son doesn't see him now, but he's worried that later he will see spirits. He knows that's a sign of mental illness,'' Barbarisi said. ``A major breakthrough is that he recognizes and accepts his problem. He wants to go to Western State Hospital in Staunton where they work with deaf people who have emotional and/or mental problems.''
Most people with such problems, and so many families, keep closeted, ``but Geep has accepted it. When he was younger he used to say that his brain was broke,'' she said.
``When I become sick my spirit gets out of balance. I never sleep. I see things. They don't talk to me - they just come and go. I see 'em only one time - and they're gone,'' Gallup signed.
``Then,'' his mother added, ``he gets out of balance. He tries to sign to them, but they vanish.''
There was an exception.
``I could feel Jesus,'' said Gallup, handsome, dark-eyed and with native American features. ``I touched his hand.''
When asked if Jesus talked to him, his mother reminded, ``He doesn't know sound.
``Many schizophrenics see frightening things - creatures that come after them. That's more common,'' Barbarisi said. ``He sees gentler things.''
Gallup knows how to write but when he was younger, his mother said, ``He wrote upside down and backwards. He didn't know sign language until he was 9 because he was diagnosed as emotionally disturbed, instead of as deaf.
``The first complete sentence he ever signed,'' she said, was `The stove is dirty.' When he was a teen his friends became speech therapists. They taught him only dirty words.''
Schizophrenia is no laughing matter, although films and television shows often treat it like it is.
Unlike many with the disease, Gallup likes to talk about it.
``Because he's deaf, he's unaware of the stigma. He's happy that someone is giving him this much attention,'' his mother said. ``Once he gets on the topic, he can't get off.''
Gallup constantly has the attention of his mother, his 16-year-old brother, Emilio, and his grandmother, Dorothy How, who cannot sign because, she said, ``I have arthritis in my fingers. Besides, I'm a poor speller.''
Laughter mixes with tears at times.
``Geep is very sensitive,'' Barbarisi said. ``Tears well in his eyes if he sees an animal hurt.''
Six cats share the house with the family.
Families seldom share the problem with outsiders, often closeting themselves, or putting themselves in a state of denial.
``My sister (a Nashville resident) denies there's anything wrong with her. My family knows she has the mental illness, but they don't talk about it,'' Evans said. ``Essentially, I'm the only one.''
She talks about it in public - at monthly meetings of MESA which, she said ``is really a great thing - very supportive when there's nowhere else to turn. To be with people in similar situations is very comforting.''
The Alliance also has chapters in Chesapeake, Hampton, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Norfolk, Gloucester, Williamsburg and Portsmouth. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
``Geep'' Guerry Gallup II, who has schizophrenia, sits with his
grandmother, Dorothy How, and his brother Emilio, right. His mother,
Anne Barbarisi, stands behind his grandmother.
Graphic AT A GLANCE
What: 17-week workshop for families of persons who have a mental
illness
When: 7 p.m. the first and third Tuesday each month.
Where: High Street United Methodist Church, 301 W. 1st Ave.,
Franklin.
Sponsor:, Mutual Education, Support & Advocacy (MESA) and Western
Tidewater Mental Health Center
Call: Carol Evans, 562-3367; April Knight, 562-2208 by CNB