My son Michael has been suffering from schizophrenia for the past 4-5 years. It’s become a vicious cycle for him and he doesn’t see what the medication does for him mentally when he is taking them. One day he just stops and by that time he has already digressed from taking his MEDICATION AFTER THE FACILITY HAD TO OBTAIN A COURT ORDER TO FORCES MEDS ON HIM. 

We trust that the doctors and staff know what they’re doing, so that he can be discharged home, but after three weeks then a month then another month this is the cycle he’s been living with and we don’t even think he remembers all the times he’s been sent to the emergency room because Lord only knows that we can’t force him to go on his own, so we have to call our local police department that really does help us and they take their time with him after my husband and I talk to them first and let them know he is not a threat.

Michael has started all over again not eating, drinking, showering and its been going on weeks and we need more help besides hospitalization for dehydration and his blood pressure. The ER doctor get his heart rate below 100 they send Michael to another psych facility. Suddenly he’s taking his meds that his father gives to him everyday and then he wants to take them on his own, but he doesn’t follow up with his doctor appointment with his psychiatrist and it starts all over again. This has been the cycle for some years now. Help is not here. We can’t force him to take his meds. Lord only knows what’s going on I just pray he gets the help that is needed because where we have insurance for him can only do so much, he needs more help than the love and support we give him.

My husband and I have been married for 23 years now. We married very young. We have 2 teenaged boys. 

it all started in 2004. I noticed my husband’s behaviour changing.  He would disappear for days. He would also go out every night leaving me with my kids alone. I noticed he would buy expensive clothing and I would question him where he got the money from but we would always end up in an argument. I missed him. I missed the man I knew. Slowly I also noticed his behaviour changing. He would be sniffing all the time, he would get angry all the time. He slept most of the time. He quit his job which I couldn’t understand why but I know he got fired. I also noticed our money slowly depleting. ..I asked him where he was going and where was our money going?  I knew he was taking drugs….crack cocaine. Since then it has been hard. He has no friends, his family lost connection with him, he doesn’t work, and the hard part is he now suffers from mental illness. I have seen doctors to please help and lets figure out the root of the problem

 No one listened to me. My husband had caused so much destruction and anguish in my life. I couldn’t take all the financial abuse so I contacted the police. He has been in and out of jail. I really wish people who suffer from drug addiction and mental help be taken seriously. It seems like the health system has no time to sit and listen.  Yes he is a grown man but he doesn’t act like one. He suffers from memory loss and poor balance. I feel his health is shutting down slowly. I have contacted his family to please see him. This man has done so much for the community. He has donated money to sick kids and I am talking thousands of dollars. This man has helped sponsor his mom to come to Canada and she had abandoned him. He has given her a better life so why can’t she be with him before it is too late. This man has sent money to his sisters to help them and they don’t return my phone calls. This man took in his mom and sister without paying rent so they pretty much lived off our income and now they don’t even bother to give a hand. This man has helped his friends financially and they never returned money or help. The list goes on….

Yes people make mistakes and people should be forgiven. I wished people wouldn’t overlook mental illness and drug addiction. There is always the root of the problem and up to today I don’t know why or understand why this happened…people shouldn’t tell me everything will be ok. How do they know that?

I found out my son has schizophrenia about 10 years ago. Since then our lives have been getting harder and harder. I have been trying to educate myself fast enough to keep up with the changes and struggles my son must face but it’s an uphill battle. I do feel like I am alone. I want to find this community of understanding and defense that I keep hearing about. My son desperately needs a good lawyer and of course he has nothing in the way of money. He was homeless, is indigent, and very likely will be arrested and put in jail-again. It feels like some of us are destined to go through hell here on earth. Is there no one who understands that he is ill? That he is not responsible for the way he behaves and the choices he makes? Again, no matter how mean he is to me sometimes, no matter how much I cry, I do understand that he is my son, and he is sick, and I can’t seem to find the answers that I need to help him.

My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia 2 and a half years ago. Then was diagnosed with a brain abscess 6 months later. His thinking has never been clear since that time. It had been a battle to sort out how to help and get the right meds.
Today I was walking into Walgreens and saw a disheveled young man gleefully chugging Listerine with no shoes. I wanted to get him some shoes but when walked into the store I learned he had stolen the mouthwash and the police had been called.
I also know he has a mom or dad who worries intensely about him. They are afraid of just this.
I hope my beautiful boy keeps letting us help him. And people within the system step up to give him the help he so deserves.
Boy, did the guy on the street need that. I am hopeful that other people saw and understand how complex mental illness is and how hard it is to get help.

My youngest child is 29 and has been incarcerated for 3 and a half years. In November of 2010 he shot and killed a man that had been married to his grandmother. All because he was not on medication and was having another bizarre delusion that this time he acted on.   Once in jail he was started on medication. The lawyer we hired couldn’t really converse with him coherently for a few months. Over two years went by and he eventually convinced his lawyer to take a plea agreement and was sentenced to 30 years with 10 years suspended. We were willing to take his case to trial even asking for Not Guilty by reason of insanity plea, but we were told we only had a 2% chance of winning. We so wanted to let everyone know the suffering we had been witnessing for several years. The frustration of our attempts to get him help.   We were willing to “bare all” to get him less time and even to a hospital. We saw slowly a new person evolve and he continues to be a new son to us. A mixture of the sweet caring and funny child we raised  and a grown man with  mental illness. The prison he is  now at has recently begun a “Social Skills” program on his block. He is fortunately in a pod with other people with Mental illness.  His dad and I were interviewed by a writer in March of last year and then Ben’s article was published in June 2013. When conversing with Ben we occasionally talk about the “what if’s” but I always encourage him to know that we can’t change what happened, and now must make the best of what is. Reminding him, “I had to lose you, to get you back, so that’s okay” Because I love him so.  Ben had always been a very responsible person and has acknowledged that he must pay his retribution for his actions.  That is the Ben that we raised, even through his illness, he still shines.

We thought our son would be safe in a private mental health facility.  Through no fault of his own, our son suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia further complicated by Asperger’s Syndrome, an Autism Disorder.  As parents, we believed we were doing the right thing by placing him in a private mental facility.  We could not have been more wrong.  He was not safe.

I will admit at the outset I naively thought by surviving two combat tours in Vietnam, I could cope with anything.  Vietnam was a walk in the park compared to this nightmare.

I have three goals with this article.  First, I want people with mentally ill family members to be vigilant of a dangerous pitfall regarding the rules of confidentiality.  Secondly, as Schizophrenia occurs in 1% of the population, roughly 3.5 million Americans, I want to provide the reader with additional insight into this terrible disease.  Finally, I want to educate people in hopes that the judicial system will better deal with the mentally ill.

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My son suffers from PTSD and schizophrenia, he has been trying to see his VA therapists since his recent episode of hearing voices and becoming agitated, he was afraid for himself and his girlfriend. He was told to get in touch with the VA which he did.
To make matters worse he was told that he would have to come into the emergency room, that he could not see his therapist until his next appointment time which was in 3, THREE MONTHS! Three months is unacceptable for someone who suffers Schizophrenia.
The VA has to change their policy on the accessibility to therapists.

No one ever lives a perfect life and we struggle with our own battles. At times it can overwhelm us and it becomes too late for those who not seek help. Lives are affected and changed forever. The start of my depression is unknown but my life is always in the look for meaning. After graduating college and trouble finding job I became involved in the mental health system. My battle with depression resurfaced as old issued reappeared with my daily clients. I am fortunate enough in my life to have support to have people who love and care for me. They give me strength and courage. With that strength and courage I was able to admit and begin to heal the wounds of depression. I continue now with therapy and continue with medication. There is no stigma in terms of mental disorder and no shame. You can carry on live a normal life. Believe in yourself seek the help you need and receive the help you need. Only thing I can ask as I see the day to day workings of the mental health system is more can be done. With growing violence, bullying, increased suicide rates, and deaths from substances more can be done. Day to day work there is success, but it is little. We are a revolving door for our clients giving them little resources and few chances to survive. Only hope is to continue to return or to continue to fail once they leave the hospital. If anything we need programs for long term hospitalizations.

The recent incident in Santa Barbara, Ca. brings a lot of thoughts, to share.  For one, the National Mental Health System is weak and broken in this country.  The laws are a blur, action when needed is far removed.  This serious epidemic continues to escalate right beneath our eyes, and we do nothing.  For example in this recent situation, the cops show up at this guys house before the killings.  Do they search it no, better yet do they access a national gun control manifest to see if he owns guns, no.  Does anybody jump in and put this kid under watch, lock him up, no.  Why because with the screwed up laws in our country you can’t only if suicide attempt is being made.  His father and mother knew he was off, yet did they grab anybody of authority, mental health specifically and raise the awareness for action to take place, no.  Or let’s say they did, could an authority detain and examine this individual, maybe look at his videos and manifest, what about his 3 room mates that were killed?  How does this stuff go on right underneath our noses, and not addressed?  Again no proactive approach to these type of situations, no program in place, no funding to extend the program where it needs to be, including for our veterans who come back from the battlefield, torn and tortured mentally.  Not enough, never to soon, too late!  All of it. 

When is this country going to wake up and realize that there is a problem facing us in every sector, a problem that needs to be aggressively addressed and not handled delicately rather abruptly and swiftly, and without hesitation.  All the victims in this country, lives leveled by murder and torture, some could have been saved if we as a country took Mental Health with the seriousness that it requires.  If more people got involved and actually talked to one another rather than text or emailed or social media.  A convergence directed at those who need help could just save those who have died unnecessarily.

I blame the government Federal, State and Local.  For not spending the money that is needed to put programs and shove awareness in each and every one of our faces.  Too much emphasis on gay, racial or other political agenda.  All of us are affected by this, and might just be an innocent victim someday.  How about a national, and local hotline specifically for these kind of problems.  Rather we have 911 lines for every single incident that happens, no specific for Mental Health problems and I am talking the whole circle of problems that are Mental Health related.

People react to stress differently, we don’t know what goes on inside another’s mind, we don’t know if one will “act out” their twisted thoughts or they are just thoughts.  But in this case, the guy had been posting videos, wrote 140 pages, purchased multiple firearms and lived with 3 roommates.  HELLO, enough signs for someone, or some institution to have taken a hint.

It was never about how dirty the house was or how many newspapers you had saved overtime or the amount of magnets you had on both fridges. It was the draining effect of what your mental illness would bring. What mom was I going to see today? Will she be nice and funny? Will she be mean and hurtful? Will she be sad and kept to herself? Everyday was different. Each had a little twist to them. From bipolar to manic to depression the things that are forbidden to be talked about. Yet they take so much away from people. I never hated you I just hated your illness. I hated that you became mean in a blink of an eye or you get sad within seconds and I did love when you were funny because we could crack jokes but all it took was for one little thing and you’d switch. I never wanted this for you. All I wanted was my mom. Your illness took over and it was so hard to love you. When you knew how to take the wound you opened and twist and dig it deeper. I know one day ill look back and be thankful for all the lessons learned and maybe help others one day, but for now I just want to help you.