One thing I’ve come to realize in the last few days in the e-mails I’m getting about my mental illness column is how many parents are tortured by knowing their son or daughter is sick, knowing what will help, and being prevented from doing anything about it by the state of our laws. Here is a mother’s e-mail:
“I have a son who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia over 9
years ago. He is now 30 years old. In that time he
has been on and off medication (mostly off). He has
lived with my husband and I, and other siblings until
it became intolerable. He has lived in a park, has
been in jail and spent short periods of time in the
hospital. He is now living in a slum, drinking
heavily, not able to hold a job. He pays his rent
with his disability income and uses the rest for
alcohol. I don’t even talk to him anymore about
taking medication because he just gets angry and
threatens me. My heartbreak is a constant pain.
Everyone tells me that I have done all I can and
nothing else can be done until he decides to help
himself. Yet he can’t help himself because in his
delusional thinking, there is nothing wrong with him –
it is just bad breaks and other people that have the
problems.”