<p>Just wanted to express my support once again, kdos.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the weight, the house or where you are in your grieving process, you are doing a wonderful job.</p>
<p>I just wanted to tell you that I agree 100% with Cardinal Fang (#130). Glad you feel that this board is a supportive place for you. I hope things improve soon.</p>
<p>I just got a PM saying I was helping people. I REALLY hope that is true. Of course it’s great for me to talk, but the more that people are aware of what can happen, what to be aware of, what it can mean–the better off we will all be. You all would be amazed how strong some of the people who teach NAMI courses are. They are family members like me of people with mental illnesses-volunteers who are reaching out, giving tons of time. Those people are true heroes. [NAMI:</a> National Alliance on Mental Illness - Mental Health Support, Education and Advocacy](<a href=“http://www.nami.org/]NAMI:”>http://www.nami.org/)</p>
<p>I appreciate your openly discussing what happened with your son. I know several people whose bright, high achieving kids developed serious mental health problems in college. By posting here, you’re helping people in such circumstances realize that they are not the only ones experiencing such challenges, and you’re helping them learn where they can get support.</p>
<p>Thank you for having the courage to be open about this situation.</p>
<p>kdos,</p>
<p>I wanted to say exactly what northstarmom said. I am so grateful you had the courage to post about this.</p>
<p>mnmom62-thanks for the mention of Fred Frese. He is an amazing man who has done some incredible work. I saw the program Minds on the Edge…it was very well done and quite eye opening. Everyone should see it. He was talked about alot in NAMI class.</p>
<p>kdos, you are very clear about what is going on and I applaud you for it. You are right, of course, that tricking him into medication is not a solution. I can’t offer any suggestions, just sympathy.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that this country’s mental health system is so broken. In the 80’s here in NY, many mental hospitals were closed and the patients were released. The laws changed and so now, we’re at this place where no one can force someone to take medication or commit them to an institution unless they’re harming themselves or others. I don’t suggest a return to the way things were (when sick people were warehoused in shocking conditons), but now people are not getting any kind of help.</p>
<p>As for college, it seems ridiculous to me that an 18 year old is given all autonomy. Most are not paying their college bills and have never been on their own. It’s absurd that colleges are not legally allowed to contact parents (is that even the case?) when a student is clearly headed downhill. </p>
<p>I also don’t buy that it’s hard to distinguish eccentricities from something like schizophrenia. In the beginning, maybe, but very quickly it becomes something that’s impossible to miss. Part of the problem, I think, is that the symptoms are so scary and offputting, the reaction is to avert your eyes and get away from the person as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>I also want to add that it’s because of people like you, kdos, and your candor, that we may become less liable to just avert our gaze and screw up the courage to reach out.</p>
<p>kdos, I just sent an email to my friend whose D had to be brought home from college a few weeks ago and hospitalized because of a prolonged manic episode from being bipolar. I gave her the NAMI link from this thread. She wrote back that they have already joined NAMI and it is a great organization.</p>
<p>I am so sorry about your son and wish him and your family well. I am so sorry, too, that if his peers didn’t notice something was amiss that his resident advisor didn’t notice that something was amiss. </p>
<p>And it was very generous of you to post. </p>
<p>All the best.</p>
<p>Lafalum84</p>
<p>Oh I am sorry for what your friend is going through but happy they found NAMI. Statistically these mental illnesses effect almost everyone is some form. I ran across a talk given by Gunnar E. Christiansen, M.D. recently that appears on the NAMI website. It
is titled the Biologic Basis and Stigma of Serious Mental Illness
What is our role in the healing process? I thought it might be useful here.</p>
<p>"One out of every five families has someone in their immediate family that has a serious mental illness. One out of every ten of us has one of these disorders.</p>
<p>One percent of our population has the most severe mental illness, schizophrenia. In this disorder, when not treated, the individual is likely to have delusions and hallucinations. Hallucinations are seeing, hearing, feeling or tasting things that don’t exist. Delusions are giving false and sometimes bizarre interpretations of something that does exist.</p>
<p>One percent of our population has panic disorder in which periodically the individual will have sudden attacks of extreme fright for no discernible reason. </p>
<p>One and one half percent have obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is characterized by obsessive thoughts and actions. Particularly those that develop this disorder in childhood or in the teen years, will often spend fifteen minutes or much longer washing their hands or repeatedly checking and rechecking and rechecking and rechecking to make certain that they have closed a door.</p>
<p>Four and one half percent have persistent severe depression. Chronic depression can be so intense that the individual will remain confined to his or her home in an inactive state for weeks at a time. But as it is true for all those with one of these disorders, when adequately treated those with depression can have an active and productive life.</p>
<p>One and one half percent of our population have manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. It is characterized by alternating highs in which the individual experiences excessive energy and lows, which are often so severe that suicide is contemplated.</p>
<p>Serious mental illness is not just a disorder of adults. For example, over 800,000 U.S. teenagers suffer from depression and each year more than 500,000 teenagers make a suicide attempt that requires medical attention.</p>
<p>Twelve percent of those with schizophrenia or manic depression die by suicide. More than twice that many attempt suicide. Suicide attempts occur mainly in the early stages of the illness or during the first weeks after discharge from a psychiatric hospital.</p>
<p>Those with a serious mental illness have an irregularity in the transmission of nerve impulses in part of their brain. This defect makes their maladies considerably more incapacitating than short-term depression or anxiety of the “worried well.”</p>
<p>Individuals with a brain defect that predisposes them to the development of a mental illness are vulnerable to being overwhelmed by situations, which otherwise would only have caused a feeling of disappointment or rejection. Although emotionally disturbing events are not the cause of these disorders, it is not uncommon for them to be the triggering event for the first psychotic episode of schizophrenia and manic depression as well as for subsequent psychotic episodes for those not receiving adequate treatment. </p>
<p>Individuals with these neurobiologic disorders almost always require medication, whereas those with milder, short-term anxiety or depression can usually be helped with counseling only.</p>
<p>However, those with serious mental illness require much more than just medication. Also of major importance is psychological, social, family and spiritual support.</p>
<p>We are persons that have the capability to look, to listen and to understand. We are persons that have the ability to perceive not only our own needs, but also the needs of others. We are persons that are able to respond to these needs in a helpful manner.</p>
<p>What a wonderful gift it is to be able to give a helpful response to someone in need. When we combine the words “able” and “response,” however, we see that there is a “catch” to this gift. We are responsible. We are our brother’s keeper."</p>
<p>I can’t think of anything to add…besides to say that we all know people who are dealing with serious mental illness themselves or with a members of their family. This is a lifelong struggle. It is easy to look away as it is uncomfortable and messy and embarrassing and tragic. Until we encountered it ourselves, we didn’t think we knew hardly anyone in this situation. WRONG! Once it happened to us and we could talk about it, people came out of the woodwork with their “stories” of their experiences, triumphs and tragedies. </p>
<p>No one needs to know the special password to help someone. It is simple. It is love and empathy. A kind word, a glass of wine.</p>