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[yourshade]

Yesterday, I received an email from a high school friend, telling everyone that his twin sister (another semi-close friend) has been on a slow decline over the past few years due to a serious mental illness. Her family don't know exactly what it is because she won't tell them, and legally they can't know if she doesn't want them to, but her

Comments

[krull]

Parents who "disown" their children should be punched in the throat and kicked in the uterus until they're dead.

[yourshade]

I agree. Her parents are basically crazy fuckwads themselves.

The good news, though, is that she's been found and she is no longer on the APD missing persons list. I actually really hope I run into her sometime soon, it would be nice to see her...but I also know that schizo types can be really tricky to be friends with, especially when they are refusing all medications and treatment. I don't blame her for doing so - I know how dead those anti-psychotics make people feel - but I just don't know if that crazy energy is something I can handle being around.

[krull]

When I started at UW I was working as a residential counselor at a group home for chronically mentally ill folks -- there were a number of permanent residents who had schizo-affective disorders.

It's a devastating illness that isolates people from families and friends because they often lose interpersonal awareness, so basic social skills like empathy and connection disappear. Couple that with some of the stranger thoughts and ideas and... there you go.

People with schizo-affective disorders almost always *must* be on medication -- this isn't something that's debatable like depression meds, it's a serious matter of safety for themselves and others. There are many, many instances where people with schizo-affective disorders stop meds and have a psychotic episode where people get hurt or killed.

These folks really need people who can maintain connections with them -- it's a huge help. It's likely you'll need to have a new set of boundaries to keep yourself sane, but anything you can do will help. :)

[yourshade]

Yeah, I understand how important the medications are, but I've known a couple of people with scizo-affective disorders and they all have had serious issues with being medicated. I'm not saying it's the right choice, but I can empathize with their not wanting to be "doped up" all the time. It's just another reason why this disease frightens me so much.

I just hope she doesn't (or hasn't already) gone the way of so many others like her and gotten into hard drugs.

[lil_b]

I would never disown my kid, but I'm sure before diagnosis of any sort, it was a confusing time. That is a rough illness to deal with. Our family loved and cared for mybrother in law always and it still wasn't enough. We can have no idea how tormented they are at times by themselves. I'll pray for her, the family, and that she would find a compassionate place in you.