Bonnie,
I'm so sorry to hear about your stepson. My first experience with a mentally
ill person was when I was a high school student. I had two best friends.
When we were in our junior year of high school, one of them, Helen, began
acting very strangely. She was always a bit different, very artistic, with
thought processes that seemed different from our's. By the time my other
friend and I began talking about our concerns seriously, (we'd been
unwilling to talk about Helen behind her back), and talked to a favorite
teacher about her, and determined that we needed to take our concerns to her
family, she had already been hospitalized in a state mental hospital. Her
diagnosis was Schizophrenia. Helen was in and out of the hospital for years
and years. The last time I saw her was when she visited me in the early
2000's, and she was very, very strange. I think that treatment for people
with bi polar disorder is more advanced than that for people with
Schizophrenia. Mental illness is not dealt with at all well in our society.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Bonnie L. Sherrell
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2018 2:35 PM
To: Blind Democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Mental health is in crisis
And it's never been so obvious as right now.
My stepson is seriously bipolar, which probably helped lead him into
marijuana addiction back when he was fourteen and a half. A bout of meth
use when he was
27 pushed him into full bipolar mode. He'll be fine while he's on his
lithium, and then he'll become convinced he can control his condition with
marijuana--until he reaches a high manic phase when nothing can get through
to him but lithium again.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very
wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation, and his minions are on the
rampage!
