Glenn Close Tackles Mental Illness ... Thank You!

I am so happy to finally see a star talking about mental illness. After suffering for years I was finally diagnosed 2 years ago with Bipolar disorder and put on medication. Since I am consistently taking my medicine my life feels normal for the first time in I don't know when. It is funny though you tell someone you have it and they look at you differently and I am no different than the next person. I am just glad to see people like Glen Close talking about mental illness.

I appreciate Glenn Close's coming forth with this issue, but mental disorders are not diseases that can be treated. I have a sister who only recently been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. She had suffered a major breakdown after some calamitous accidents in her last few months of medical college. It's created a completely different person. There were little things we'd notice about her behavior before, but she had previously been a very optimistic, happy person, interested only in work, and we would never have thought anything was wrong. It just went downhill after she failed the grade.
My entire family was supportive, but she has been getting worse and grew increasingly paranoid/violent, refusing to take medications, to sleep or eat sufficiently for almost two years. She started building a bazaar spirituality complex, staying up at nights with the lights on, thinking some unseen thing was constantly pricking her, that our house was set to be bombed, even trying to run away to wander on the highway. She fought when we tried getting her medical attention, even setting our house on fire late into the night and talking about herself and demons in the third person. It was then we had to call police and place her into a mental hospital. Earlier we thought it was simply stress and a breakdown, so she was able to stay at home during that period. It has only been very recently that under court order she must take drugs or have them injected. I was 17 at the time and the next to youngest sister, which would have meant a trial for my divorced mom to have placed two minors in danger at home with a schizo. Thankfully, that didn't happen. All I can say is that the stress and fear of mental illness is very strong. Medical attention is a must - you simply cannot have such a person staying in your home. Sometimes I have nightmares and it still bothers me. It was like constantly walking on eggshells and even on medication, I try avoiding taking visitation rights. The drugs have made her almost alright, but she has glitches in her behavior and the memory freaks me out every time I think of it. I can't help thinking I could have died if it hadn't been for my younger sister who had heard the fire alarm.
Some families might have a relative with a different disorder or a more tame form of schizophrenia. For me, it was like living with a manic murderer.

I have a paranoid schiz. son who is 47 years old. I tried many different living arrangements. The care takers always thought he could live in independent living, where he sold his levis, other people wore his clothing, he finally quit taking his med. After my husband died, I brought him back home. I do beleive once in a while the meds do need to be changed. You just have to watch them closely. In the beginning we used liquid medicine and forced him to take it. He hated it, but it was for his own good. He has had many years of therapy. When he needs his medicine to be changed, I just go to the doctor with him and I do have a doctor that works with me. I am an RN and God lead me in the direction of working with mentally ill for 12 years before my son became paranoid shiz. I have never given up on my son, he has scattered genius level, all the way down to scattered 12 year old. He does help me a lot and has a volunteer job. I do believe you must keep them busy so they have something to focus their mind on. I also have a bipolar daughter who lives in the YWCA and off and on,on the street. She has made up stories about her family and does believe them to be true. I have not be sucessful with her, but I do keep trying. She has not been home for 6 years. Keep praying for your loved ones, and please never give up on them. As far as schiz is concerned, I do believe it is the opposite disease of Parkinson, if we find a cure for the latter, I do believe we will have a cure for schiz which I personally believe is an over production of Dopamine,a neurotransmitter in the brain.