Until about a month or two ago, it was impossible to have a normal phone conversation with him. He would dominate the call, not listen, rant and rave. He totally rejected another old friend who had wanted to visit him. Etc. But over the past few weeks, something has improved. He told me he is on meds now and that they give him ones that dissolve quickly so he cannot “cheek” them. He has become very stable and I have had a couple of calm conversations with him. I have not asked him about the new charges or tried to visit him yet. I was too burned out to these past many months to follow his case closely or attempt fight the system, and he must not have been on meds or not on the right ones, as evidenced by his actions and behavior. We also have a 93 year old mother in an expensive assisted living home, most of the cost of which I cover since her social security only pays for about one fourth of the expense. I want to keep her comfortable in her final years. So that is also an issue in my life, since I don’t have much money left for other pursuits. I’m not complaining, I’m just giving some context.

If my brother remains stable, at some point I will put some energy into following his case and visiting him again. In the mean time I have my own life to live. Thanks for writing.

Were things as simple for others with mental illness.

As the shooting of Gabriell Giffords in Tuscon shows, a mentally disturbed person who is left to fall between the cracks can end up going totally insane and in some cases harm other people. Futhermore, the afflicted person also suffers from the mental illness since their thinking becomes tortured by obsessions, fears, and delusions. They are left untreated. They suffer. And sometimes society suffers.

In the case of Jared Loughner, his mental illness was evident to many yet that mental illness was given the right to rule his mind and degenerate. An article in the Washington Post, January 9, 2011, by David A. Fahrenthold, Sari Horwitz and Amy Gardner illustrates this point. According to that article, Loughner was attending classes at Tucson’s Pima Community College. School administrators ignored warnings of his fellow students and his teachers that his behavior was threatening. According the article, the administrators were reported to have said, “He hasn’t taken any action to hurt anyone. He hasn’t provoked anybody. He hasn’t brought any weapons to class…. We’ll just wait until he takes that next step.”.

But what can a school do? Should school administrators reject a student just because he manifests quirky behavior or some fellow student makes a complaint? To answer that question, we needto realize the the issue is much larger than what happens in schools. Consider the case of the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 . Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people, had been diagnosed with mental illness long before enrolling at Virginia Tech. Yet, due to federal privacy laws, Virginia Tech was not informed of Seung-Hui Cho’s diagnosis at the time he enrolled!

On a daily basis, in Los Angeles, police officers do not detain or transport mentally ill people to a hosptial even when they have been reported to be making threats unless they are deemed “a danger to themselves or others or severely disabled”. The bar for arresting disturbed people or for placing them in treatment is very high. Often, after being reported to police, a mentally ill person who was harassing someone will simply be taken to some other part of town and dropped off. Or taken to an emergency room where they will be given some pills then turned loose.

It goes from bad to absurd. Some scientologists have been known to try to convince mentally ill people to not take antipsychotic medicine.

In my opinion, when a mentally ill person has gotten to the the point they are delusional and making threats, there needs to be a fair judicial process, with due process, that requires the afflicted person to take medication, involuntarily if necessary. That may sound harsh. But, in fact, it is more humane than letting the mental illness dominate the life of the afflicted person and people the afflicted person comes in contact with on a daily basis.

please take care of yourself and your family and friends, but do not ever close the chapter on your brother…this is a book, whose ending doesn’t have to be now. this might be a long chapter, and one which is difficult – but this chapter will end. and when this one does, hopefully the next one will be filled with more happiness and more peace.

your brother does want to be well. and he needs you to act as his angel – for now – until he can find the peace of mind he so deserves.

my heart and prayers are for you and for Tony.
♥

All the best to you , continue being that strong. I have respect for that.

I particularly liked the well written letter to the Pasadena Superior Court that describes the illness using the Invasion of the Body Snatchers analogy, and that during manic episodes, it is the body snatcher that has control. I will be thinking of that next time I get a call from him where he’s not doing so well, and my understanding & patience is running low.