A Parents Story.
As the lone parent of three children, including a 16 year old daughter, I was not
prepared for what was about to happen.
My wife had passed away 2 years previously
after a lengthy illness, and I was trying to keep things 'normal'. That is; I was trying
to balance a full time stressful work situation, raise children and make time for myself
to consider a new relationship.
It had been difficult for all of us to adapt to the new
reality of living without one we all loved, but I felt we were getting on with life and the
children seemed to be adapting reasonably well.
School and church support were anchors
for us - especially for my daughter.
What I didn't realize is what was happening behind the
scenes. I wasn't aware that my daughter was gradually losing contact with reality.
She was in fact experiencing a psychotic break without any of us really understanding
what was going on. I had absolutely no concern that illegal street drugs could be
involved as she attended a small Christian school and had no social life outside of school.
She was actually withdrawing from everyone in the real world and was becoming more
and more controlled by voices from within her mind.
In retrospect, there were lots of clues
over a long period of time. Unfortunately most of these clues could also be mistaken for
common teenage behaviors. Changes occurred which could easily be put down to testing boundaries,
hormonal issues, or just plain rebellion. Much of the time there was very little conversation
or interaction within the male dominated family, again, possibly not an unusual situation.
Thankfully one teacher at the school befriended my daughter, and when the situation had
deteriorated to a point where there was a fear that she might hurt herself, he took her to
the hospital where she was involuntary admitted.
That was twenty months ago. My story since
then is long, and it has been filled with tears and cheers, wins and losses, despair and
euphoria. We have reached a point where medication and willpower, therapy and hard work
have created a stability which is close to Heaven compared to the Hell of the crisis days.
We can't claim full recovery but we can claim victory.
I have found many others with similar stories and have come to the realization
that there are many, many more people who will go through the devastation of
finding that their child has a mental illness.
I hope my story will help them understand
that there is hope and if recognized and treated early, recovery from psychosis can be expected.
If you have a story you would like to share please email pspops@psychosissupport.com
Note: We will only contact you if we decide to use your story.