From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Tue May 21 2002 - 05:32:03 MDT
Sylvia:
>Amara:
> > Laws ? No, I don't support that. Hopefully to convince an ill person
>> to take their medication is the role of the family and friends,
>> as difficult as that can be.
>
>i agree with you. sometimes i get scared about what will happen if i go
>totally bonkers again, and am left with someone not of my chosing making
>legal and medical decisions for me. i know i can take precautions about
>this,
'precautions' ? Can you say something about that?
OK, from the other side, I'm interested to know what can a close friend
or family member do -- not using laws -- to convince a schizophrenic to
take his/her medication, since he/she is usually convinced that they are
fine. What could be said to clue in the ill person that that they are
really not functioning in a reasonable manner? Can you suggest some
"keywords" that might 'wake up' the ill person? What if the ill person
has spiraled so far down that they've disowned the family members who
want to help, and therefore doesn't listen at all? My experience is that
when the ill person is that far gone, then the only help is when they
are doing unbelieveable things on the street and the local police notice
and get involved.
Most families of schizophrenics that I know have developed coping
strategies so that the family members' lives are not destroyed in the
process of 'normal' life with a schizophrenic. Things like unplugging
the phone at night, in order to sleep, not dropping one's life when yet
another new crisis occurs, and so on. The coping strategies can even
look callous or uncaring to outsiders or to the ill person.
It seems to me that the 'tension' between the schizophrenic and the
people who want to help is because of navigating a fuzzy path between
help for the ill person and help for the family or local neighborhood
members. That's why laws are passed which, because they are laws, can
make the situation much worse. Libertarians who decry the passing of
laws to commit schizophrenics into mental institutions can do better --
not to paint it as black and white. The families are usually suffering
along with the schizophrenic member, and are feeling pretty helpless
about what to do. It would be refreshing to hear from a former ill person
(you) of what you think might work to help.
>i am convinced that schizophrenia is the result of messed up brain
>chemistry, but this is subject to so many things. it seems to be
>negatively or positively affected by both physical and mental habits and
>experiences. i think schizophrenia is a malleable, mutable organic
>pathology.
Thank you for expressing yourself so honestly and for writing this.
Amara
-- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison
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