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As the mother of a beautiful young man who struggles with schizophrenia every day of his life, I am always tempted by magical thinking. What if Ben’s symptoms could be brought under his control without medication? What is he could somehow manage the hallucinations himself, if he only “understood” their origin? Our Brain -How [...] The nation weeps Weeks after the tragedy in Newtown, though facts are still to be confirmed about Adam Lanza’s history, we struggle to understand how it might have been prevented – or, at least, how to help prevent it from happening again.
First, some facts: Court-ordered hospitalization for mental illness is authorized in [...] The horrors of 9/11 got us into wars overseas, and the memories continued to be used to justify our involvement there. Will the tragedy in Newtown get us into a war against easy access to assault weapons, underfunded mental health services, stalled research, and lack of support? Never Forget. Act to Prevent. Details continue [...] For the first time in years, Ben has spoken to me about goals – and he actually has some, that he is willing to share with me. When you have a goal, it can be risky to say it out loud. What if you fail? What if your dreams don’t come true? Treatment, the [...] I think the psychiatry career of Dr. Lynne Fenton may be over. Worse than that, she must be questioning whether she could have done anything to prevent the “Batman shootings” in Aurora that killed 12, and wounded many others. James Holmes: Schizophrenia? So it leaks out that shooter James Holmes has been in “treatment” for [...] The interview for PBS in Phoenix, AZ last Thursday began with this wide-open question: Who is Ben? How to answer? Well - different trees, same mental health issues He’s my son. He is a sweet, loving, bright, caring, 29-year-old. And – he has paranoid schizophrenia. Very importantly, he [...] Last week NAMI-CT’s Fairfield Affiliate hosted an informative and inspiring Legislative Social – over 100 in attendance, including about a dozen state legislators, all there to hear about programs and services that help those affected by mental illness live fulfilling, purposeful, hopeful lives. I wrote about it here as well, on my Mental Illness in [...] Officer Newkirchen, Deputy Chief Lyddy, Captain Smith Early this month I attended the annual speaker meeting of NAMI Fairfield, a very strong affiliate in Connecticut. Our guests? Members of the local police force, one of its eight officers trained so far (as of the end of this month) for the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team). [...] Ben is getting closer to release from City Hospital – this time. Some of you have asked about the audio excerpt I posted a few days ago – when did that take place? That excerpt is from my book, the incident dated one week prior to Ben’s first admittance in 2003. This year, 2011, marks [...] Chicago. Ben is still in the hospital back in Connecticut, and I am here – at the NAMI National Convention. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to make this decision. Six years ago, in 2005, I left Ben to go to St. Louis for another NAMI function, so I could become a state trainer [...] |
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