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Love and understanding for the mentally ill!~
My daughter looked at me out of the blue yesterday and said, "Mom, I really want you to finish your book that you have been writing since I was seven years old.
I guess I have put it off because it is so painful to write about. Losing my brother has been THE most painful thing I have EVER been through. It even tops losing my Dad, but I think it is just because my brother was so young, and the way he died. You never think you are going to outlive your youngest sibling, especially when there is a 17-year age difference!
The important thing here is to remember that Scottie had a substance abuse problem along with being bipolar and paranoid schizophrenic. I believe the correct term is schizoaffective? It is not fun to live with someone who has both a mental illness AND a substance abuse problem, just living with one problem is bad enough, but what do we do? Do we try to eliminate the mentally ill like Hitler did the Jews? Of course not!!!!!
How would God want us to handle this? I believe there is a reason the bible says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You will find this verse in Matthew Chapter 5. It is part of The Beatitudes. I know the answer. God put us here to help each other no matter what we might be going through. I believe He wants us to show compassion to those dealing with mental illness, as well as their loved ones.
What we need to do to help our loved ones who suffer from bipolar disorder or any other type of mental illness is learn all we can about these disorders. The person who has the illness also needs to learn all they can about the disorder so they can understand what is happening to them. A good place to start is the NAMI (the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) website at www.nami.org.
It takes a lot of love and understanding to be able to help someone you love who suffers from any kind of mental illness, including all types of depression and/or substance abuse. To my family and I, my brother was so worth it. He could not help that he was schizoaffective, no more than someone can help having cancer or heart disease. He had the most wonderful sense of humor and was highly intelligient.
I believe we could have saved him from falling through the cracks of the system if he had been treated cohesively for his mental illness AND his substance abuse problem. If you know someone who has both, you MUST get help for both problems AT THE SAME TIME. I guess the old cliche, "Hindsight is foresight" is true. Unfortunately, in my brother's case, it is too late, but there are so many others like him out there and if I can write one thing that helps someone else, then what my family and me have gone through will serve some kind of purpose.
It is to those of you I dedicate this journal. You have my support, my love, and my prayers for a better life. I urge you when everything seems hopeless to remember that tomorrow is the dawn of a new day and with each new dawn, the day holds new promise.
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8/24/06 12:51 PM
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