[Mrs. Don-o]

Heartbreaking. Prayers for family. Prayers for all who suffer from bipolar disorder and other devastating mental illnesses.

[dp0622]

It is heartbreaking, but he is wrong. Those who have diabetes are know as diabetic.

Those who have cancer have been referred to as cancerous sometimes.

I was in a psych ward after depression from head injury.

It was horrific what these people went through. Horrific. It broke my heart.

But diabetics and cancer patients dont hide in closets with shotguns because people are after them. Guy told me that’s what he did, poor soul. While on medicine.

They dont disfigure their faces and necks with glass (saw that)

They dont wrestle with spirits that aren’t there.

Mental illness is a heart breaking disease but to say it is akin to diabetes and cancer is dangerous and midguided

[lee martell]

Very sad. Many times, this illness doesn’t surface until during or after adolescence, just when a family thinks their child is about ready for the world. Men are usually afflicted more often than women, but it’s still quite a large number of people and quite a large number of families going through this with them. My prayers to the family at this time of grief and reflection. She looked just like her mom.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Katie Shoener

`

I think her father's point about "She was not bipolar, she had bipolar disorder" is valid for people with other diseases, too. It is distorted to "define" a person by their disease.

How often nurses tell me they're tempted to say, and absurdly, DO say, "Some visitors came in for the gall bladder at the end of B corridor" or "We need to raise the O2 sat for the TIA in Rm 201."

They wince and remind each other not to talk like that.

Same for cancer. If people kept referring to "that cancerous lady," "your cancerous mother," etc., over and over, it would shape your perception of your mother as a bundle of symptoms and not as a fully-dimensioned human being.

That's why it's wrong to talk about somebody as "gay." Not good to use a disorder as an identity.

[El Cid]

Thanks for the post.

[rfreedom4u]

My daughter was also bi-polar. She took her own life last November 23rd. It’s something a parent never “gets over” but has to learn to deal with and accept.

My one and only consolation is that she is now free of her earthly torment and pain. But I’d give anything to have her back. Nineteen years old is too soon to go.

[tiki]

I believe that mental illness has a physical cause and no psychiatrist can heal them.

We need more research. I have 2 nieces who have been suicidal and both have thyroid deficiencies. One has benefitted from treatment. I don’t know if that really is a factor but it is something worth looking at. The nieces aren’t related, one is my family, the other is my husband’s.

[muleskinner]

I can't speak for the level of care for the mentally ill in the rest of the country, but in California, it is awful and beyond frustrating. From poorly trained Sheriff and police to the few small satellite "hospitals" that admit patients, to the legal system. The hospital and mental health lawyers are more interested in getting the patient out of the hospital than getting proper treatment.

Wasn't there one of the republican candidates that was big on mental health?

[Albion Wilde]

bump