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Charlie Sheen and Bad Memories

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It’s foolhardy to decide that someone has a mental illness based on how they act on television. Diagnosing a major illness, such as bipolar disorder, is tricky at best and requires a thorough evaluation by a psychiatrist. I don’t know Charlie Sheen, although I am a fan of his television show, so I have no idea if he might be manic or ill.
Having acknowledged that, I must admit that what I saw on ABC Good Morning America and NBC’s Today Show stirred painful memories. When my son was in the initial stages of his first breakdown, his mind was racing with thoughts and grandiosity. He couldn’t spit his words out quick enough. He  believed everyone else had a problem, not him. I saw that same behavior on my television.

Emails From Readers

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Since the publication of my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, I have received hundreds of emails from readers. Sadly, many are from parents desperately seeking advice about how they can get their son or daughter help. Others are from readers whose adult children are in jails and prisons because of untreated mental illnesses. A few are from parents whose children committed suicide. But there are others that make me hopeful — encouraging notes from dedicated mental health workers and success stories written by readers who have found a variety of methods to control their symptoms and enjoy life at its fullest.

Here is an email that I recently received that I want to share with you because it provides a viewpoint by a consumer that often is not heard.

“I am in my late 30s and officially diagnosed as mentally ill at age 13 after my first suicide attempt. I had long periods of depression and had my first manic episode at age 16. I was paranoid, hearing voices, unable to sleep or read. All I knew was that I was going crazy, but there were no words for it then or any real help.

I was kicked out of high school after missing 15 days of school while I was too manic or depressed to attend classes. No treatment or help from the school system were offered (despite being a straight A honors student with advanced placement classes and not a single discipline issue) and I was told by my single parent to “get a job.” I did just that and was quickly fired for crying all day at work.

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Why is “Dangerous” the Criteria?

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      I receive emails and letters from parents and family members who have tried to get their loved ones help by having them involuntary committed into a hospital only to be stopped by our legal system. One of the sadder notes came this week from a father whose daughter was so sick that the psychiatrist who first examined her and the independent examiner appointed by the court to review her case quickly agreed that she needed to be hospitalized.

     But when the young woman appeared before a special justice here in Fairfax County, Virginia,  he ignored the two professionals’ recommendations and released the woman because, in his opinion, she did not pose a danger either to herself or to others.

    “Where did this dangerousness criteria come from?” the frantic father asked me in an email.

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A Teenager With Mental Illness Responds to Cheerleaders’ Stunt

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I’m not the only parent who was outraged by the insensitivity of the Waunakee Wisconsin High School dance team. ( See:  Stupidity Award for Promoting Prejudice blog.) Mom and fellow NAMI member Chrisa Hickey writes a blog entitled: The Mindstorm – Raising a Mentally Ill Child  and Chrisa posted an Open Letter on it that was written by a teenager with mental illness.  Chrisa knows Erika but is holding back her last name to protect her privacy.  The letter is addressed to Head Coach Erin Cotter. In it, Erika poignantly explains why mental disorders are no laughing matter.

Dear Head Coach Erin Cotter;

I would like to tell you a story, and I would like you to read. Truly read it. As, though it is a story of my life, it is also a story of thousands. Many of whom are even at your school.

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Stupidity Award for Promoting Prejudice

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I’ve decided to begin giving an award to persons or groups who show that they are prejudice against persons with mental illnesses. I’m calling it the Stupidity Award for Promoting Prejudice or the SAPP.  I’m sad to announce that the first recipient is Rick  Chandler a writer with NBC SPORTS. 

In a column published February 5th on Off the Bench, Chandler encouraged the Waunakee Wisconsin High School dance team to not change its “rather unique routine” when it competes in an upcoming state competition. Chandler writes:

 In it, the team “gets crazy” while wearing uniforms resembling straitjackets and restraints with the words “Psych Ward” on them. The girls, however, have been forced to tone down their routine after complaints from mental health advocates and parents that their act mocks the mentally ill. Political correctness gone mad? You be the judge….

Not that they should be apologizing in the first place. Exactly who is crazy here? If the girls feel in retrospect that their routine is insensitive and wrong, they should admit it and dump it. If they don’t feel that way, they should keep it unchanged and go full-speed ahead with the madness. Teaching our children to back down under pressure is not cool…Look, until we get a complaint from Giants’ reliever Brian Wilson, I say that his dance routine is good to go as is.    

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No Laughing Matter

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 I believe all of us should do our best to fight  stigma. It might be as simple as not laughing when someone tells a joke that belittles a person with a mental disorder. Or it could be as bold as launching a boycott of a business whose commercials or product names are stigmatizing. 

This week, Karen Easter, in Knoxville, Tennessee, became appalled when she saw an offensive video clip that was posted on the website of  the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper. The clip had been taken with a cell phone and it showed an adult man talking off his clothes and walking down the center of a busy shopping mall. The story that accompanied the clip reported that the man had removed his clothing because he believed there were “snakes in his pants and he had pain in his legs.” You could hear the person who took the video laughing at the sight and the website story immediately attracted a score of sarcastic comments along the ilk of  “spitting snakes” and other sexual innuendos.

The caption called the man a “streaker” but when you  read the story, it became clear that this young man had a mental problem. He was taken by the police to a local mental health center. 

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