TY (((((((((dm))))))))))! I'm quite aware of the feeling of being shunned due to mental illness!

I've never said this on this site......but I was raised by a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.

Schizophrenia has often been confused with multiple personality disorder. This IS NOT so! Schizophrenia is often thought to be hereditary. This IS NOT so.....though some effects in different forms might be passed down through the generations. I have O.C.D and a paranoid personality! Schizophrenics were doomed to a life in an asylum in days gone by. Shock therapy was the only way it was delt with. Schizophrenia can be treated successfully with a lifetime of medication. A number of homeless people are often diagnosed schizophrenics who have stopped taking their medication. One does not choose this disease....it chooses you...at an early age....most often in your teens, if properly diagnosed.

My mother suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia. Together.....it is something so hard to overcome. It's like a Catch-22 situation........she would take the medication and "get better".....but as she was taking the medication she was thinking that everyone is against her and "making her" take this medication! A time of peace would go by and then suddenly she would stop taking the medication again! I lived my entire life never knowing when she would stop taking her meds.! I rarely let my friends come to my house....though when they did they absolutely loved my mom for how fun and friendly she was. I had one best friend who knew all.....but I never told anyone outside "the immediate circle of friends and family" about mom.

I'm ashamed now.....that I was so ashamed then! I guess you could say I "shunned" my mother for being so ashamed of her condition. My mother's life was a living hell at times (not just for her mental illness either)....and yet all I hear now is all the laughter she created for us! She was a remarkable woman with way too much a burden to carry......but she always held her head high! I think of her often dm.........very, very often! And I continually beg her for her forgiveness to this very day!

I only share this now because I feel it could be a way for her to see...........I shun her no more! Better late than never!!!!!!

__________________
Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~