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Guest Columnist Author: Garen Staglin is Vice President of the International Mental Health Research Organization Last Updated: Sep 7, 2017 - 10:11:01 PM



Schizophrenia - Advice from a Parent

By Garen Staglin is Vice President of the International Mental Health Research Organization
Sep 29, 2009 - 5:30:14 PM



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(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Nearly two decades ago, my son, Brandon, was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his freshman year in college when he was 19 years old. For him and for our family, that moment was the beginning of a long journey, a journey that took us through fear and darkness and, eventually, to hope and thankfulness.

There were moments that tested our own emotional limits. I vividly recall one dark hour when I walked into our living room and our son was there spinning around the room in a circle as he tried to deal with the hallucinations that are so common to schizophrenia. He was terrified at the horrors going on inside his own brain; you could see it in his eyes. I took him and hugged him and said, “We are going to get through this; we will help you get to a place where you can feel safe.”
As a parent, you have to be able to absorb those moments – moments that force you to be strong for your child’s sake. You also have to overcome the self-doubt that somehow this is your fault or you did something wrong. That won’t help your child at all.

For my wife, Shari and I, the long search for answers and treatment began when my mother called me when we were traveling overseas to tell us that Brandon was in a mental hospital. As parents, our first reaction was, “No, this can’t be right.” This could not be our son who scored three straight perfect 800s on the SAT verbal test and planned to become a rocket scientist. Our life was changed from that moment.

We rushed home and immediately sought out psychiatrists who could examine Brandon and tell us what was happening. At the end of a day-long examination, we were incredulous when the psychiatrist gave us her diagnosis of schizophrenia. But at least then we knew what we were facing, and there was comfort in knowing. Having that knowledge marked the beginning of our long journey.

When we first found out about Brandon’s condition, I wanted to be able to say, “Give me this disease, I have lived my life, and you go on with your life.” But you can’t do that. All you can do is to see that your child gets the help he needs to get well. That demands your time and support and patience and understanding. You must take unconditional love to a higher level. And we also had to recognize that our daughter, Shannon, seven years younger than Brandon, was also deeply affected by this traumatic event and needed our support and comforting as well.

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by distortions of reality, including hallucinations, disruption of thought and language, and withdrawal from contact with other people. In the not too distant past, this disease was considered incurable. But science is advancing at breathtaking speed, and we are now beginning to talk about cures and hope to achieve them in our lifetime. The mapping of the human genome has given us the pathology of mental illnesses, and we now know they are genetic disorders that are environmentally triggered. Continued private and public funding of research is essential to get us to real cures.

Today, the most important thing for any patient is to get help early. Getting the correct diagnosis is absolutely essential because healing can only emerge from that point.

Then, your therapist must find the right balance of medications that will help your child reach a calmer, more even place where he can begin to take the tiny steps necessary to rebuild his or her own life. Yes, this can be a slow and frustrating process. Some medications have uncomfortable side effects. But it is essential to find the right combination and stick with it.
And, finally, when a person is ready, you can help them reenter real life by being their safety net and helping them avoid stress, for example, by changing their environment or lowering the pressure of expectations. For us, the turning point came when our son’s condition had stabilized sufficiently through medications and therapy that he was ready to resume his life. Because at that moment, we were able to see that our son was on a path that would eventually return him to us. I was reflecting on our experiences recently because this year’s Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct. 4-10) has taken the theme that recovery from mental illness is not something that can be done alone. It requires community and family action, patience, understanding and teamwork.

I began this essay talking about fear and hope. If you have knowledge and patience, you have reason to be hopeful, and hope can outlast fear. Today, Brandon is married and working in our family business as marketing communications director and website writer for our Staglin Family Vineyard. We know that this is not the end of our journey. But you can’t imagine how good it feels to have our son reach a place where he can work every day with us and feel love and be loved in his own family.

Garen Staglin is Vice President of the International Mental Health Research Organization (IMHRO). IMHRO is a non-profit charity dedicated to solving brain disease within a generation. To learn more about IMHRO please visit the Website at www.imhro.org.

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