Did you know that October 10th is World Mental Health Day? Every year a theme is chosen for World Mental Health Day. The theme for 2014 is Living with Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia may not have a huge following such as Autism Spectrum Disorder - so I am thrilled that they decided to give this disorder the attention that it deserves.
As I have blogged about previously S was officially re-diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder - bipolar type(SA-B). Ultimatly the research suggests that individuals with SA-B are more similar to individuals with schizophrenia. Some research suggests that individuals with SA-B in truth have both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Other research suggests that SA-B is a subset of schizophrenia that also contains a mood component. For more information check out my blog post about SA-B.
What is it like to live with SA-B? The only perspective I have is that of a mother. Sometimes I just look at my daughter and wonder what thoughts are going around and around in her head. These are the times that she is the least connected to 'reality'. Then there are the times where she is mostly connected but she is twisting aspects of the world. During these times she just appears to be paranoid and fixated. These are when we have discussions about her having to do a homework assignment that never existed because otherwise something horrible will happen to her at school.
Other times she seems firmly grounded in the same world that I occupy (or a similar one, since my world has an ASD slant to it). The older she gets the further away these times come. I do not think it has anything to do with her condition getting worse. I do think it has to do with me being able to recognize it more as she is getting older and less sheltered at home.
What does the future hold in store for my daughter? Honestly I have no idea. Without outreach and programs to help her I am very apprehensive about the future. Although, I do know that my daughter's potential is unlimited. She can go down as the greats such as Picasso and van Gough. Yet neither of their lives were all that stable either.
Either way our family celebrated World Mental Health Day in style. My darling son decided the way to go was a metal rod through his door. Good thing tonight is our sparing class. . .
Hope you have a wonderful day spreading your own sort of awareness.
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