Mental Health

My Face Book newsfeed has exploded with news of Robin Williams’ suicide, and his struggles with drugs and depression. I am very saddened by the death of this wonderful comedian and actor. Robin Williams was one of kind. A true classic. I can’t imagine the sadness his family is feeling right now. My heart goes out to them.

I find it sad that it takes something like the death of a great comedian to bring a very serious illness to light. People have struggled with mental illness for years, but you rarely hear about it until it happens to someone that’s more “newsworthy”. Is Robin Williams’ life more valuable than Susie that lives down the street? Not in my eyes. Every life is valuable.

Mental illness has a very taboo reputation. You hear it on the news, but only when something tragic has happened as a result.

Why can’t we have mental health funding like we have cancer funding? Why can’t we show mental illness in a day to day environment, showing the people that are struggling, but still making it work. I’m sure there are millions that could represent those struggling with some form of mental illness.

My daughter suffers from a mental illness. General and Social Anxiety, or for short, GAD and SAD. It took me 4 years to get her diagnosed and on medication. Since the medication, she has improved tremendously. She still has her moments, and triggers, but now that she’s on medication, her hair isn’t falling out, as bad, and the weight she had lost is slowly gaining. I asked professionals for 4 years, is this normal? Do you see this? Do you notice these behaviors? No, no and no, she seems fine to me. It wasn’t until this past school year, one of her teachers opened up to me and told me she noticed the behaviors immediately. I asked her why no one would tell me in the past. Because sometimes the parents don’t want to hear the truth, and sometimes parents don’t see it themselves. But I was seeing it, AND asking about it. Still, no one wanted to get involved. I want to help my daughter, not look the other way or act like it’s non existent.

Now that I had a teacher that would confirm my concerns, it was time to talk to the doctor again. Let’s just wait and see if it gets better before we start meds. Okay. Then her hair started falling out, and she lost a lot of weight. The wait was over. Back to the doctor again. Get a referral to be evaluated. Wait a little longer for that appointment. Get a diagnosis. Back to the doctor for meds. Start therapy.

Why does the process have to be so long, and take so much time and effort? 4 years. She’s now 8 years old.

Because I’m only her mother, and not a doctor, I’m not qualified to make a judgement call that something isn’t quite right with my childs behavior?

Getting help is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Family doctors can only prescribe meds, and refer you for evaluations. The people that evaluate, do just that, evaluate, and give their opinion on what they feel is the issue. Then you go to a therapist and spend countless visits learning nothing. When we were seeing the therapist, I would come away with more questions, and no answers.

Mya’s behaviors continue to be erratic. We don’t know what to expect from one day to the next. Do we have the help we need? No. Is the doctor helpful? Only for the meds. Is the therapist helpful? He wasn’t for us. Is the school helpful? Not at all. Where does that leave us? Needing help. Where do we go from here? I honestly don’t know.