My major achievement this week was to get out of the house TWICE for ME – not just driving my son to and from school or caring for my parents.
Monday: OC Writers Write-In
Monday I attended an OC Writers write-in where I wrote 3282 words freely. The words need editing. They need shape. They possibly need to be fictionalized. Not sure.
Wednesday: Brain Disease Advocacy
Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with Mary Palafox of FEDUP – Brain Disease Advocacy. FEDUP4Brain advocates uniting mental and physical health under ONE health care delivery system. Stop treating serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder differently than other brain disorders.
Folie à Deux
As for the writing I did Monday, my focus was a delusion shared (folie à deux) by my parents. The delusional thoughts originated from my mother, but my father backed her up, and in doing so failed to protect us from verbalized delusions better not shared with one’s children. The delusional thinking was and still is disturbing.
Understand that delusional thoughts are a SYMPTOM of mental illness, of a brain disorder. When a couple reinforces each other’s delusional thoughts, they get stuck in a reinforcing feedback loop. In isolating themselves from others, they fail to test their version of reality against outsiders’ views.
My mother lived with an unacknowledged, undiagnosed mental illness. As her daughter, I’m in no position to diagnose her. Loyal and devoted – adoring, in fact – my father always backed my mother up. He might agree (in secret) with us, but then he would make us apologize to our mother for something SHE said, explaining to us that our mother didn’t feel appreciated and it was up to us to give her the attention she needed.
Not a healthy dynamic, but by the time we were teenagers, we knew it was not healthy. Thank God, my sister and I had each other to tether ourselves to reality.
As an adult, as a mother, in many ways I identify with my mother. I can see myself in her. I can see my illness in her illness. So, I feel compassion for her. But we differ in how we have dealt with our disordered brains. I had insight and sought treatment early.
As it turns out, since my mother had her stroke, I learned that she was being treated for depression. She told me a few years ago that she took an SSRI for anxiety, for panic attacks, but she told me she stopped cold turkey (dangerous). I was unaware that she went back on them for depression.
My thoughts – you are working hard and the rewards are coming you way!
I am so happy for you. I too suffered that for a long time, it now doesn’t seem to be impossible leave anymore. It was a horrible feeling..thank you for not making me feel alone
Yay!
As a person who has had his own problems with a brain that always wanted a life of it’s own (if that even makes any sense), I can sympathize with both generations of your family, and wish only the best for both of you, and any third generation that may or may not be part of this picture. I just hope you all know that there really are people that care about each of you. Have a great summer.
The third generation, my son, struggles with his brain, too. He’s a migraineur who has fought depression, social anxiety, and ADHD. Thank you.
My real father shot himself after dealing privately with depression, my mom, her sister, and her mom (my grandma) all suffer from mental illness. So I guess that makes me the third generation, I have 3 children, oldest is 11 and show no signs, so I pray every day that it ends with me.
I send you my deepest felt condolences on the loss of your birth father. As you know it’s not easy to live with mental illness as either a diagnosed individual or as a family member or loved one. I pray, too, for your children, but remember that should they have mental illness, you would have compassion for them. You have knowledge and experience you can draw upon.