Wishes

Today I get an email from the parents of two young adults with schizophrenia. They send interesting info in that the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression reports that as many as 10 percent of young men with schizophrenia die. Colby was among that number. So many people think a person with schizophrenia has multiple personalities. It’s not always that way. In fact, mostly it is not. Schizophrenia, which affects 1 percent of the world's population, is a severe, chronic, disabling brain disease. While the term schizophrenia means "split mind", it should not be confused with a "split," or multiple, personality. It is more accurately described as an illness that causes mental disturbances that disrupt thoughts, speech, and behavior. It is thought to be 80 to 90 percent inherited.

Medical science does not yet understand all the mysteries of schizophrenia, the delayed onset in the late teens and early twenties, or how a genetically-rooted illness process that probably begins before birth spares the brain through childhood, and erupts in young adulthood. I’ve mentioned before that Colby was not my only family member to have schizophrenia. At least one person in every generation back four or five generations had it. Almost all passed on before their time. It is a scary illness, both for the affected person and his or her loved ones.

Life is hard. For those with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses it is harder. Many, like Colby, turn to drugs. Some, like Colby, don’t make it. I wish I had answers. I wish the medical community understood the human brain better than they do. I wish everyone who had a mental illness could get the proper health care. I wish society didn’t place such a stigma on those who are mentally ill. I wish I could turn wishes into reality. Someday, maybe it all will be. But until then, we must continue to advocate for those who can’t fight for themselves.