support for parents of mentally ill adults

difficult child texted husband last night and said she wanted to come home at noon today. He didn't go to work this morning and we waited and waited and by 11AM after texting and getting no response he finally left for work. I was in a panic all night after finding out this jerk punched her in the stomach and...

So difficult child's anxiety and perhaps his learning disability/ADHD have come to the fore in his new job. And of course, the sad, anxious, self doubting phone calls have begun. First, the orientation. Lots of stuff thrown at him. Forgot to sign up for payroll electronic transfer. Forgot the corporate...

difficult child's school attendance has been pretty spotty this year. Around the beginning of November he made a promise to himself that he was going to do better, and he did. For about 3 weeks. Since then his attendance has been going downhill to the point that he only attended 7 of 15 classes last week...

I am curious, after reading posts by others dealing with detachment (and knowing the struggle my husband and I have just started with it) if anyone has any thoughts about feelings being different for a daughter vs. son difficult child experiencing issues? Is either parent more/less protective of their...

My difficult child is 24, a college graduate (and what struggle and drama that was), an has no motivation to do anything but play games on the computer. difficult child is legally blind and can't drive, and we live in an area with no public transportation, so that makes independence extremely difficult, taxis are...

They were talking about drugs that are addictive and they said lithium was! Do what? Are they for real? How stupid! What next insulin? Now if a psychiatrist prescribes a person lithium for bipolar then I dont think anyone needs to question if they need it even if they are an addict! Its not a...

Anyone have experience with changes in psychiatric medications for their difficult children? Seeing a new psychiatric, Peter Pan has now been taken off an anti-psychotic and an antidepressant to be put onto Effexor. My research shows that this might be a good option--I thought the antipsychotic was basically poisoning him--but...

tons of them. One story after another. Anyone with a child who refuses to see them and is abusive, YOU ARE SO NOT ALONE! To me, these parents are lost and clueless about how to handle this horrible situation and many get offended at the idea of therapy, but they are still feeling the emotions we...

Big long post that I just erased. I mean... details don't really matter, do they? A mentally ill difficult child with utterly delusional expectations of life. He wants what he wants, NOW, without work or effort. Impossible to reason with, but then... when has it ever been possible? How many years did I...

Hi all, We asked our only child, 19 year old difficult child, to move out in early October because his behavior was no longer tolerable. He was doing drugs, drinking, lying, stealing from us, and ignored most/all rules we had placed on his living here. (The rules were negotiated so we just didn't spring...

It's happened again, a rerun of May 2008. difficult child texted both me and daughter in the wee hours this morning having obviously been drinking, saying he was cutting himself and so sorry and life wasn't worth living etc. etc. I called him and went over as his girlfriend was working third shift. He'd texted her at...

Damn! I checked my e-mail this morning, to find a long report from difficult child's support worker. Geez Louise! difficult child had been complaining about being bullied at work. With difficult child's history, there's usually more to the story, so husband and I decided to look into it further. With a bit of coordination between...

I met difficult child at the mall Tuesday. It was her day off and we planned this day to spend together. We shopped, I bought her a sweater dress to wear to our extended family Christmas on Dec 10. It looked adorable on her and was on sale for $19 at Macy's with my coupons. She showed me a purse she wanted...

So difficult child refused his psychiatrist appointment that was supposed to happen yesterday. Today I had an intake phone call appointment. with the Child and Family Clinic at our local hospital. The nurse I spoke to was great and very understanding. She was comforting and made me feel good about the efforts we've...

One of my closest friends is bipolar. Friend? Neither of us ever had sisters, she has disowned her highly dysfunctional family (she and her brothers are Korean adoptees for what that's worth) and adopted mine - never misses my mom's birthday if she can help it, visits her more than I do...

Forgive me for posting so much on this subject, but I have to get this out somewhere. I know most of you know the feeling of helplessness with your difficult child's struggles, their choices, their lack of choices, and the pure insanity of dealing with a difficult child loved one. So, I know I'm not alone in this...

I finally had to make the hardest decision in my life and stop communicating with my only child. My daughter is 38yo, married, had 2 near adult children and 3 step-children. This is her 2nd marriage. Just a little background...I was married to her father for 24 yrs. He was verbally abusive...

After things went so well (relatively) yesterday, they crashed and burned today. difficult child got up in a surly mood and made eggs, leaving a mess in the kitchen (he puts his plate in the dishwasher and leaves everything else). I gave him fifteen minutes, thinking he might be getting dressed ... when I...

My daughter's behavior took a sharp downturn when she turned 13. That year, she hit me in the car after I picked her up from school. her behavior soon turned to truancy (also faking illness to get out of school)'and at night til we caught it and nailed the window closed, running out to parties...

difficult child called this afternoon and asked of she could come over and talk and I said yes. When she got here she said she was very stressed out and spent the weekend crying and said she didn't know why she thought she could raise a baby. She asked about abortion and I told her to go to planned...