(April 14, 2014) My 39-year-old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia 13 years ago. It started with various pains throughout his body.
After his first psychotic break we took him to the hospital where he was prescribed medication, but we realized a year later that he had never taken it. He even cheated the nurse who was sent to observe him comply with his prescription.
He has anosognosia. There have been many times when he does not believe he has an illness. When he goes off his meds, he decompensates. He becomes delusional, his thoughts race and I fear for him and others around him.
Because of this he is a classic example of the revolving door of mental illness. He has been hospitalized about 11 times over the course of his illness, usually staying about six weeks. Once he leaves the hospital, though, he stops taking his prescribed antipsychotics.
In Connecticut, we don’t have an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) law so as long as he doesn’t believe he is sick, he won’t take his medication. People like my son are thrown back and forth in and out of hospitals and jails.
The lawmakers don't get it. It is hard for me to believe that even after the Newtown tragedy, they still can’t find a way to pass court-ordered treatment for the most severely mentally ill. Our son is high functioning when he takes his meds.
An AOT law would help people like him by lowering the rate of crimes and victimization. It would prevent the cycling of my son in and out of hospitals.
All we are looking for is a law that helps people with severe mental illness who need guidance when they stop taking their medication and start to decompensate.
We know that the most severely ill patients aren’t a harm to anyone until they harm someone and end up in jail, or worse.
The mother of a a man with schizophrenia
Connecticut
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