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In reply to the discussion: Parents of mentally ill adult children have few options. [View all]dinger130
(199 posts)I have an adult son who has schizo-affective disorder. At one point, I was able to have him put in prison on bogus charges just to get him help in the psychiatric section of prison. That was my only option because of the laws and the system. I even was called to the prison (he was in lock-down) just to encourage him to take his meds because he refused for months. He was psychotic. Prisons are now psychiatric hospitals for the mentally ill. I was encouraged to go to these drastic measures because I could get no help for him. Laws need to be in place for meds to be forced. Upon his last release from a psychiatric hospital (this rare time he admitted he needed help), I asked if there was a place for him to live and get help, and I was told no and to let him go. Yes, that was their answer, let him go. Typically, 3 days is the standard amount of time for the mentally ill to become stable in a hospital setting. Anyway, that is what they think. Unless he breaks the law, there is no place for him to go. He is extremely irritable at times and depressed at other times. He lived with me for ten years at the onset of his illness. I can't do it anymore. I have scars too. He is on the street, off and on his meds. God only knows what he is thinking or planning. The system needs to change NOW.