My niece is schizophrenic with affective disorder and we just learned she is pregnant. She lives with her husband who is also on meds for an undisclosed mental illness. They are both on SSI so she will be treated by a clinic during her pregnancy. They have told her to just stop taking all of her meds which is out of the question since they are what keeps her on an even keel. My concern is how these meds will affect her unborn baby. Are my concerns unfounded? She only contacts us when she needs money and we don’t know where she’s living right now. I’m sure she’ll be contacting us soon so I would like to have some information to share with her when she does. Has anyone ever knowm of someone with this disease that bore a child? Did they have to stop all their meds or are there meds that will be safe and effective for her and her unborn child? Thanks for any feedback you can give me.

However, the fact is there are some instances were violent behavior is a product of the schizophrenia, just as in some other mental disorders. I think the key here is that shcizophrenia does not necessarily cause someone to be violent, not that it never does.
Id like to see the article address to ridiculous continuous error that people make confusing schizophrenia to multiple personality disorder (or DID), to the point of the word commonly being misused in everyday language.

A good article and I would like to add
that some Schizophrenics are more
susceptible to a spiritual experience
and if violent would take the Kingdom
of God by force and obviously I am
speaking with tongue in cheek.Phyllis KUnz

My brohter has this awful disease..I am a psychotherapist and have an ‘intellectual’ understanding of the disease and can discuss it in the third person,,however the personal pain of seeing and interacting with my brother is at times overwhelming,,I always tell him that I love and suuport him however I see my poor mother bend and tow to outbursts and misperceptions that she agrees to just to shut him up. There are the constant phone calls,,,, and my mother is in her 70′s. I can only do day to day interasctions and bulid myself to deal with him which is rarely due to him not interacting with the rest of the family. I pray for him,,will always be there for him,,and do know that I love him dearly. He’s my little brother,,,,,

For those who think its shameful to abandon, consider the following story. My stepson has schizophrenia and was in and out of programs, hospitals, and sometimes jail throughout his teenage years. He took his meds occasionally, but became more and more challenging and defiant as the years went on. We supported him all the way despite the fact that his actions virtually destroyed our family and broke up our marriage. His schizophrenia was compounded by oppositional defiant disorder. He wasn’t aggressively violent, but did often get into fights. He broke into our homes and was eventually placed under a temporary restraining order for all of our protection. Because state law says he must be a “threat to himself or to others” and he is often not, then he is often on his own and most important it is up to him decide whether he wants to take his meds. He refuses. Thus, the cycle of his bad or unsocial/unlawful behavior continues and he is now serving his second 6-month jail term. His family still loves him, but rightly recognizes that for their own protection they must abandon him. Its sadly unfortunate that the law, as written, means he must make up his own mind whether to accept help—and the Catch 22 is that his own mind won’t allow him to accept help. Until the law changes, and families are allowed to place their adult or teenage loved ones with mental illness/disorders in homes/institutions/hospitals without the patients consent (for their own good), this situation will not resolve itself. Sad, but true.

I’ve lived under the burden of schizophrenia for the last twenty years. I became ill at the age of 28. My son was eight years old at the time. No meds worked until I started taking Ativan ten years later, which makes the experience less intense but never makes it go away. I was extremely fortunate in that my family has basically stuck by me throughout and has never judged me. But one thing that I’ve learned from them and society and the “voices” is that even though you are technically crazy and thinking odd thoughts and seeing odd things and undergoing severe psychological trauma at times, you should always strive to be a friendly and helpful member of your community. People with CONTROLLED mental illnesses should do as much work as they can do. They should continue to be active and loving parents, partners, siblings, neighbors and tax payers. And their quality of life WILL improve! And then their loved ones won’t be so stressed or sad!

I’m the sister of a brother with schitzophrenia. Both parents have been gone for 20+ years. Twenty years ago I, a family member (of a brother with schitzophrenia) was a participant in a trainig with mental health professionals named “Family, The Missing Ingredient”. The bottom line, family even if it’s only one family member that interfaces regularly with the schitzophrenic is so important. For many reasons, to be the go-between with the mental health professionals as well as that taking care of the schitzophrenic’s business-keep a roof over his head, pay bills, get food, and help him make sense of the why’s and wherefore’s of life since that’s how the illness affects him common sense is affected. Sometimes I forget he’s got this illness when he expresses his appreciation for the things I do and his feelings for me and his apologies to me when he looses his temper or gets annoyed with me. Other times there’s no doubt in my mind he has this illness by the odd things he says, and believes — that seem so strange to me, but not to him. He hears voices that I do not hear (and I tell him so) but I just listen when he says little men are in the attic making fun of him, or when he requested locks to lock up his food (since he believes)people are breaking in to his apt and poisioning his food–and..when I encounter a shower of popsicle sticks he keeps in the top crack of the door to tell if someone has broken into his apt. I know he has a good heart and since we’re only 11 months apart-this could have been me. The illness is believed to be hereditary (genetic). Some people can lead productive lives with the illness with medication. Because of my brother’s mild personality, he is able to live alone with my help and medication monitoring. He’s anti-social so work is out of the question along with his paranoia. Family is important. Nightly phone calls help my brother I ask him what he cooked for dinner and how he made it — things like that. Sometimes we talk about I remember when, (growing up) or TV shows he watched. I think I am the only one he trusts, and I don’t want to ever break that trust. By talking every night on the phone, I feel helps him distinguish reality from unreality.

Like any other ailment or disease, there are varying degrees of the illness. Some people may hear voices telling them what to do, others may be depressed, others will exibit many other symptoms that do not appear to be ‘normal’, whatever ‘normal’ is. Medication seems to work for some, but many refuse to take the medications. It is a lifelong struggle for the individual, the care givers and the people that love them. Hopefully with research and some compassion, more can be done in the future.