Tom and I just got home from six hours at the psychiatric hospital.  Not with our son, Tim, who I often write about in this blog, but with our daughter.

We adopted two of our three children – Tim and our daughter ('The Girl', I call her on my blog, as she prefers I not use her real name).  Tim’s mental health issues were a surprise, as we brought him home from the hospital 10 hours after birth, and we weren’t savvy enough to include mental health family history in the questions we asked of his birth parents.  The Girl is another story.  She came to us at age four from foster care, after being born severely premature, drug addicted, and cycling through approximately nine foster homes before ours, with a diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). We knew there would be issues. She’s come a long way, thanks to therapy and a more stable environment, but the years that Tim was home and seriously unstable took their toll, and two years ago her therapist said she was showing signs of PTSD, as we all were. 

Fast forward to three months ago when she suddenly stopped eating.

I can’t predict, so I plan.

Having a child with a severe mood disorder forces me to look at the future through a different lens than my friends with neurotypical kids. I hope my daughter will be able to complete college, live independently, and hold a job, but I don’t know if that will be possible. Creating a safety net helps me to feel much more secure, especially since my daughter has passed that scary milestone, her 18^th birthday.

I have experienced all of these symptoms after almost losing my daughter to the devastating effects of bipolar disorder during the initial years of diagnosis, medication trials and compliance. My husband and her dad pointed out to me just the other day that he thought we both had a case of “mild post-traumatic stress.” I have a good friend whose husband has severe PTSD. I do not suggest that the symptoms that we have experienced even compare to the disabling symptoms he experiences. But I do think that parents and caretakers should be aware and tend to the aftershocks of their child’s illness.

After an hour reviewing the recent issues with breakthrough psychosis, the extreme anxiety around the requisite blood draws to check white blood cell count, and the real issue of this being the least stable time of year, I heard Tim’s new psychiatrist say the words that I knew were the right decision, but vex me nonetheless: "let’s leave him on the Clozaril, add 100 mg at midday, and postpone any big medication changes until his impending move to an 18 and over facility in May."

I just read about a Yale University study that shows stress can cause our brains to shrink.

Boy, am I in trouble!

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was based on brain imaging of more than 100 healthy subjects. Researchers discovered that stressful events reduced the volume of gray matter in a region of the brain that regulates emotions and essential physiological functions, including blood pressure and glucose levels. These structural changes could signal increased risk for ills such as depression and diabetes.

I know these statistics well. I know that educators have a unique opportunity to recognize and support students struggling with depression yet often are either unaware or simply aren’t sure of the severity or need for intervention and therefore do nothing. Parents may well be in the same camp. Is it “teenage angst”? Growing pains? Typical of a child who may be in the middle of a family crisis? A young person having problems with friends, feeling left out or deserted?

by Susan Resko, The Balanced Mind Foundation Executive Director

Have you ever felt like a tightrope walker teetering on the edge of disaster? Or perhaps you feel like you’ve already lost contact with the rope and are free-falling just hoping there is a safety net below. As parents of children with special needs, you are not alone. We are all searching for that balance and if we’ve found it, we are trying to hold onto it. If we’ve fallen, we are trying to climb up again.

 Apparently, it’s a bad idea to spill coffee on your laptop – who knew?! That’s right, yesterday afternoon while I was sipping an afternoon pick-me-up, the coffee leapt out of my cup and onto my laptop keyboard. Nobody was more surprised than me. I frequently drink coffee while researching for an article or writing a blog. But yesterday was the first time I received the “Klutz of the Day” award for this seemingly innocent activity. I’m so proud. After a day of reflection, however, I’ve come to appreciate one thing.

1. Nickelodeon's "iCarly" Stigmatizes Mental Illness
by Susan Resko, Executive Director