The Power of Prayer: Assisted Outpatient Treatment

“Ask and ye shall receive,” was one of many quotes from the Bible I heard from my mother as I was growing up.

That was a long time ago. Now, I am a mother, a medical writer at a pharmaceutical company, a NAMI member, and a recent advocate for not only those who suffer with mental illness but also for their families whose lives are often even darker than their mentally ill loved ones.

I have two adult daughters and an adult son. My son, Todd, suffers from schizophrenia, and every day I pray that something will happen to convince him to take his medication. But my prayers remain unanswered. What I ask for remains elusive. Although I often feel alone with my fears, anxieties, and heartbreak, I know I am not. I know there are others out there like me who go about their daily lives, or try to, under the cloud of loved ones who refuse medication because they lack the insight to know that they are ill. In many ways, we all walk together through this most turbulent of storms. And yet, we each walk alone.

I would like to change that.

On October 2, 2007, I traveled alone to Harrisburg, a sort of journey beyond my boundaries of comfort, to testify at the public hearing on SB 226. There, I met another advocate for assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), Jeanette Castello, who many of you already know. I was impressed with her dedication and fortitude to the issues surrounding mental illness even though her daughter is no longer in the danger zone of being untreated. Jeanette’s strength and passion and the feelings that we shared during our first conversations motivated me to move past my prayers to something more.

I’m not sure what “more” is yet. But I have many stories about my life as a mother of someone with severe mental illness to share with you. Some stories are probably strikingly similar to yours. Other of my stories may move past bizarre. Some stories reflect actions I’m not so proud of. Some feelings I wish I didn’t have.

Jeanette and I have the same intention—to invite you to share your views, experiences, and concerns, to listen, to be heard, to learn, all in an effort to foster a better understanding of the issues that surround mental illness, particularly the plight of family members and how AOT would help. If there is only one person in the world with mental illness who remains untreated, it’s not a minority; it’s one too many.

Having said all that, maybe, in some ways that I don’t quite understand yet and so, fail to be able to verbalize, our interchanges on Families for Timely Treatment Laws Blog will be the answer to my prayers, maybe your prayers as well.