Hillbunny, Gardengirl, darkeyes, psychstudent, EJ, Jan, Dreaming2fly,

Thank you all for your wishes for some peaceful days.......at least then haven't been quite as stressful as living through that kind of stress.

It is a good thing to have an idea of what to do before something happens like this......Where to go for help & not to go home. It is even something to try & be aware of the fact that someone is even following you. I have only been followed once before but not on my way home, it was on my way to the police department to file my report against her.

At the time, I thought it was strange that the guy didn't leave once he was confronted by the guards. They told him if he didn't leave they would arrest him for tresspassing (he parked his car in the guard headquarters parking lot). He kept paceing up & down the sidewalk & refused to leave. When the guard tried to get him down & put handcuffs on him, he kept telling them that he wasn't resisting, but he wasn't cooperating either. What came to my mind after it was all over was that I think he wanted to be arrested & even put on a 5150. The sherriffs found out that he had just been released from jail 2 days before. Maybe he thought he wanted to be put back into a safe place again. I know that may sound crazy, but looking back at several of my psych hospitalization years ago, I remember coming home with a feeling of not being safe. There were times when I actually wanted to be back in the hospital to have that safe feeling back. Maybe he was having similar feelings. It was definitely obvious by listening to the sherriffs talking to him that he was either on drugs or off drugs that he needed to help him. Schizophrenia was obvious but not whether it was caused by drugs or that it was his illness. According to the questioning, he hadn't been Dx'ed with any psych illness or given any meds. My husband & I are really hoping that by having the sherriffs take him in that he will be able to get the needed help so that he can be treated correctly. Of course, if he doesn't want help, there is nothing that can be done for him & even if they give him meds, if he doesn't want to take them, there is nothing that can be done. Hopefully some day, he will be at a place where he will realize that he needs help & that weed isn't the answer to making him better, only worse. It is really sad when psych problems land someone into the jail rather than the hospitalization care that can help them. No matter how afraid I am of him & fear that someday, he might follow someone & end up harming them, it doesn't keep me from praying that he will find the help that he really needs & will be open to it. Looking at the jails, I wonder just how many of the people in the jails are really people with psych problems that could be helped with the right meds or the right therapy before they do something bad enough to end themselves in jail. It seems that the cracks that people with psych problems fall through are huge & many. It seems like it is easier for them to end up in jail rather that getting the help they need in an environment like a psych hospital.

I just really hope that this guy gets some good help before he ends up really hurting someone or even the possibility that someone may feel that they have to protect themselves against someone like him by using a gun on the freeway.

Debbie