That was always what my son did. As soon as he was out from under the thumb of the mhc, he quit his meds. And the mhc wasn't following up with him anyway. In all fairness, though, it's easy to avoid them. For a while they were sending someone out to his apartment every evening to watch him take his medication. He just made sure he wasn't home at the time they were scheduled to arrive. Easy.

It was when I realized that someone was going to have to stand guard over him for life - and that's just not possible - that my thinking on this issue evolved. Even if the meds worked great - and they don't - they can't work if the person doesn't take them. And frankly it's even worse when the person is constantly going on and off them.

Anyway I think the "treatment" DocJohn is focusing on in his article is AOT - assisted outpatient treatment - in which the patient is court-ordered to take the medication. Frankly, if the professionals, the family, and the friends of the patient can't make him take his meds, the judge likely won't be able to help either. They aren't going to send a policeman out to make him. I've seen enough people on forums talking about how they don't comply with the AOT. I'm sure my son would have been one of those. And my deepest concern was that in forcing him to run from "treatment," we were also forcing him away from the people who could protect him. The world is full of predators, and they all seem to find my son when he's psychotic. They find out he has an income from disability and that he's very confused, and they proceed to drain him financially and emotionally. The only way to keep him safe with family is to reassure him that we aren't going to force him to do things against his will.