some advice for you as mom....find you a therapist you can talk to for yourself, coping with a loved one with a mental illness is TOUGH. Especially as mom, you are going to take it a lot of things personal that your son does, says, goes through. Because we are mom. My ex husband figured this out after we decided to separate, so many things he had in his mind about my behavior he finally came to realize were not rational choices. It would have helped tremendously had he sought his own counseling from the beginning.

also there is an organization called NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness | NAMI: The National Alliance on Mental Illness They have support group meetings for both family/friends of mentally ill people, as well as, for the mentally ill people (called connections) If you go to the website there is a way to click on your state and resources will come up.

best advice? don't give up on your son but make sure you have boundaries. a therapist will be able to help with this. don't take everything personally that he does or says. don't allow violence at all, zero tolerance. try to make sure you are able to contact his doctors, have your son sign a paper so that you are able to get information from his doctors about how he is doing. because your son will come home from the doctor's office and tell you everything is wonderful when clearly it isn't.

I do wish you the best