I once saw a documentary about a girl who, though very young, suffered from severe MI. The title of the documentary was titled, "Born Schizophrenic". Basically, it chronicled a mother's struggles with maintaining any semblance of a family among her young daughter's chaotic MI episodes.

The mother had no recourse but to divide her family into two homes, one where her daughter lived with her, and one where her son and husband lived, apart from the daughter. The documentary explained that her daughter's episodes were so disruptive to the mother's even younger son, that the daughter had to live in a separate home just so the family could function.

I really felt for this mother, and the young daughter as well. Obviously, this also got me wondering if I was born with mental illness, or if it manifested over time. I always had "episodes" which in my early years, my mother just chalked up to my being a red head and full of fire, so to speak. However, when I got to preschool and kindergarten, it was apparent I wasn't like the other kids. According to my teachers, I was disruptive and couldn't focus on the tasks given to me. Naturally, I was taken to a doctor who diagnosed me as having ADHD, and put on a daily dose of Ritalin.

That's been labeled as a sort of catch all for any troubles a kid has in their early years, I've discovered, and Ritalin was handed out to any kids who were "disruptive" or otherwise uncooperative in the classroom. The diagnosis of ADHD, however, really didn't fit me.

I've always had some sort of MI, I feel, and that documentary could very well have been about myself, though not nearly as severe, I feel.