my son took my journal to school

How difficult! I think that the first person who saw the journal (the teacher) who "skimmed" it must have realized it was personal & if you were not writing anything about violence or abuse (current) or anything, she/he should have quietly called you & said, ""I don't know if you realize your journal is missing, but your son brought it to school by mistake so I have it here in a safe place so just call me when you want to pick it up." END OF STORY.

I actually have kept a journal for many yrs., but did destroy all of them because my mother kept a journal & she had severe bipolar (I also have bipolar 1, but the treatment options are better today) & committed suicide & wrote horrible rantings in her journal against us kids & many searingly painful entries to read of her despair.

I realized I did not want my children to know the extent of my private anguish so I destroyed all my journals. They have witnessed "enough" of my depressions & they don't know the half of it. I don't want them to know & worry about me. They are grown & doing so well & I am so proud. They are not to carry a burden around of worry about me like I did for my mother so I would just say, "Be sure what you write down is something you would want your children to read." Forget the teachers. Think of your children & don't burden them unnecessarily by having a written record of perhaps your most difficult & horrific thoughts. Do not put that on your children to find if some accident were to happen to you.

I even had a friend I wrote many letters to in my teens & early 20's when I was struggling so w/untreated & undxed bipolar 1. She was old enough to be my mother & supported me & kept every letter I wrote. In my 30's or so I had access to my mother's letters to my father when she left the country to avoid an involuntary commitment to the mental hospital & she was obviously very ill, but those letters were so hurtful & calling me a *****, etc. (& I was too young to even know what the word meant!).

So I decided no matter how much pain, trauma, turmoil--WHATEVER--I felt I would not document it in any way that would cause sadness in my children. (I do write notes before I see my T but throw them out right away).

I just want to encourage you to check over your journal to make sure it has nothing it in that would distress your son if he read it. You have your difficulties, but he should not be reading about them & then feeling scared that he doesn't know how to help you or whatever conclusion he might come to.

Also, when dealing w/the school people--hold your head up high. Havig a mental illness is not a crime! You are not a child abuser or sex offender, but simply a caring & competent mom. If you need "help", you will ask for it.

In comparison to the guilt & humiliation & fear the families of the Columbine killers, etc. feel.

Stay calm!!!

Yeah to a point I guess. It's just my luck that something like this would happen. My poor kid did'nt know it was my journal. I sometimes will tear him a piece of paper out of it if he needs it. I never thought he would take it to school.

To answer your first question. I think he may have been drawing instead of listening, which is understandable. Even when she opened it and looked, I understand that. But she had to have known that it was my journal not my son's. He's 7 and I write in cursive. There was'nt anything in it about abuse or something that required attention. But she did'nt offer paying services, I don't think she's liscensed for that stuff. She told me she could help me with my "personal problems" it is'nt what she said but the way it made me feel. It was embarrassing. My doc told me to try not to over-react about it. That if I felt the need to adress it then do so but in a constructive way (I have the tendency to be a hot head). That the administrator, teacher and counseler will understand. I sure hope so.

I would tell T and then have T write the schoolboard! That is just beyond wrong.

I just don't care if they read it out of concern. They had no business doing so. They acted unprofessionally.

(((((((thunderbear)))))))!!! When I first saw the thread title, got a bit lightheaded, thinking how that must feel. I keep a journal too. It says a lot I definitely wouldn't want to go *anywhere*, let alone to a small town school! (The very worst thoughts aren't in there, but still...)

My thoughts are with you no matter what actions you decide to take or not take. (I live in a small town too, though not that small, so I understand the dynamics you speak of.)

They were definitely unprofessional. Yikes. Lots of hugs to you!!!