I could have had a documentary made about me...

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.

I remember seeing "Born Schizophrenic", and yes, that mother had quite a challenge.

I think some of us human beings are born with certain differences that end up either manifesting as or at least being called "mental illness", and I think society overall would be much better off if we truly understood and knew what to do in relation to all of that. Sadly, however, it seems many of us spend our lives groping while others just pinch and poke.

Yes, did you see the original or the follow up?

In the original it was the daughter who had schizophrenia and it was the parents hope that the younger son would help care for her once they were gone (later in life).

In the follow up show, the son was diagnosed with schizophrenia as well. His was even more severe than his sisters, and by that time the girl was very much improved and going to public school.

The father/husband ended up seeing another woman I believe and the parents are now divorced.

Well, I strongly believe that environmental factors are only one of many ways a person can develop mental illness. I believe some of it may be genetic predisposition as well. My mother and her sisters and their mother all have suffered varying degrees of it, one way or another. Whether they'd ever admit to it or not, in the case of my grandmother, who was too proud to admit she had anything wrong with her mental illness wise. I think it was more so the stigma from her time. A different era I suppose.

So yeah, perhaps its any given number of factors that contribute to MI.

I am of the idea that some are born with the potential for mental illness; and, that it being triggered and manifested is by encountering difficult life circumstances.

As for when was I first aware I was different or mentally ill? I suppose all my life. I remember starting kindergarten and realizing I was different - and thought differently - from the other kids. It was very disturbing to me at the time.

I don't believe I saw the follow up. Tragic that the parents' marriage went downhill. I guess having not one but two children with very severe schizophrenia can put a strain on even the healthiest of marriages though.

My heart goes out to that mother.

Adding----in "Born Schizophrenic" it was clear that there was a genetic factor passed down from the parents. I think it might have been a perfect storm of sorts given that both kids had schizophrenia but the parents did not have any MI. Just a case of the wrong people getting together and having kids? Maybe.

Well, it could have been that they had been more related than either realized. Sometimes when two people get married and have common ancestors somewhere in the distant past, they share a similar genetic pool and that can contribute to genetic anomalies.

At least, when I saw that geneticist back when I was being accessed for Fragile X Syndrome, she mentioned that.

I agree that it was a result of a "perfect storm" of the genetic sort.