Category Archives: family

Six Schizophrenic Brothers documentary based on Hidden Valley Road book and on being raised with mental illness

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I have watched the first half of the documentary. It is disturbing and enthralling. It is about the Galvin family. Of 12 children, 6 boys developed schizophrenia. There is trauma, violence, fear. I am sure there were happier times but the show is pretty dark.

I was born in a large family, 7 children. My father had some sort of untreated, undiagnosed mental illness. He prided himself on not drinking, but he would rage unpredictably. He had trouble keeping jobs and getting along with people.

My brother, Pat, had a psychotic break when he was in college. My parents were ashamed and said it was caused by a cult. They would tell me people to avoid who were in the cult. He died young, at 26, in a hiking accident. I am sure his mental illness had something to do with it.

Years later, at 39, I had a psychotic break. I had earlier symptoms like mood swings and paranoia, I sometimes feel guilty that I can enjoy life and my brother did not have that chance.

My youngest brother has some mental health issues, too, but I don’t think they are as severe.

I want to thank the Galvin family for putting a light on something when tend to hide in shame.

This had to be my son’s senior year in high school

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I know this is pretty trivial. People are dying. People are risking their lives. We just have to stay at home. I get it. It is just hard for a teenager.

My husband, daughter and I are handling the stay home order pretty well. My daughter has her college classes online and enjoys reading and watching shows . My husband and I still go to work. He is doing okay with this, I would stay at home most of the time anyways. The only one enjoying this is the dog. He loves having us here more often,

My son misses his friends. They talk online and play games, but it is not like being in person. He works for the rec dept and that is on hold. His classes are all online. He is having a hard time. I am sure the teachers are doing a great job, he just is a slow reader and learns by doing. He is an Eagle Scout and misses scout activities. He is involved with a Jewish teen group and he misses that. Sometimes he goes by himself for car rides just to get out.

I am at a loss for what to tell him. We have never gone through this before. I tell him it will end, we just don’t know when. I hope we are able to do something for his graduation.

I value my Family

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Continuing the alphabet game with the letter F.

I have issues with my family of origin, but my little family (husband and 2 children + our dog) is very important to me. Thankfully, we are all doing well.

I worried about how having a mental illness would affect my children, but they are grown now and are great people.  I grew up in fear and I am so happy they are not afraid of me.