Arrested Development…

My father and I were talking on the phone tonight about how people with addictions and mental illnesses  seem to stop growing up emotionally when these two afflictions first begin to occur in their lives. “Your mother is like a small child and I have to treat her that way,” my father told me. “It has been that way ever since her schizophrenia flared up years ago.” I cringed when he first said it, but it was true. Mom had late onset schizophrenia which is pretty rare. Mine started in my early twenties which is more normal. The stress of life and teaching completely exacerbated my mother’s mental illness. She was a elementary school teacher and would just walk out of her class and wander around the neighborhood surrounding the school until the school principle could find her. “Well, dad, I feel useless like a perpetual teenager playing video games all the time and listening to music -- still dependent upon my parents for most things in my life,” I replied back with trepidation. “Sometime you need to think of the human factor as well and realize this is embarrassing for me.” “You’ve came a long way, son, from that sick man who couldn’t even put down a beer,” dad told me trying to bolster my spirits. “You are a completely different person now! I had to be tough on you!” I hope my father’s words were true.  At what point do you let a mentally ill addict in recovery spread his wings and fly? That is going to be very hard for my father to ...
Source: The 4th Avenue Blues - Category: Mental Illness Authors: Source Type: blogs