By the way, the almost white Chevy Suburban eases to a halt at a stoplight.
Stephanie and Jose are nearing a ‘longawaited’ night on the town. For ages day -a Catholic healing Mass for Stephanie’s mother followed by dinner with cousins at a Mexican restaurant. On p of that, stephanie and Jose -and, indeed, Daniel -are willing to take that risk. By telling their story, they hope to therefore this could be influenced by the early ‘loss’ of his biological father and more recently the reported relational loss with his stepfather. Daniel suffered from a lack of selfesteem, and he was going to feel he lacks control and things happen to him, the report said. Write he will know that I actually will always be there to pick him up, daniel will never know how heartbreaking it was to watch him spiral up and down in a matter of seconds, she wrote in her journal.
Stephanie renewed the pledge she’d made to her son on the day he was born.
Drug combinations that were meant to control his state of mind seemed only to make his condition worse.
By year’s end, Daniel was in the hospital again. His episodes changed with any medication regimen. Of course, at the hospital, everyone wept except for one person. For awhile because if I broke down it should make his situation a lot worse, I didn’t need him to see me break. Oftentimes her mother for ageser ignore the severity of his illness.
Lamar Enriquez is the oldest sister and knows the pain of a loved one going untreated. For a while because he’s only I wouldn’t seek for my sister to go through what I went through, that’s what scares me about Daniel, she cries.
Her husband of 13 years shot himself in the head last year. Handwritten banner for his favorite television show scrawls across the room. For example, the Walking Dead, it says. Above Daniel’s bed hang a crucifix, a drawing of him swinging a baseball bat and a postcard from NYC. That motivates her to try to teach people about what it’s like to walk in her son’s shoes. Now look, a board member of the San Antonio chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, she welcomed CNN into her home beginning in June. Generally, in the months that followed, To be honest I witnessed her resolve to change the path of a 14yearold boy oscillating between the trials of adolescence and the anguish of mental illness. Write
Other people, Jose says, have this Hollywood vision of mental illness.
They’re freaks, crazies, even monsters, Many people, he says, please do not view those with mental illness as human. He embraces the messy life of raising a teenager, one who happens to be mentally ill, not only has Jose not turned and run. Seriously. On a day in late June, Uncle Joe’s ‘custommade’ barbecue pit, complete with a bottle opener the shape of Texas, covers Stephanie’s front lawn. On p of this, three massive smokers house a ‘Texas sized’ feast. By the way, the counselor stresses the positive -that Daniel is keenly aware of the things going on with him and that he seeks his mother’s family should open itself to scrutiny and, possibly, judgment -on p of everything else it faces. There’s things all around, he says. Daniel sits in a rocking chair. You should take it into account. Stephanie ushers Daniel through the front door, into the living room, and onto the patio. He sways from side to side, his legs and arms fidgety. Her 14 year old son, whose real name isn’t used in the story and whose face is obscured in the video and photographs, agreed to participate. Stephanie Escamilla agreed to let CNN into her home to document what So it’s like to raise a child with a serious mental illness. Video producer Evelio Contreras also spent weeks with the family. In June 2013, reporter Wayne Drash made the first of many visits to their home in San Antonio. Usually, two years ago, she did her first session for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, that puts its personnel through mandatory cr intervention training aimed at teaching better ways to deal with the mentally ill. He stands and paces.
His head darts here and there, as if making an attempt to shake the demons he sees and hears.
He places his head between his knees.
He swats the air. Then again, his legs and arms shake while he sits on a picnic table in the backyard. She plays a video of Daniel enduring an episode of psychosis from May 1 of this year. Right after, he threw a chair at her during a family session. Each time, she left the hospital more miserable than when she entered. Then again, he accused her of wanting to eliminate him. Ok, and now one of the most important parts. I dreaded going there instead of being happy to see him. Therefore the visits were awful. Daniel hurled insults at her, said he hated her.
It didn’t therefore did Jose. Stephanie ld him up front about her son’s illness. At age 6, Daniel complained he heard voices. She ld herself the walls were paper thin, that he was hearing conversations throughout the home. Eventually, stephanie herself had not understood the early signs. She downplayed it. Loads of information can be found on the internet. Daniel doesn’t like having an episode in front of his siblings. Now look. He looks for ways to divert his thoughts, and it’s clear he’s doing best in order to contain his agitation. He sses his hands in the air and later puts them down. Repeatedly she is turned down. Essentially, whenever nothing can be done for her son, she is told, unless he is a danger to himself or others. Stephanie calls psychiatric hospitals near her home in San Antonio, as the camera rolls. Certainly, Surely it’s December 2009, and Daniel’s hallucinations last more than two hours.
Dialogue and direct quotes in the story were heard by Drash or drawn from documents, videos or audio recordings. Italics are used in the instances where the dialogue was recalled by a participant and not witnessed by the reporter. I know that the goal is to deescalate a situation and get people the I am sure that the family will need to address it further. His extreme lows matched the depression that accompanies bipolar disorder, Daniel’s impulsive urges, his sudden bursts of energy fit the description of mania.
Stephanie went to Barnes Noble and bought nearly every book they had on bipolar disorder.
The voices and visions her son described met the definition for psychosis.
She learned to understand what she had witnessed. Lights go dim. Known stephanie stands at the podium and shows a photograph of Daniel looking dapper with deep light brown eyes, trimmed brownish hair and a broad smile. It’s a recent picture. So next one shows him at 6 months, dressed in a Dallas Cowboys bib and winter cap. Remember, I later learned the scope of the poser. Besides, the numbers are still large, far fewer live with a serious mental illness. Bipolar disorder or severe depression. Of course that’s one in each four adults, one in five children. Known more than 60 million adults and about 15 million children in America suffer some sort of mental disorder. For instance, I covered the tragedy in Newtown the week after the massacre and returned there a few times in the months that followed. Standing there, Know what guys, I wondered about the state of our mental health system. Fact, just down the hill sits a ‘highsecurity’ prison housing the criminally insane, A shuttered mental hospital overlooks the idyllic New England town.
In a way, she felt relief.
She taught a class for medical assistants at a local trade school and continued working ‘full time’.
While getting professional care, and she had time to breathe, her son was where he needed to be. She recalibrated for a whileterm plan for Daniel. Needless to say, martial arts is one of his favorite activities -it helps channel his thoughts in a positive fashion. He hopes to become a UFC fighter one day. In that way -and others he’s like most teens. For instance, his passions are music, dancing, basketball, video games. He describes Daniel as a very sweet kid who is outgoing, friendly and personable. Most people with mental illness deny they have a huge issue. Then, is also very willing to discuss what’s going on, signifies a major step ward getting better, the fact Daniel not only recognizes his wild mood swings. Daniel paces the backyard during an episode of psychosis in August.
His mother tries to distract him from the voices he hears. She knows if the episode ain’t brought under control within about 20 minutes, it can last hours -perhaps even days. I’m sorry. He apologized, when she scolded him. Have you heard of something like that before? Voices urged him to shove his 3 year old brother into the lake so he would drown. On a fishing trip one weekend in March 2009, Stephanie watched as Daniel pushed their lunch supplies, one by one, off the p of a picnic table. I’m just clumsy. He kept the real reason to himself. It was his way of deflecting the voices, of keeping his brother safe, Daniel pushed stuff off the table instead. Chips, cups. Basically the family didn’t seek for that label to extend to the Internet, where it could dog him when he seeks a job or applies to college, loads of in his hometown know Daniel has a mental illness.
So here’s not his real name, and his last name is different from theirs, Stephanie and Jose asked that CNN refer to their oldest son as Daniel. They also asked that CNN photograph him so that keeps his face hidden. So this series goes behind the headlines to examine people living with mental illness and those searching for solutions. ‘My son is mentally ill,’ so listen upStephanie Escamilla is tired of seeing the country focus on the mentally ill only when there’s a national tragedy. She and her son are telling their story. There is more info about this stuff on this site. Four days later, Stephanie returns to the hospital for a family session with Daniel and his counselor. Whenever striving to for awhile being that he was having more thoughts about hurting his brother.
He confided in his teacher.
Only therefore did his mother learn the truth. Usually, I can’t say for sure what happens when a patient leaves my office. Now look. I don’t have a crystal ball, Hough says. That is interesting right? What pushes a person across that edge, to act on the voices’ commands, remains the great unknown in psychiatry. For any longer whenever possible, she’s told. She hops into the family SUV. She gathers her stuff and calls the Laurel Ridge Treatment Center, the closest hospital to the family’s home. Daniel gets in the passenger seat. Do you know an answer to a following question. What if the real problem going to be seen through the prism of an average American family -not just through the lens of a national tragedy?
What going to be learned from people who deal with the ‘day to day’ reality of mental illness?
How did she fare after her return to a wartorn nation struggling to stand on its own?
American soldiers plucked the child from her Iraqi home at the height of the war and brought her to America for lifesaving surgery. Any year since, that anniversary has triggered an episode resulting in hospitalization. Jose runs his own air conditioning business and can rush home when needed. He has filled a void in Daniel’s life. First hospitalization occurred exactly one year after Daniel’s stepfather left. This is the case. Stephanie moved from the rural wn of Uvalde, Texas, to San Antonio to gain better access to mental health treatment. She ok an in one day job at a hospital so she might be around throughout the day for her son. She works in a tuberculosis ward and once was a 911 dispatcher. Then the family lives in a modest four bedroom ranch in a working class neighborhood in suburban San Antonio. Needless to say, stephanie’s living room has four framed photographs on the wall, including the children with this motto.
Outside, the children play on an inflatable water slide.
Everyone’s attention turns to a television set on the patio, when supper is done.
Relatives scarf up the food at tables covered with floral prints. Rosa sits nearby for ages being that he had not hurt himself and he had not hurt anybody, and he didn’t have a plan to act -the legal threshold required for hospital admittance.
For ages and frustrating journey.
They’re almost home, she says, and he can for awhile whenever he walks through the door.
Stephanie perks up. For awhileer than expected. Stephanie didn’t bring his nighttime dose. It ok five days but she succeeded. That’s right! On March 25, 2009, she went with him to Southwest Mental Health Center. Now let me tell you something. She began doing best in order to get him admitted to a hospital for evaluation. Stephanie shifted into overdrive. Nonetheless, she stayed home to monitor Daniel’s behavior. He suffers from bipolar disorder with psychosis. Just keep reading! Daniel is 14 for awhileer needs to convince doctors that he is mentally ill.
In the past four years, he was hospitalized more than 20 times.
He plops down at a picnic table.
By the way, a neighbor’s dog barks from behind a wooden fence. Stephanie and Jose ask him about a summer reading book, Moby Dick, to get him to think about something else -anything else. That’s where it starts getting really entertaining. Daniel douses his head with a bottle of water. Rosa’s cancer is progressing. More than 100 relatives mingle in and around Stephanie’s house to celebrate the 63rd birthday of her mother. Now let me tell you something. It’s as much a goodbye party as it’s a birthday celebration.
He almost left the family nine months earlier.
For awhileer be trusted.
Gulping down each pill he could get his hands on. He’d gotten into an argument with his mother about breaking curfew. On p of this, his response. That’s when he tried to kill himself. Loads of information can be found easily by going online. It’s just, I’m pretty sure I don’t like it. Like I hate it. I hate it, he says. Also, his mental illness is a terrible thing, he says, not simply for him but his whole family. Now let me tell you something. I hate when it happens. I don’t like having a mental for a while being that it hurts my mom, it hurts my brother and it hurts my dad. Whenever pacing in the backyard and cutting his arm, that brings relief, he averts his anxiety by running around the neighborhood.
He punches walls and kicks the fence out back so as not to carry out the voices’ commands. He doesn’t need to harm people. For Daniel it means he worries about it constantly, the start of the school year might bring anxiety to any kid, Hough says. Usually, it will take over a significant part of his day, just thinking about what’s intending to happen, Hough says. She was 23 and single. She felt a bond that uched her soul. As a result, she dreamed he should become a doctor, or join the military to explore the world. On the day Daniel was born January 29, 1999 Stephanie eyed his tiny frame, all 5 pounds and 15 ounces, and marveled at how delicate he was. He killed 26 people, including 20 children. That said, never mind that noone knew whether it was mental illness that drove Lanza.
Wasn’t that the definition of madness? That refrain emerged stronger than ever last December after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. She was a single mother with ‘self doubt’, quick to blame herself for Daniel’s plight. Stephanie looks the part of a worthy combatant and strong advocate, with broad shoulders and a thick frame. It wasn’t always this way. You should take this seriously. It gets buried under arguments about gun control, video game violence and unheeded signs of trouble until there’s a similar mass shooting. Sounds familiardoesn’t it? Only one time mental illness dominates the national conversation is when something goes tragically wrong. Dialogue doesn’t last.