I recently saw a friend of mine. Her son was diagnosed with schiz-affective disorder at age 19. He began to self medicate with drugs and alcohol. At the point where he reached severe addition/alcoholism, he would make attempts to get sober. During these attempts, he would stay on his on his meds, attend community recovery (that's what we call AA or NA in the medical field), see his counselor, get a job etc.
Then relapse. What would happen first was he'd go off his meds. He'd start drinking, then graduate to crack. This happened over and over. He looked like a dirty, crazy street person, because he was.
Needless to say, my friend was frantic and heartbroken. She never gave up on him, but she had to get him out of her own home more than once. Interspersed with all this were the financial considerations. Yes its a mess, a catch 22.
So I see both of them the other day. Him, I didn't recognize. Handsome and articulate, he sat in a AA meeting and told a usual story of how improved his life was without drugs and alcohol. He didn't mention his mental illness, nor should he be expected to. His Mom told he he finally got the rhythm that worked for him; he sees his counselor regularly, stays on his meds. For the two of them, (this certainly isn't for everybody) church provides another source of support. He has a job and his own place to live and has been clean and sober for over two years now, active in AA and his church, and is able to take full responsibility for getting his mental disease treated.
I never would have guessed he would be able to overcome all his obstacles and to the point he is today, never.
So while our systems, to put it mildly are less than kind to those with mental illness and worse to the dual addicted, and there seems to be so little we can do about, there are still success stories.
I understand it's hard and heartbreaking. So I offer the best story I know.
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