Parents of mentally ill adult children have few options.

[Timbuk3]

65. Thank you for posting this

While I can't claim that I "share your pain", I can certainly sympathize with what you're having to deal with, so I think it took courage to post this.

Not to mention I think it's a LOT more valuable contribution to the current "debate" about what can be done to stop things like the shooting in Newtown than 98% of the posts I've seen, today.

I can believe that there are parents of mentally ill adult children who know their child has only one chance to survive, by allowing them to live in their homes, who go to be every night wondering if they'll be stabbed to death in their sleep.

I had been thinking there were two ways to stop something like Newtown from happening again; confiscation of all guns, nationwide, or posting trained, armed guards at places like movie theaters and schools. Thanks to you, I now see a third option, and the options you propose, "the right to have a sick kid taken to the hospital and kept there until they are stable. The right to force them to take their medication, the right to force them into counseling.", even when they're an adult, is something that should be considered.

There's even a precedent, of sorts. It's entirely legal to hold someone who's suicidal for 72 hours. Perhaps a slight re-write to the law that says anyone who refuses to take mood stabilizing drugs is potentially suicidal, and may be held indefinitely until they agree to take those drugs? This may not be the best solution, but I've just begun to think about it.

Good luck, and thanks for sharing your difficult reality with me. Definitely, it's food for thought.

(Edited to correct a typo.)