![]() ![]() These have been so helpful when he has needed to adjust his medication or when symptoms cycled back and became more severe again. On the advice of the treatment center, we also had Adam keep up with outpatient therapy sessions. We had two of his oldest friends and his closest cousin come over a few days later so he could begin reestablishing relationships and practice new skills with people he trusted. I wanted to throw a party and celebrate, but I knew he wouldn’t want that. When Adam came home, I resisted the urge to make a big deal out of it. That was all we needed to get him into treatment. What Adam could admit and accept right then was that he didn’t feel right, that he didn’t have friends anymore, and that his life used to be better. It took some awkward starts to get the conversation going. We have always been a close family, but talking about this was still tough. I assigned everyone, including Adam’s younger sister, the reading material, and then called a family meeting. The psychiatrist had given us some resources to learn more. What we all needed was to accept the diagnosis. He didn’t want to go, and as an adult he didn’t have to go. Taking him to treatment proved difficult. We were both hesitant to let him go, but it made sense. I can’t say I had accepted the diagnosis yet, but I knew we had to do what was necessary to give him the best outcome.īecause he was already 18, she recommended residential treatment for prodromal schizophrenia so he could really dive deep into treatment and get the tools he needed to delay schizophrenia or at least learn to manage it. The psychiatrist assured us that early intervention now would help Adam in the future so, of course, we agreed to it. The psychiatrist outlined symptoms of schizophrenia that didn’t ease our minds: hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, disordered thinking and speaking, difficulty organizing thoughts, lack of awareness about having an illness, and becoming emotionally flat or distant. I worried he would never live a normal life, never have full independence, or even go to college. I had an idea of what a schizophrenic was in my head and it was bad. Suddenly my son’s mental health didn’t seem manageable at all. She said we were lucky, but it didn’t feel that way. ![]() She explained that many people with schizophrenia go through this stage and that it often goes unnoticed. Was it more serious?Īfter a series of tests and observations, the psychiatrist diagnosed Adam with prodromal schizophrenia. But when our doctor referred us to a psychiatrist, I started to worry. I knew we could cope and he would get better. A lot of people live with and manage depression. The thought that my son was depressed was upsetting, but it seemed manageable. All of this was so unusual for our son, we contacted our pediatrician thinking he might have depression. We also learned that some of his other behaviors at that time lined up with the diagnosis: ignoring personal hygiene, struggling at school, saying odd things at unusual times, and suddenly not talking much anymore. We only learned later that this social isolation was a key sign of prodromal schizophrenia. Instead of going to school events and football games, he locked himself in his room. He quit basketball, a passion he’d had since elementary school. Eventually, most of his friends dropped away. At first, his father and I assumed he was just struggling to adjust to the idea of graduating and becoming an adult. It started in his last year of high school, just as he turned 18. What we first picked up on was his withdrawal. If he had been a more withdrawn child, even shy or introverted, we may never have noticed until full-blown symptoms set in. I think this fact is what most helped us recognize the early onset of schizophrenia. He loved people, was never shy, and had so many friends. Our son Adam had always been a social boy. ![]()
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