![]() I need medications to balance me out, and I need to talk to people to work it through. Even still, I was left with a crippling anxiety and sometimes depression that hits me once or twice a year. Talking to doctors about this, statistically the chances of a parent passing along schizophrenia are actually quite low. ![]() I feel so fortunate the schizophrenia wasn't passed along to me. I was taught to read very young by an aunt, and that also helped. I had hours to tell elaborate stories and build worlds. These were times I started writing and drawing. With no siblings or father, I was alone a lot. What I recall most was the antipsychotics causing her to sleep most of the day. ![]() Really, there was only so much she could do. She was battling fears and terrifying visions so that I could have some kind of normal life. ![]() She had reserves of strength and compassion that saw us through. In retrospect it seems like a heroic feat even though I suffered somewhat, she overcame things that I find astounding. Most of my childhood was my mother struggling to keep herself together. ![]() Brigid Alverson: How has mental illness affected your life?Įric Orchard: My mother always suffered terribly from schizophrenia, but when my father died, when I was 2, she fell apart. ![]()
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