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Archive for Tuesday, May 8, 2007

By Ruth Sheehan - McClatchy Newspapers

May 8, 2007

When most of Eileen Marks' friends read about the harrowing events at Virginia Tech, they couldn't help but imagine their own children in the gunman's sights, among the fallen victims.

Marks couldn't help but imagine her son as the shooter.

"I was turning pages, and every new detail sounded so familiar," Marks said. "I thought to myself, 'This guy IS my son."'

Marks' 18-year-old son, a junior at a Raleigh, N.C., area high school, has a history similar to the Virginia Tech shooter's in several ways. Teachers and school administrators have called Marks about her son's disturbing artwork and writings since he was in the eighth grade. He has been treated in a psychiatric hospital. Twice.

Last fall, after his first suicide attempt and a two-week hospital stay, he was accused of stalking two girls at his school.

The police were not called, but the girls' schedules, and his own, were rearranged to minimize his contact with them.

And while Marks' son owns no guns, last summer he amassed a collection of knives, swords and martial arts weapons.

A new martial arts instructor persuaded him to surrender the weapons. But at 6-foot-2 and 380 pounds, he is a force unto himself. Since his second suicide attempt and monthlong stay at a private psychiatric hospital in Raleigh, he has been taking his meds religiously; he has been stable.

He hasn't been visited by the evil imp that licked his foot the night before his suicide attempt. But he still hears regularly from the goddess Ishtar.

He sees his psychoses as operating in two spectrums - good and evil. Like yin and yang, both occupy his mind.

But the scariest part of Marks' story is that, despite all of her son's problems, she cannot seem to get him the help he needs to protect himself - and others.

At the end of his most recent stay at the psychiatric hospital, Marks insisted that her son be released to a group home so he would get the supervision he needs.

"My God, I love him; he's a great kid," she said. "But when he has his psychotic episodes, he gets so hostile toward me. I'm scared of him."

But because he was on private insurance, he didn't qualify for most group homes.

When the days of inpatient psychiatric care allowed by her insurance were up, Marks said she got a call from the hospital: "Come pick up your son or we'll drop him off at the homeless shelter." Hospital officials would not comment; the hospital does not discuss patient care.

Before he left, she got three months' worth of medication for him. Then she canceled his insurance and applied for Medicare coverage for her son. With his two-year diagnosis of bipolar disorder, he should qualify.

If he doesn't ... well, that's what keeps Marks up at night. People look at the Virginia Tech shooter and wonder how someone so troubled could have gotten to that point. Marks knows how.

As a surgical nurse, she makes a decent living. But she says that, as a single mother who has raised her son without assistance since he was 2, she cannot afford $1,500 a month for his drugs.

And without them, she fears what he might do. On the day I first visited her home, she shook the cylinders of Abilify and lithium like maracas.

"We have enough to get him through the end of May," she said. "After that, God knows what could happen."

- Ruth Sheehan is a columnist for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

Discussion

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8 May 2007
at 1:48 a.m.

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Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…

This lady made up so many things that to call this article anything other than fiction would be ludicrous.
8 May 2007
at 9:36 a.m.

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smitty (Anonymous) says…

How so?
8 May 2007
at 9:47 a.m.

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Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…

“He hasn't been visited by the evil imp that licked his foot the night before his suicide attempt. But he still hears regularly from the goddess Ishtar.”

Obviously made up to embellish a story. Most everything else sounds rather over embellished as well.
8 May 2007
at 10:08 a.m.

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crazyks (Anonymous) says…

It's obvious you've never been around people who are occasionally delusional or have hallucinations. Of course, psychotic episodes are just that…they come and go. The person isn't like that all the time.

Not obviously made up to embellish a story. Why on earth would you even say that? She is telling people things her son has told her.

When a person is in the middle of a pschotic episode, they can have all kinds of irrational beliefs and see all kinds of things that aren't really there…like evil imps and the goddess Ishtar…
8 May 2007
at 2:08 p.m.

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Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…

Crazyks. I have been around PLENTY of people who have had delusions, hallucinations and even those that have completely gone over the edge. Heck, I've had delusions and hallucinations myself. How do you think I met so many? I can tell you right now that the entire story was heavily embellished. If you were to contact this mother, you would quickly find out that that was true. The only possible way I could think that this kid was trippin that bad would be if he were on some major drugs. If that was the case, then the entire psychological story would be skewed anyways.
8 May 2007
at 3:09 p.m.

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Crispian (Crispian Paul) says…

Ragingbear, I don't believe that this is made up. I once had a friend who believed during a psychotic break that she was George Clinton and could fly…..she suffers from very vivid delusions when she is ill.
9 May 2007
at 7:59 p.m.

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denak (Anonymous) says…

I think the fact that there are so many details to her story makes it more credible. I knew someone once who was hearing voices and no one knew this until she told her therapist and what it believable is that this person didn't just make a vague comment, she told the therapist exactly what she was hearing, accents and all.

However, I think the main point of her story is being missed and that is how our country uses a different standard of care for our mentally ill. An insurance company wouldn't think of cutting off a person's chemo but they don't think twice about putting a cap on someone who has a severe mental illness. If the insurance companies treated physical illnesses the same way they treat mental illnesses, the public would be up in arms but the insurance companies think nothing of telling a person you can only be mentally ill X number of days a month and if you need to see a therapist more than what is regulated, too bad.

There should not be this disparity between physical and mental illnesses.

Dena:0)