Have you ever known someone with a mental illness? How did/does the illness impact his/her life? What have you learned about this mental illness just from knowing them? You may provide pseudo names to protect their identity.
I have a cousin who is about 6 years older than I am and I've always been pretty close to her. At one point in my life she lived with me and my family when she first started college so I know her very well. However, when she turned 19 years old she was diagnosed as a bipolar schizophrenic. She was always a very bright girl and was always calm and quite. It honestly seemed as though it happened over night and she was no longer her normal self. It really affected my family, especially since we've never had to deal with a mental illness before. When this happened her whole life changed. She had to drop out of college during treatment for her illness. It was a very stressful time for my family, especially her mother. I have learned that bipolar/schizophrenia can pretty much take a person's life from them. My cousin had such a bright future, but now it is a struggle just to keep her on the right medication to keep her somewhat stable. Even when she is stable she still does not act like herself. It is very heartbreaking to know that we will never truly have my cousin back.
