Medication and the Mentally Ill

The tragic killings at Northern Illinois University were carried out by a man now seen as troubled and mentally ill. "[Steven] Kazmierczak, 27, stopped taking meds," declared part of a sub-headline on an Associated Press story of Saturday, February 16.

He reportedly stopped taking his medication in the two weeks prior to the shootings in which he killed five people and injured several others before killing himself, according to the university police chief quoted in the article. A separate article in the Chicago Tribune online described him as a gentle, hardworking student who was previously honored with a dean's award for his work in sociology.

Channel 7 in Chicago reported him as being on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills.

My wife and I are personally familiar with seeing firsthand the positive effects of medication stabilizing people who otherwise would suffer from mental illness and hurt others. They're both our adopted children and two of our guardians and they were all born to mothers who either drank or possibly used drugs during pregnancy.

Our medicine cabinet is actually stocked with fewer meds than we've had in the past since we've settled on a medication regimen. Currently, we have Focalin, Geodon, Abilify for our 16-year-old while Adderal, Risperdal, Lexapro and Clonidine are used for two others who are now ages 22 and 19.

When George (I changed his name) moved in with us at the age of 19 he had been tried on about 30 different medications over the years while growing up in a group home and foster care. At age 9, the group home had said he was the most violent child they'd had. He was taking Risperdal, Seroquel and Clonidine in his late teens.

We give medication to manage our children's behaviors - even as they reach young adulthood. Notice I wrote "manage" and not "control." If you met them, they are perky, vibrant and quite sociable. The idea that they're "drugged" doesn't fit at all.

How do our kids behave when they don't take medication?

Our 16-year-old daughter, who functions at a 7-year-old age level, is stubborn when she's on medication. She completely refuses to cooperate when she's not. We also have a behavior therapist come to our home twice weekly to work on her behaviors, too. In the past, enduring 2-hour to 3-hour screaming fits were common.

Our one guardian-son who's 19 came to us at age 14. When he arrived, he had failed 6^th and 7^th grades and usually walked around in a depression and had a short temper. There were hints of paranoia. When playing soccer, he often lost his temper. When he doesn't take his medication, he's terribly sarcastic and gets mad at the slightest request. But when he's on, he's able to study and now as a high school senior he finally passed his semester exams recently.

Our 22-year-old has seen the benefits of taking his medication. He works at a restaurant and has received rave reviews from the management. We haven't made him take his medication for the last couple of years. But he does so on his own. If he doesn't, he becomes terribly moody.

George was a clear example of someone who needed his space when he didn't take his medicine. He refused to help around the house and if you tried to make him do something as small as take a dish to the kitchen, he would throw loud, foot-stomping tantrums. He's 6'2" and weighs over 280 lbs. He would throw himself on the floor and pound his fists or else lie in the middle of the floor so you had to walk around him.

Fortunately, he was never violent toward us but we didn't want to take our chances. As you might imagine, after 1 ½ years and a direct refusal to work or attend school George no longer lives with us.

Using medication, especially psychotropic drugs, to manage behavior - not control - is prevalent. In a recent survey where 470 professionals responded, the American Psychiatric Association discovered that about 1 in 3 clients were taking psychotropic drugs and the number is expected to increase.

The goal of taking medication is to help someone function at their highest potential. Trying to determine if a teenager, in our case, needs to be on medication or not is not always an easy conclusion. It's not an exact science.

A parent - or professional - must be patient in trying a medication and then seeing the results: did they do their homework, are they able to carry on a conversation without blowing up, can they follow directions?

Used properly, medications can allow someone to live a productive life.