I will return to the story of learning to cope with a child with mental and social disorders shortly, but first this short essay on a deviation of the same subject.
The State of California’s 5150 statute “allows a qualified officer or clinician to involuntarily confine a person deemed to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to him or herself, and/or others and/or gravely disabled.”[i]
One would think that putting two mentally and socially stunted individuals together would be a bad thing. When Christian announced to us that he had a new girlfriend (I’ll refer to her as “T”) we were happy for him. He’d always been a loner and it was nice to know that he was finally integrating on not only a social level, but on a romantic level as well. He didn’t hesitate to tell us that she also suffers from some of the same anxiety and depression issues that he does. As soon as I heard that, I got worried. How could two such distant individuals possibly come together and have any kind of productive life together? Will they feed off of each other or will they hold each other up, each taking turns at being the voice of reason?
After months together, we’ve come to realize that, despite their disorders and socialization issues, they are actually good for each other. He even went to Al-Anon with her in a show of support. My biggest concern is that his overwhelming—almost obsessive—need for her presence borders on manic: if he doesn’t hear from her or speak to her (over the phone, in person, or on Skype) for more than a few hours, he begins to panic and become very agitated and anxious. Today was one such day.
Normally, he spends that weekend at her house; this is an arrangement that we’ve set up with her mother and they really enjoy having him over. It helps keep T sane, and it definitely has a profound effect on Christian’s integration.
Since Christian’s been in therapy, he’s told me quite a bit of information; things that he’s not comfortable telling just anyone. One of those things is that T has tried to hurt herself in the past. Apparently, today at school, she told her counselor that she was (semi?) suicidal. The counselor, following the edicts of the position, notified the police. T was remanded to police/psychiatric custody on a 5150. This is a 72 hour hold and has already stated to wear on Christian’s nerves and put him into a highly fragile state. He won’t be able to talk to her or communicate in any way until she’s home. So far today, he’s texted me 35 times expressing his dire concern, resulting in his plea to set up an emergency appointment with his therapist.
It’s going to be a long week.
[1] 5150 (Involuntary psychiatric hold). (2011, October 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:24, October 4, 2011, from //en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=5150_(Involuntary_psychiatric_hold)&oldid=453515008