h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

---but not ONLY here; this is what I'm working on; trying at long last to reconcile the fact that I had a childhood that was horrendous beyond belief with the fact that it is OVER now & though I have spent more than 40 years repeating the same mistakes over & over again; it is time to STOP & not let it continue to poison me.

I haven't read everyone's horror stories yet; one thing I have learned is that there is so much pain involved in realising that I am not unique in having endured a living hell, it can be all too easy to wallow in it instead of moving forward, climbing out of that pit inch by inch.

So, I shall return to this place as & when I am able to contribute something positive. All I can say is thank god someone was brave enough to actually create a space where we can talk about it; it will not be pretty reading; but sooner or later the world has GOT to realise that this sort of thing exists.

The ultimate tragedy is that even as we squeak, somewhere, probably not far from you, or you, or you, another poor kid is living with this. If by some miracle they survive, they face an adulthood of being questioned as to why they are a bit "screwed up"!!!

I am in the process (and it may be a long one!) of writing a book which explores various aspects of this; especially children who grow up with a parent who is severely mentally ill. This is both for personal therapy and in the hope that it may serve as a voice for the silent, screaming millions.

It is about time their voices were heard. This may be a start. Let's make a bloody great fuss about it!



Terri.

Welcome Terri,

All postings, both positive and negative, are welcome. We are all at various stages of the recovery process.
We all have good days and bad days, but we are here for each other all of the days.



Candy

Hi Terri

I'm glad you're here. Just by being here you've already made a positive contribution. Some times we can talk, some times we can't, but no matter what, none of us has to be alone any more.

Yes; it is the "alone" bit that seems to dominate; when you are locked into this conspiracy of knowing you are living with hell, but if you dare speak out, even worse things could happen; oh yes, THAT is truly alone!!

It has been alpmost impossible for me until very recently, to avoid dumping this immense need to take away that loneliness on to one poor individual; who almost certainly has their own demons to battle with!

Well, hopefully now we might all begin to realise we are NOT alone!

Good to meet you all!

Terri.

Hello Terri and it's great to see you here!

All over the world there are people battling their demons alone ... so many people, so many ... and so many children who are going to become the haunted people of the future ...

You guys know something, I have my own story/stories ... but also I know of so, so many *other people* with similar sorts of problems ... and a few people whose problems are so totally over the top, 'Twilight Zone' stuff ... I can say one thing, my own problems are also rather of an X-files nature, but there are a few extremely lonely and much-worse-off people on this planet. I'm not happy about the fact that there are people even worse off than I or just about anybody else ... it sucks! It totally sucks that there are any people at all who have to battle with such kinds of demons ... but truly I do believe talking about it is something positive though what we talk about is extremely negative!

Welcome Terri

Hi there, a big to you all for welcoming me. I have found a website in Australia which is working to try & bring to the notice of
the world in general & Australia in particular, the plight of those children who are still suffering and those who have been scarred from past experience of life with a parent who is severely mentally ill.

Be warned, as you'd expect, some of the stories are very traumatic; only visit at a time when you are feeling strong.

The site is called NNAAMI (national Network of Adult and adolescent children who have a mentally ill parent) & (if I type it in properly!!) the site is at:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/nnaami/

there is a wiggly thing after the au/ before the nnaami/ but I can't dicover how to do it on this French keyboard! Anyway, if you google NNAAMI it works!

(computer illiterate; calls herself an Ace!)Terri.

Hello again Terri and thank you very much for the info on NNAAMI. I've checked out the website and read a few of the stories. I think I'm going to add that website to my list of favourites as well. This is for me an extremely relevant topic. Terri, you know that I myself am suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. It is a horrible, horrible thing. I don't ever kid myself that mental illnesses are 'OK' ... even though I would want that mentally ill people find more acceptance in society ... but when there are children concerned it becomes complicated. Terri, have you any idea how this problem should be solved, or attacked? Should we take kids away from mentally-ill parents? Or should our society do more to cure these parents of their mental illnesses? Or should we build other kinds of support systems both for the children and for their parents? What are your own ideas on the subject?

Hi Terri
that is a difficult subject, I don't think you can ever make any hard and fast rules about how to deal with that one.

Still, I'd welcome any thoughts from anybody on the topic. No hard or fast rules, just ideas, opinions, etc.