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Originally Posted by townie_80
Reading some of these comments makes me sick. My dad was schizophrenic. Not something I talk about to even my closest friends. Because the stigma in our society is so bad. My dad was not a monster. He was once a loving husband, son and dad. The demons that got in his head were his undoing. He once told my mom he had to go for a while because the voices were telling him to do terrible things. He went off to the woods and camped for three weeks alone. It terrifies me to think of what could have been had he not realized he needed to go. These psychotic episodes can just happen at any time. It's so unfair to judge the parents for not handing him over for help. And the help in this province is not exactly great.
For those saying he will get off and live some happy life while everyone else involved suffers. Let me tell you that living with this disorder does not make for a happy life. My dad is no longer with us but I can say that the last 25 years of his life were not living. It was torture for him and it was torture for all who loved him.
This whole case is absolutely devastating. There will be justice for no one. I can't see how living life with schizophrenia is just. Sometimes life is awful and unfair and people end up suffering and there can be no justice. If he is found to be insane I really hope people understand that he is not a monster. And for those who still do - I sincerely hope that no one in your family ever has to suffer from this.
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Thanks for sharing this... I am in the same boat with my mom, whom has diagnosed with this when I was a child roughly 20 years ago. Never really got to know her before I was fully functioning human being. Seeing her now is difficult... there are very small flashes of the stuff she remembers from 20+ years ago, but its littered in between nonsense. She believes that her children are dead and that when I see her I am the reincarnation of her former child.
She lived in her own bubble (a house my family owned), basically removed from society, however, she developed a hoarding disorder that overran her from own house and was forced into getting mental health attention. She is now in a group home with forced medication. The interesting thing is that although the delusions have decreased, she is so "mellowed out" that she basically has no personality, interests, or drive to really do anything. I think its clear that even though she was becoming a harm to herself, she actually deluded herself into believing that she has a higher quality of life before the medication came in.
So now when I visit or speak with her, I hear nothing other than complaints about the forced medications and her current situation not being up to her liking. It's a complete lose-lose. She's never been violent or mean, but you hear stories like De Grood and wonder what if the worst case scenario happens? I live with the fact that I have this mother that I basically never did and never will know that in my mind I think I am making the best decisions for out of her and the rest of the society's safety. Either way, her life is essentially a prison cell.... controlled either by her delusions or her medication.
My personal story helps me have compassion for DeGrood. For those who want justice for the kids and De Grood to pay for what he did, I can tell you that his quality of life sucks and even if his situation is treated correctly it may never improve.
These illnesses remove your ability to make thoughtful and rational decisions. In a rational state of mind he did not have a track record of doing things like this. Pretty clear to me that this was not "him", as much as it was an irrational state of mind he has little to no control over.
If you want justice for these 5 kids the answer is to continue removing the stigma that continues to remain in society. Like many things (ie. race, sexuality, etc.) this doesn't happen over night and is a process. From my vantage point, society is still behind other areas in regards to mental illness understanding. The death of these 5 kids was not about evil, or De Grood the rational human being. There were signs of odd behaviour exhibited by De Grood, and although his state of mind changed dramatically in a short time span, I do wonder if society had more acceptance over mental illness if his friends and or family would have been more aggressive in seeking help for him earlier. That type of action is what prevents tragedies such as this. The result is extremely sad for the 5 who died, the surviving family that grapple with understanding why this happened to them, De Grood who has to live with what he did and his mental health, and his family and friends who live with the regret of not taking action earlier. It's really really sad and painful, but to get justice, maybe this story will effect someone close enough to make a difference the next time they know someone going through a similar situation.