John Jones'
Recovery Experience

I am sharing our story as a witness to the positive effects of medication and psychotherapy for individuals with mental illness.

Our daughter was unexpectedly stricken by a mental illness. This occurred in her senior year of college. Mental illness can strike at younger ages as well. In our daughters case because she was an adult we had a very difficult time securing treatment. Including four hospitalizations, Baker Act hearing, Ex Parta Orders, felony arrests, due to panic attacks.

Treatment and recovery did not come until involuntary treatment was finally ordered through a Baker Act hearing.

With proper medication and psychotherapy for a relatively short period of 6 weeks our daughter accepted her illness and has become medication compliant. The medication has dramatically improved her ability to relate and think rationally. She will graduate from USF in May with her Bachelors degree, and although she presently is receiving disability benefits from Social Security she is also working part time and we hope she can attempt a full time career after graduation.

Without proper medication our daughter would be delusional, paranoid and suffering from panic attacks. These illnesses are real and treatable, please help facilitate ways to detect and treat these illnesses earlier with less resistance and fear due to discrimination and stigma in our society.

One of the barriers we had to overcome in our odyssey seeking treatment was HIPAA Law restriction regarding communications with care providers. This complicated information sharing and added to our frustration. These restrictions are counter productive in regards to adults and family. Any such restriction involving parents and children would be far worse, how could anything be more counter productive than restricting communication with parents regarding their child’s behavior or health conditions.

Sincerely,

John Jones
Member of NAMI Pinellas County, Florida Inc.

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John Jones' Recovery Experience

John Jones'
Recovery Experience