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Although they can't consciously express their feelings at those ages, they are also the ages where their relationship with their mother is most likely to affect them psychologically long term. It's much harder to work through very early trauma because there is no real memory of it. The mother-child bond at those ages is really important. I hope they will seek some professional advice for the kids too. It's easier when they are older and you can explain that mommy is sick and can't see them right now. Their whole sense of security is shaken right now and I wouldn't be surprised if they started to show some signs of separation anxiety.
With the exception of the helicopters, it's not unusual for the mentally ill to have a police escort to the hospital rather than an ambulance. When I worked with adults, more patients were brought to ER for evaluation by police than by anybody else. They are best equpped to deal with someone who is resisting. And, for some, it happened 8 or 9 times a year. It's hard to meet the criteria of "danger to self or others". The loophole criteria has to do with the inability to care for ones self. If she wasn't outright suicidal or agressive, not sleeping for 5 days could probably fall under the last criteria. Severe bipolar can be very hard to manage and frequent blood tests and medication adjustments can be necessary. Those who are determined to manage it (Patty Duke comes to mind) can do well, but it's work. It's more than just taking their meds. They need to get her stable enough that she can learn about the disease and become motivated to keep it under control. Perhaps, since she has money, they can keep her longer the than the norm, but for the average joe, insurance only pays for 3-5 days.. just long enough for the meds to kick in, not long enough to really work with someone on how to manage their disease. So frustrating for the people who work in that field and a serious flaw in our system. The push to de-institutionalize went way too far. While it's anecdotal evidence and I don't have research data to prove it, when I started in the field and adults could stay for 6 weeks and had trial home visits as part of the stay, they didn't return to the hospital several times a year as they did when it went down to less than a week.
Last edited by AGDee; 02-03-2008 at 10:01 AM.
Reason: I said Sally Field when I meant to say Patty Duke
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