Lauren's Story

I am a college student who grew up in a household with someone who had mental illness. My father was a very emotionally and mentally abusive man. He has schizophrenia. When I was younger I didn't understand what this meant and I hated him for it. It made him do weird things and be mean all the time. There were days that I was so scared to leave my room that I wouldn't even leave to eat or go to the bathroom. When I made it to college I was really proud of myself.

I wouldn't be here now or still in college if it weren't for NAMI and the help they gave me to accept myself.

At first things were easy enough for me, but then things started to go downhill. I had some of the same symptoms as my father. I would see things or have black outs. I would become angry and say mean things to those I cared about. At first I didn't want to get any help, but one of my friends convinced me. When I was in the hospital, some people from NAMI came to visit us and talked to us about our options. We were never really going to get rid of this, so we needed to learn to live with it. All the information on the NAMI website has really helped me out. I can talk to others who have had similar trouble. I wouldn't be here now or still in college if it weren't for NAMI and the help they gave me to accept myself.