Episode 22- From Schizophrenia and Pot Addiction, through Treatment, to Success: Carson’s Story

August 05, 2021 Today we talk with Carson S. , who has an inspiring story to tell, from schizophrenia/addiction to sobriety/recovery success. We talk about his life….what it used to be like, what his challenges have been (addiction/intrusive thoughts/SMI) , and how he is doing now…..and what advice he might give to others who need to have hope. Mimi and I met Carson last week at a gathering at Rob Laitman’s home for his patients and families (see episode 18) What happened when you were using marijuana? Did you realize that was an abnormal response? As your symptoms progressed, what did you think was happening? Did you even suspect mental illness? Did your parents or family know what was going on? What about teachers or friends? Did they suspect anything? When was it that you finally realized you had a problem? Did you ever “hear voices”? If you did, could you tell they weren’t real? What other symptoms did you recognize? Were you afraid of the medication? Afraid of the doctors? Since we know you finally ended up on clozapine, you must have had a rough journey on previous medications? Tell us about that. How was clozapine different? When did you notice improvement? Were there specific things that changed or were different? You spent a year at Viewpoint Dual Recovery Center - what was that like? Have you had any challenges with wanting to use marijuana? What’s your life like today? It is very difficult to recover from the dual diagnosis of BOTH addiction and serious mental illness. But as of today you seem to be managing this. How did you do it? What do you want other families to know? Who Are the 3 Moms? Randye Kaye -Broadcaster, Actress, Voice Talent, Speaker, and Author (“Ben Behind his Voices”) Miriam Feldman – Artist, Mom, Author “He Came in With It” Mindy Greiling – member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for twenty years. Activist, Legislator, Author (“Fix What You Can“)