Help for Mentally Ill Starts With Family Support and Proper Care

The article “An Act of Forgiveness” (by Gregory Orfalea, Jan. 26) really touched me. As the stepmother of a 21-year-old boy suffering from schizo-affective disorder, I know the heartbreak of mental illness. The mentally ill can be helped, but they need all the support and understanding of friends and family to begin the process. Education is key. Our current standard for helping these people requires a lot of money, involvement and patience, and it is a constant battle to find the proper treatment. There is very little help from the government, and health insurance does not cover much--if it’s even available to the ill person.

I would like to see our government address the issue so we can help the mentally ill through proper medication, nutrition and psychotherapy. By doing so, they could become productive citizens and get off the streets and out of our penal system.

Gwen Evans

Chino Hills

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Orfalea admits to a horrifying incident in which his sister wildly stalked him in the family home and his subsequent plea to his parents to have her committed to an “asylum.” I wonder if the family was aware of the medications that could have controlled her disorder. By 1950 the first antipsychotic medication was manufactured. By the time Leslie Orfalea’s apparent mental illness peaked in the mid- to late-1970s, there were several medications available.

Susan Agronick-Roth

Long Beach

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Thank you for Orfalea’s beautifully written story. There are so many imprisoned individuals in society. If only they could understand the profound statement of freeing themselves by forgiving, it would make for a more peaceful place for them and others.

Lisa Pitz

Laguna Beach