This week, October 7-13, is Mental Illness Awareness week.

One of our daughters has schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and, to be honest, life is tougher than people realize. The hardest thing for my husband and I is that we can never, ever totally relax. But as hard as it is for our family, it's even harder for our daughter because she struggles with depression, psychosis, minimal self-esteem and self-worth, social difficulties, prejudice, and extreme sadness every day. Things other pre-teens take for granted are beyond her reach.

Our daughter takes four different types of mind-altering drugs each day just to be able to function. And the thing that's so heart-breaking is that she's done absolutely nothing to deserve these challenges; she inherited the mental illnesses from her birthmother. She had a suicide plan at age four so wasn't ever able to be a typical, happy child.

What does she need most from people? Love, acceptance, and understanding. So please read the facts about mental illnesses below and share with as many people as you can; the more who understand, the better it is for our daughter and everyone else who suffers as she does. Thank you.

Please Stumble this page (or share any way you can). Thank you.

Don't forget to download the FREE Animal Tales chapter book for 7-11 year olds 

from my website at http://dr-rhia.com/blog