EBD Blog

In “Schizophrenia takes a daughter away: Even a loving family with ample financial resources is powerless against the disease,” Scott Gold and Lee Romney of the Los Angeles (CA, US) Times describe the struggles of Tiffany Sitton and her family with Ms. Sitton’s schizophrenia. The reporters reveal how shortcomings in the mental health system have put Ms. Sitton and her parents in untenable positions.

As concerning as these shortcomings are, it is the story of Tiffany and her family that is compelling. Tiffany, who began to have hallucinations at 8 years of age, had a difficult adolescence. Here is Mr. Gold’s and Mr. Romney’s account:

The Sittons dismissed the [early] hallucination at the time. They know now that it was the first symptom of schizophrenia, a disease shared by an estimated 2.5 million Americans.

At 12, Tiffany became convinced that she was personally involved in stories that appeared on the TV news. At 13, she began hearing voices. At Aliso Niguel High School, she shaved her eyebrows and announced that she was a member of a gang called the Slick 50s, though there was no evidence that she knew any actual members.

At 15, after she pulled a knife on a schoolmate, a county psychiatrist told Cynthia to order a pizza and give Tiffany more hugs. It was the first of many times the system would fail them.

After she stole a car, Tiffany landed in juvenile hall, where a doctor diagnosed schizophrenia. It was a particularly early onset of the disease, and the timing was devastating. Tiffany had exchanged the normal, vital chapters of adolescence — algebra homework, prom, her first kiss — for a bewildering and often terrifying fantasy world.

At 25 years of age, Tiffany has seen 50 psychologists and received treatment at 11 different facilities, but she continues to have problems that are so great that she is back living in Metropolitan State Hospital.

Link to the article. There are haunting pictures accompanying the story.