家庭心理健康之旅:急诊、疾病、康复、稳定

家庭心理健康之旅:急诊、疾病、康复、稳定

In March 2010, Pam Lipp received the call she'd been dreading for months. She figured it would come from one of three places: the police, the hospital or the morgue.

2010年3月，帕姆·利普接到了一个她几个月来一直担心的电话。她想它可能来自三个地方之一:警察局、医院或停尸房。

Instead, it was her husband, Doug, saying that he'd just received word that their 18-year-old daughter, Amanda, a freshman at Chico State University in California, was being held at a psychiatric crisis center after trying to throw herself in front of a moving car.

相反是她的丈夫道格打来电话，他说他刚刚收到消息，他们18岁的女儿阿曼达（加州奇科州立大学的大一学生），试图跳到一辆行驶的汽车前，之后被关押在一家精神危机中心。

Amanda had lost her grip on reality and fallen into a state of psychosis. She'd started selling off her belongings and believed that cameras were following her everywhere.

阿曼达失去了对现实的掌控，陷入了一种精神错乱的状态。她开始变卖自己的物品，认为到处都有摄像头在跟踪她。

Doug was away at a speaking engagement, so Pam jumped in the car with a friend and raced to the crisis center two hours away. When they arrived, they found Amanda, curled up in a ball on the floor in a fetal position, sobbing. "I was hallucinating. I thought I was a doctor. When my mom got there, I realized I was the one in trouble," says Amanda. "Nothing prepares you for seeing your child in such turmoil. I felt helpless," says Pam.

道格去参加一个演讲活动，所以帕姆和一位朋友跳上车，跑到两小时路程之外的危机中心。当他们到达时，他们发现阿曼达以胎儿的姿势蜷缩在地板上，抽泣着。“我产生了幻觉。我以为我是一名医生。当我妈妈到那里时，我意识到我才是有麻烦的人，”阿曼达说。帕姆说：“没有什么能支撑你在这样的混乱中看到你的孩子。我感到很无助。”

Amanda was soon diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by manic highs, depressive lows and possible periods of psychosis. Although the diagnosis provided a new direction to what had been an all-consuming journey for the Lipp family, it was just one stop on the bumpy road to navigating the mental health system. The Lipps are not alone: Nearly one in five Americans experiences a mental illness in any given year, but fewer than half of them receive treatment.

阿曼达很快被诊断出患有双相情感障碍，这是一种精神疾病，其特征是狂躁情绪高涨，抑郁情绪低落，并可能出现精神错乱的时期。尽管这一诊断为利普一家过去筋疲力尽的旅程提供了一个新的方向，但这只是通向心理健康系统的坎坷道路上的一站。不仅仅事利普一家：每年都有近五分之一的美国人患有精神疾病，但接受治疗的人还不到一半。

Early signs

早期症状

Amanda first started acting out when she was in middle school in Fair Oaks, California. She had extreme mood swings and explosive arguments with her parents. Pam and Doug, who run a small business together, hoped it was typical adolescent signs that would soon fade.

阿曼达第一次行为异常是在加州费尔奥克斯上中学的时候。她的情绪极度波动，与父母发生激烈的争吵。帕姆和道格一起经营着一家小公司，他们希望这是一种典型的青少年症状，很快就会消失。

Fighting for care

与治疗抗争

Amanda's bipolar diagnosis was a turning point — it meant that she could begin to receive the treatment she desperately needed. But it wasn't easy to find at first.

阿曼达的双相情感障碍诊断是一个转折点，这意味着她可以开始接受她迫切需要的治疗。但一开始并不容易找到。

The crisis center would only hold her for a maximum of 72 hours, and Amanda needed much more treatment than that. When Pam asked where her daughter would be sent next, the doctor told her Amanda would be discharged and likely end up back in the center.

危机中心最多只能收留她72小时，阿曼达需要的治疗远远不止这些。当帕姆问医生她的女儿下一步将被送往哪里时，医生告诉她，阿曼达将出院，很可能会回到中心。

Figuring out finances

搞清财务状况

While Amanda was in the hospital, Pam was gripped with fear over the treatment. "I was terrified that insurance would run out and we'd lose our savings and everything we'd worked for."

当阿曼达在医院的时候，帕姆对治疗感到恐惧。“我很害怕会用光保险费用，耗光积蓄，失去我们为之付出的一切。”

Live strong

坚强地生活

Many families end up running into similar obstacles — they don't know where to go for proper care or they're worried about the cost. But there's also the stigma of mental illness that prevents people from reaching out because they fear that it might affect their jobs.

许多家庭最终都遇到了类似的困难——他们不知道去哪里得到适当的治疗，或者他们担心费用。但心理疾病的耻辱阻碍了人们伸出援手，因为他们害怕这会影响他们的工作。

Finding hope

寻找希望

Hard-won strides in the area of mental illness helped Pam and her family get through the crisis intact, but it was a difficult road.

在心理疾病领域来之不易的进步，帮助帕姆和她的家人度过了危机，但这是一条艰难的道路。

"We're so proud of Amanda and everything she's overcome," says Pam. That doesn't mean she's stopped worrying. "We experienced a mental health emergency, an illness and a recovery, and now we're stable. But every day I wake up and worry, could she relapse?" For anyone with a history of psychosis, another breakdown is always a possibility.

“我们为阿曼达和她所克服的一切感到骄傲，”帕姆说。这并不意味着她不用再担心了。“我们经历了心理健康危机、疾病和康复，现在我们很稳定。但我每天醒来都会担心，她会复发吗?”对于任何有精神病史的人来说，再次崩溃总是有可能的。