I've debated sharing this with all of you and after discussing with my son and getting his approval, I'm going to tell you something extremely personal for two reasons: 1) in case one of you should see something familiar here and act on it; 2) opening up this discussion helps to remove the stigma.

I had indicated back at the end of April that I was away from YLF due to a family crisis. That crisis was my 19-year-old son experiencing a complete psychotic break brought on by a drug problem we knew nothing about that resulted in a very serious suicide attempt.

His psychotic break included hearing voices and conversing with them, hallucinations, and an inability to determine where he was and what was real. Over the previous couple of months, we had noticed some behavior changes which included:

• Difficulty falling asleep/staying asleep
• Decline in appetite
• Decline in participating in activities previously enjoyed
• Increase in OCD-type behavior - counting keys and items in wallet; checking the locks on the doors many times; repeating sentences several times in a row; excessive personal hygiene
• Starting to stutter
• Jumping from thought to thought in mid-sentence - conversations becoming increasingly difficult to follow

We started a dialogue with DS indicating our concern and he admitted that he was not feeling himself and that he thought the shadows in his bedroom were whispering to him. It was then he confessed that he had been using marijuana for some time. It was important that we didn't pass judgement - he was being honest and asking for help. Being angry wasn't going to get us anywhere. The mental health system here is not one that is easily navigated and as a parent, I pushed that system as hard as I could to get him the help he needed as quickly as possible. Unfortunately it took his suicide attempt to get him what he needed.

So my purpose in telling you this? If you think your child is acting differently, don't just slough it off as moody teenager behavior. After all, you know him/her better than anyone. Ask. Heck, nag if you have to. And if you do find out there's a drug or mental health issue, don't get angry or judgmental. Get help. The quicker, the better because sometimes, time is of the essence. Oh yeah...and anyone who tells you that marijuana is completely harmless hasn't read up on the latest medical literature. It isn't anymore, particularly among the youth. The psychiatrist my son is seeing in treatment said that 70% of early psychosis in the male population of ages 17 - 23 can be attributed to the use of marijuana.

We talk about mental illness at home openly and often now. We figure the more it's discussed and treated just like any other illness (because it is after all), the better. We don't want any sort of stigma attached to our son's illness or to our son in general. There is no shame in admitting you have a problem. He's in recovery now and each day is better than the last, but we are not so naive as to think everything is perfect. A psychotic break such as the one he experienced can be a one-time thing, or it can be the start of life long struggles with mental illness. One day at a time.

My son is a drug addict. My son has a mental illness. And I couldn't be more proud of him.