David has made great strides over the last two years. He is the founder member and lead guitarist in a new band. There are 4 other members and they have no idea of his medical history. His concentration has improved to such an extend that he has only to complete two more tracks to publish his first album. It will be 10 or 11 instrumental tracks where David has written the music and played every instrument.
We still have to see him four or five times a week because he needs regular reminders and encouragement with everyday tasks. He still cannot work, mostly due to the ignorance and prejudice of the general public and partly due to the effects of the Clozopine. However, he is proof that if you have a close relative with schizophrenia you should never give up on them.

Update

I have not posted to this blog for a couple of years now. In fact I had forgotten all about it so here is an update.

Three years ago, when David was still in the awful sheltered accommodation we described in earlier entries we decided that we had to do something ourselves to improve his living conditions. We got some help from relatives and spent our life savings on a house for him. It was half built when we first viewed it and the developers told us it would be finished in three months. They lied and it was over a year before the house was ready for occupation. It cost in the region of £220K and, as we are both retired pensioners, it has left us very vulnerable but there seemed to be no alternative. In fact, the recession means that we shall lose a great deal if we have to sell.

David has been at the house for two years now. He is mostly happy but as he is completely alone we spend our time visiting him nearly every day. We buy most of his food, pay his bills, petrol, water rates etc etc as he gets very little to live on. We receive nothing from the authorities for his use of the house so they have gained a great deal - this, after my wife and I both worked for 30 years paying into the system.

David still keeps up a regime of fitness and a strict diet, constantly worrying about his health and weight. Often the old, dark thoughts come back so we spend hours on the phone talking him through it. He is on only 200mg of clozopine per day now. On the positive side he is becoming more independent and there are several local venues where he regularly jams with other musicians.

Schizophrenia at Hyde Park and the great John Mayer

No, this is not another misuse of the term for a very serious neurological condition. There actually was a paranoid schizophrenic at Hyde Park this weekend. I took David to see Eric Clapton, Cheryl Crow and John Mayer and no-one recognized that someone with treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia was amongst them - in fact, David was better behaved than many of the intimidating, smoking, view obscuring males around us.

John Mayer stole the show. Eric Clapton seems to agree because he gave John a big hug and lots of space to riff the blues during the last number. Eric is a big man and John Mayer is the new man on the block and the next big influence on Davids own guitar playing.

Update on the last post

I have added some notes to the evidence pages:

The situation.

Three recovering mental health patients are sharing a house. The last to join the household (R) moved in during May 2007. He is a tee-total, non smoker with a healthy lifestyle.

The residence is a newly built semi-detached house with shared kitchen, lounge, bathroom and toilets.

The following pages document some of the conditions created by the two clients already in occupation.

The two other residents (T & S) are chain smokers and indulge in this habit throughout the house. Apparently there is nothing the landlords can do about this so that R cannot use any of the shared facilities owing to the general filth and choking stench of tobacco smoke, stale bodies and dirty clothes. In addition S is a self confessed recreational drug user and T is an alcoholic who is often incoherent by mid-day.

Other worrying incidents include various acts of vandalism, such as the theft of the pay phone, permanent damage to the new phone which eventually replaced the first one, drawing on the walls, holes cut in the lounge carpet and the opening and destruction of other peoples mail.

Recently, there was a bad atmosphere between T and S so R left the premises to stay the night with relatives. That evening the police had to be called to the house to deal with a violent incident.

Sometime in February 2008, just after dawn R was awakened by someone shouting and kicking his door. As usual S had left the back door unlocked and one of his drug suppliers had entered the house uninvited, found the wrong bedroom and demanded access to deliver drugs and, presumably, obtain some cash. Neither S nor T made any attempt to intervene so R was left to guard his door from the inside whilst the unknown intruder shouted threats and kicked the door for 20 minutes or more. Eventually the interloper left and has never been identified.

A few weeks after the last incident there was another threatening intrusion, this time at 3am in the morning. Again, as usual, S had left the house unlocked (he regularly loses his keys so keeps all the doors unlocked even if they are secured by the other residents) and someone let himself in to stand outside T's bedroom door to kick it and make violent threats to kill T by stabbing him. Again S or T made no attempt to deal with the intruder who eventually left.

I relate the last two incidents to emphasise the lack of privacy and security in the building. Acquaintances of S and T regard the house as public property and roam around uninvited at any time, night or day.

Evidence

Some evidence of the conditions at the shared residence can be viewed here.