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anonymous
mom and doctor
IL ,
USA
I am first a mom of a beautiful creative lovely young adult daughter who has chronically suffered from disabling, paralyzing OCD since childhood, I am also a child and adolescent psychiatrist, spending most of my life trying to reduce the suffering and pain of mental illness in children, adolescents and young adults. I have a bird's eye view and live daily with the devastation that mental illness can cause in sending a person that you love most in the world onto paths you wish you could endure for them as so much of the joy of life has been obscured for your child. My daughter for the most part has been phobic to treatments that help others, and remains in a state of suffering. My prayer and hope is that one day soon she will allow herself to participate in the joys of life and allow herself the gift of trying to get even a little better. It is only a crack of light in the dark tunnel, that would be the beginning and oh so much. I have learned to look for the smallest, subtle gestures of hope in life, that is all we really have.