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 Linda Thomas
twitter: @TheNewsChick
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Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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Cinda-Linea.jpg
Cinda (left) and Linea Johnson from Bellevue found their way through the mental health maze, but it wasn't easy for them and they already had more going for them than most people do. Here they're pictured following Linea's successful treatment that included shock therapy at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. (Photo courtesy Linea Johnson)

The mental health maze - like climbing down a ladder to hell

March 12, 2013 @ 5:44 pm (Updated: 6:01 pm - 3/13/13 )

The Johnson family had a life in the suburbs that might be similar to yours.

"I went to Sammamish High School in Bellevue. I was involved in all the sports, all the clubs, every music thing I could get into," says Linea. "Very much an over-achiever. I was doing everything."

"I was busy chasing her around and working," says Cinda, her mom. "We moved over here from Chelan so she moved from this tiny little town to this big school district and she just jumped right into it."

Cinda is a professor and director of the special education graduate program at Seattle University. Her husband a professional at the University of Washington Medical School.

Linea was a "typical teenager" until her sophomore year when she started to become more emotional. Still, her depression and mood swings seemed manageable.

"We always thought it was something outside coming in. If I didn't do as many sports, if I didn't do as many clubs then I thought I would get better. I was just overwhelmed and stressed and always thought we could ‘fix' that feeling," says Linea.

When she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it was more difficult for Cinda to tell her daughter - and convince herself - that everything would be okay. Still, she put on a happy, suburban smile and kept going.

"I was always looking for a way to make her life easier, but I think I gave her the message that if we worked hard enough, we could get rid of this," Cinda says. "I should have been giving her the message that this is brain based. You're not going to get rid of diabetes or cancer by just changing your life around. You need medical treatment."

The bipolar disorder and suicidal thoughts got worse for Linea when she went away to college in Chicago.

Linea did not like the psychiatrist or how the medication made her feel, so she flushed the pills down the toilet without her mother's knowledge and medicated herself with her own drugs.

She wasn't slipping into hell, it was more like slowly climbing down an aluminum ladder into hell feeling her hands and feet burn with every step, yet continuing to step lower.

After a series of suicide attempts, hospitalizations, and even begging her parents to "just let me go," Linea was taken to Harborview, Five West - the psych ward - for six rounds of electroconvulsive therapy.

Did you realize they still do shock therapy on people? It helped Linea.

Cinda was dealing a different kind of shock. "We were such a good family. I was such a good mom. Our kids went to college and yes she has a mental illness, but we're going to get through it," Cinda says. "There was a part of me that didn't want anybody to know this, because it might reflect on me. Then the whole thing hit me and I realized my attitude was part of the illness's stigma."

Cinda and Linea Johnson found their way through the mental health maze, but it wasn't easy for them and they already had more going for them than most people do. Mom a professor, Dad a medical professional, both with more knowledge of medical and health insurance systems than most, and with more financial resources than many of us. Even so, they struggled.

Cinda has suggestions for what might make the mental health system more manageable "We need a 911 number that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have the police show up, but rather that it's going to connect you to mental health care," says Cinda. "If you don't want to walk into the ER at Harborview, if you don't know where to go, there would be a number to call and find out."

There are online resources for those who are trying to get help for someone with a mental illness and a crisis hotline (866-427-4747) for someone in distress.

The Johnsons have also written the book Perfect Chaos to help others as they describe a daughter's journey to survive bipolar and a mother's struggle to save her.

"Our schools should teach about the symptoms and help kids talk about it, so they would know as much about mental illness as we do about sports injuries now. They report if an athlete gets bumped in the head, they watch them and take care of them and their family members are then talked to about what a concussion is," Cinda says. "I want the same thing for mental illness."

By LINDA THOMAS

Read more about mental health in Washington:
State legislature looks to prevent mentally ill defendants from being released

Reputable Resources:

http://www.smh.org

http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/MHSA.aspx

http://www.navos.org/

http://www.valleycities.org/

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (21)


  • Add A Comment

  • waltinseattle wrote...
    a mental health 911 phoneline and education on m.i.
    March 13, 2013 4:58 am
    the fact is there is such a phoneline. the bad news is its obscurity. perhaps we can now get it onto buses and other billboard locations. i am glad to have seen that a bill (SSB 5333) is going thu Oly that would educate teachers how to identify m.i. among their students. its a good start. but we need families to have this knowledge also. There are such resources as I have learned from the Friends of Laura's Law Facebook page. I would love to see these classes hosted locally and be well advertised Beforehand.
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  • CH wrote...
    mental health
    March 13, 2013 5:00 am
    just as hard on the family as it is on the person. And thanks to Ronald Wilson Reagan.......
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • waltinseattle wrote...
    fix dont blame
    March 13, 2013 5:42 am
    c.h. no one person is responsible for sll the shortcomings and lapses in the system. it is far past time when pointing fingers into past decades will help. its time citizens take responsibility for fixing the present circumstances. its a " lead, follow or get out of the way" kinda a thing.
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  • Zoeller wrote...
    CH: I am sure you can use six rounds of -
    March 13, 2013 7:45 am
    (Electroconvulsive therapy.)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    Bellevue is a city
    March 13, 2013 7:22 am
    so, she put on an urban smile.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    did it work for you
    March 13, 2013 8:06 am
    Zoeller? I think they had the voltage to low! Walt in Seattle refresh yourself what Ronald did for the Mentally Ill.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • waltinseattle wrote...
    no need
    March 13, 2013 8:27 pm
    ch...i don't defend or excuse ronald. I saw it in my neighborhood that had housed...and in my streets and the shelter i worked for. I do reserve some of my anger to direct at others. psychbable shrinks, anti- meds shrinks and activists in the tradition of "Dendron." all the cluless who don't want to stigmatize the differently mentated. does that cut it?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bubba wrote...
    Mental Illness...
    March 13, 2013 8:33 am
    ...indeed is hell on earth for both the person who has it and their family. Frequently, a person who has it, the stigma of being "crazy" is hard to overcome. The family of a mentally ill person is pretty much unable to do anything to help if the mentally ill person refuses treatment. And for years and years, insurance companies have limited the amount of inpatient and outpatient visits. When the limit was reached, the patient was SOL. Now, supposedly, insurance companies are supposed to treat mental illness like any other illness. Oh yeah? So tell me why a local insurance company only allows 12 LIFETIME mental health visits? Visit 13 on, they require a "treatment plan". Apparently they are under the impression a person's depression, etc is cured in 12 visits. Anyone who has depression knows it's pretty much a life sentence and requires follow up visits especially if medication is prescribed. And those visits, even though might just be a "How are you doing? Here's a refill prescription for you." kind of visit, it is billed as a mental health visit. The rigamarole on top of the illness is more than some people can handle.
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  • waltinseattle wrote...
    and a few follow ups
    March 13, 2013 8:29 pm
    speaking to a choirperson bro.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Noting the first ten comments
    March 13, 2013 12:42 pm
    On topic: 3

    Slam against a previous or past president and/or political party: 3

    Slam against another poster to the forum: 2

    Difficult to categorize: 1

    Some guy interested enough in the group dynamic to note the type of posts: 1

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • moron wrote...
    Chuck Gould
    March 13, 2013 12:49 pm
    Give yourself a big ol' pat on the back, atta boy!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • moron wrote...
    Pierce County Crisis
    March 13, 2013 1:30 pm
    line number is 1-800-576-7764. If you know of a veteran who needs help and or is in crisis, here's that number too 1-800-273-8255
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • waltinseattle wrote...
    strong coffee connection?
    March 13, 2013 8:38 pm
    thanks for real and significant input. cafe strong for all is a (former) g.i. owned and operated venue cross the street from jbase down below tacoma. they were part of a recent art exhibit at seattle central on ptsd. " there are no toy soldiers" was one piece. another was a brain with grenade mechsnism atop. strong stuff. good coffee. good solidarity. share more on the 576 line please?
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  • Stevebo wrote...
    Great article Linda
    March 13, 2013 1:54 pm
    It's sad so many of you want to bicker about the unimportant things or take jabs at each other.

    Mental illness is a serious and underestimated problem here in the U.S. (it has been for a very long time).

    I think stories like this are very good - particularly if can help to educate more people about mental health concerns.

    Thank you Linda for sharing the story.

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  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Thank you Stevebo
    March 13, 2013 5:05 pm
    More to come on this topic, including a follow up from several people who emailed me today.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • roomtemp wrote...
    ^^Echoes what Stevebo said^^
    March 13, 2013 5:55 pm
    I also wonder if people don't overlook nutrition too often as a source of problems (or at least a contributing factor).

    There is an amino acid called SAM-e that works really well for helping depression. And it doesn't make you wacky or have any nasty side effects like the pharmaceuticals do.

    Melatonin and serotonin can help depression. (Melatonin triggers a sleep cycle and can 'reset' your circadian rhythm. They're safe, but do a little reading first.)

    Dirt is an antidepressant. Do a little gardening without the gloves. ;-) (It's actually the soil bacteria that helps you produce serotonin, not the dirt itself. So it has to be 'real' dirt.)

    Exercise and a decent amount of quality sleep help depression.

    Faith helps. -The peace that passes all understanding.

    Obviously some people need doctors, but it doesn't hurt to try a few natural things first before they load you up with meds and send you in for some electroshock and a little waterboarding. :-D

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  • longwayhome wrote...
    Thanks Stevebo
    March 13, 2013 7:41 pm
    For rescuing this great article by Linda. The "regulars" that troll around should go elsewhere.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CindaJohnson wrote...
    Finding Help
    March 15, 2013 1:15 pm
    Thank you, Linda, for the opportunity to do this story with you. I recently spent an entire Sunday afternoon on crisis lines trying to find support for a friend who's son was experiencing a break. It is extremely difficult and unimaginable to me how much more difficult it would be if the person calling was in the midst of a crisis. It is challenging to find the number unless you are already aware of it and it can take much time and patience to connect with the right person and information. My dad had a heart attack and two fire trucks and an ambulance were at his doorstep in less than five minutes. A brain attack deserves the same treatment. Thank you for continuing the conversation.
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