【英语语言学习】担忧未来

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

 

A Virginia state senator named Creigh Deeds was brutally¹ assaulted by his son last week. The attack put the elder Deeds into the hospital and it left his son, Austin, dead after shooting himself. Just a day before, a judge issued an emergency custody² order for Austin Deeds after a psychiatric evaluation³. Officials initially⁴ said Deeds went home because there was no bed available in a psychiatric facility. But The Washington Post reports that three nearby hospitals said they had space but they were never contacted.

 

Creigh Deeds was released from the hospital Friday. And in a Twitter message he said, quote, "I am alive so must live. Some wounds won't heal."

 

This morning, the very specific struggle of caring for a family member who suffers from mental illness.

 

GARY MIHELISH: We knew something was wrong when he was a sophomore⁵ in high school. He began to isolate⁶ and he just withdrew into himself. We thought it might just be adolescence⁷, an adjustment. But when he came home from the first day of school and said I'm not going to school anymore, you get a feeling that that's not appropriate behavior.

 

MARTIN: That is the voice of Gary Mihelish of Helena, Montana. His oldest son has been living with schizophrenia for 29 years. When his son was in his early 20s, he had a psychotic breakdown⁸ and took off to California. He had no money, was living on the streets. And finally, he got in touch with his parents who brought him back home to Montana.

 

Gary Mihelish is our Sunday Conversation.

 

MIHELISH: I remember very clearly the day he was back in our home and he was very upset and agitated⁹ that he was back. And he got up and ran out of the house and I followed him at a distance. And my wife called the county attorney and the sheriff, and asked the sheriff to pick him up for a mental health evaluation. After about a week in the hospital, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

 

MARTIN: How had his symptoms changed over time? Did he continue to be withdrawn¹⁰? Or did he ever lash¹¹ out? Was he ever violent?

 

MIHELISH: His younger brother, who was in the room next door to him in the basement, slept with a baseball bat under his bed 'cause he was afraid he would be attacked by his older brother. When I learned that, that was definitely concerning. But he was violent only once that I know of. When my father had colon¹² cancer and had part of his colon removed, and I went up to the hospital after work to visit my father and my youngest son was sitting on the edge of the bed with my dad. And he had bandages over his eye and asked him what happened.

 

And he said, well, my brother hit me at the dinner table, and I had to come to the emergency room and had three stitches. I said, OK, but where's your brother? And he said, Well, he's in the emergency room also. He broke his hand. And so, that was the only violent thing we ever happened in 29 years, but it was terribly scary. You just wonder what's happening. Basically, our son is very gentle, very sensitive. And he still is today.

 

MARTIN: At the same time, you're also trying to parent another child.

 

MIHELISH: My younger son was embarrassed to bring his friends to our home. And he didn't come home himself much of the time. And it was a big adjustment for him because his brother was kind of his role model. And we struggled with our younger son for about four or five years before we were finally able to begin to work together. And over time, the younger son has been the rock and the safeguard for our older son. He's become his role model.

 

MARTIN: When did things finally start to stabilize¹³?

 

MIHELISH: We had a commitment hearing. And the judge, who we knew - this is small town so people know each other. And the judge told our son and said: I want you to take the medication and if you don't take the medication, I'll put you in the state hospital.

 

Then we started on a road to recovery, but it took us a year to find the right medication. And we spent a year with a mentally ill individual in our home. And it was extremely trying and difficult. After a year, as a last choice, the psychiatrist¹⁴ recommended a medication that has very serious side effects. But it was our last chance and we decided¹⁵ to go with that medication. And with two weeks, his symptoms began to subside¹⁶. And within six months, we basically had our son back.

 

MARTIN: How are both your sons doing now?

 

MIHELISH: Our sons are doing pretty darn good.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

MIHELISH: Our youngest son is a high school teacher and a football coach. And he has three children who live across the street from us.

 

MARTIN: Oh, wow.

 

MIHELISH: And then our oldest son, who lives with the illness, he delivers Meals on Wheels to about 60 senior citizens and shut-ins. And the clients that he serves love him. He takes them gifts and photographs and he does very well. But he still struggles.

 

MARTIN: Is he happy?

 

MIHELISH: I would say so. I would say he's happy. He - the difficulty in this is that we're his main support system and we socialize together. He eats dinner with us every night and about 9 or 10 o'clock, he goes to his home. And so, we're definitely concerned about what will happen to him after we're gone. He's got a brother and an uncle who've said for us not to worry. But you worry anyway.

 

MARTIN: There is a debate in this country about mental health and resources; are people getting the access to care that they need. Do you think that there is enough information that there's enough care out there for people who need it?

 

MIHELISH: I know there's not enough care for people. I know there's not enough resources. I've been involved in this mental illness treatment sys for 29 years and it's sorely lacking. I think the shinning example is just what happened in the last week in Virginia, where the state senator was attacked by his mentally ill son and then the son committed suicide. Apparently¹⁷ from the reports, that he tried the day before to access care at a psychiatric facility and he's turned away. So I don't know the whole story and probably never will, but the tragedies never end.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

 

MARTIN: Gary Mihelish of Helena, Montana, he and his wife now teach other families how to care for loved ones with mental illness.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

 

MARTIN: You're listening to NPR News.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

6 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

7 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

8 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

9 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

10 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

11 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

12 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

13 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

14 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

17 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。