In Michelle’s biography, I talk about how therapy sessions were always counterproductive for Michelle. So I avoided getting her in with that particular service. But Michelle was in group homes and with agencies for several years.
The longer she was with them, the more medications they put her on. And the more medications she was on, the more she dealt with growing anxiety, anxiety attacks, and severe behavior problems. So they found it necessary to get her into therapy in hopes of teaching her coping skills and encouraging good behavior.
None of which ever happened, but they tried.
So when Michelle came home on January 8, 2021, she was on a pile of medications twice a day. Her anxiety was like a roller coaster going in circles. I had trouble keeping her from calling 911 or attempting to go to the hospital. And every time she was hospitalized, the psychiatrist followed his career protocol to attempt to raise the dosage of at least one medication or add another drug.
Psychiatrists only know which medication to prescribe for which symptom. They’re never taught which medication causes which problems and how to reduce a dosage or discontinue a drug. So if a prescription is causing side effects that another medication is known to resolve, rather than learn which drug is causing the side effects, they automatically prescribe another medication. And they frequently raise the dosage for almost any reason. That’s how mentally ill patients end up on 12…15…20 prescriptions – or more.
Unfortunately for the psychiatrists who were raising Michelle’s dosage and prescribing her new medications, I refused to give my consent, and as Michelle’s legal guardian, my decision trumped theirs.
For about four months, I worked closely with Michelle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Cannon, to wean her off all psychotropic drugs. He is an exceptional psychiatrist, who explained that this was something he never learned in psychiatry school. He learned it on his own.
The Role of Psychotropic Drugs
During that four months, we dealt with Michelle’s continual anxiety attacks. Since she’d moved in with us, she didn’t have a therapist, so she went looking for one. She got hooked up with a therapist through Necco, the agency that employed Dr. Cannon. Her name is Anne, and she was able to talk Michelle down (over the phone) every time she exclaimed that she wanted to kill herself. She became our life-line during that time.
When Anne left, they assigned Grace to take Michelle’s calls. Michelle didn’t like changing therapists, so she didn’t call as often.
Over that four month time frame, Dr. Cannon and I weaned Michelle off one medication after another with very positive results.
- She quit hallucinating.
- She stopped hearing voices.
- She no longer had frequent anxiety attacks.
- Her vertigo mysteriously disappeared.
- Her gastroparesis got better.
- She quit sleeping 16 hours a day. (12 hours through the night with a 4 hour nap during the day)
- And her behavior improved TREMENDOUSLY.
In a nutshell, when we discontinued all the psychotropic drugs, the side effects caused by the drugs disappeared, and the problems that the drugs were supposed to be treating also went away.
Michelle Meets Courtnie
But Michelle still wanted therapy. I knew it was as detrimental to her wellbeing as the psychotropic drugs. (I explain why in her biography Another Day, Another Challenge: the Biography of a Child with Williams Syndrome, third edition.) She just wanted someone to talk to when things didn’t go her way. That usually caused her anxiety to creep up, and she wanted someone that wasn’t Mom to vent her frustrations.
So I allowed her to continue her therapy with Grace. A month later, we met Courtnie, who was assigned as Michelle’s mental health case manager.
Courtnie came over to the house every week to visit Michelle, and she usually stayed for a couple of hours. They talked. They played games. They frosted a cake. They went out to eat. Courtnie sometimes painted her fingernails. They just had a good time together. Michelle and I absolutely loved Courtnie.
The last time we saw her was on December 28, 2021. Courtnie was leaving her job per the doctor’s instructions because of difficulties with her pregnancy.
A Surprise Attack
Exactly one month later, Michelle arrived for her therapy appointment with Grace, and she was ambushed by the director of therapy services, who accused her of frightening Courtnie by telling her that if she got the COVID shot, it would kill her unborn baby. Then Sue harshly reprimanded Michelle, demanding she treat her staff with courtesy and respect.
Michelle was caught off guard by the whole incident and tried to tell Sue that she never said anything like that to Courtnie. That infuriated Sue, who proceeded to call her a liar. So Michelle said, “I’m leaving.” She left Sue’s office, and Sue ran after her, “Oh, no, you’re not.”
I was in the waiting room, not really paying a lot of attention to their discussion until it had escalated to the point where they were yelling. That’s when I leaped to my feet and interceded on Michelle’s behalf, asking Sue what was going on. She ordered me to treat her staff with respect.
I said, “Sue, I have never been anything but respectful to your staff.”
Then she accused me and Michelle of “ganging up on Courtnie” with that “lie” about her losing her baby if she got the COVID shot. She said that she got a report from Courtnie describing what we had done to her.
I was at a total loss. I could not imagine Courtnie submitting that kind of report on us, so I said softly, “Sue, there must be a mistake somewhere.”
“Oh, so now you’re calling Courtnie a liar!” yelled Sue. “Well, I’d believe Courtnie before I ever believe you!”
Michelle was crying. I worked overtime to control my temper. About that time, I said, “Come on, Michelle. Let’s go home.”
Now, the rude and obnoxious director of mental health services, who had no desire to treat others with the respect she demanded, said to me, “You’re NOT taking her. She’s scheduled for therapy, and you are not allowed to go in. So get out! Go do whatever you do while she’s in therapy.“
Did she really think she had the authority to overthrow my legal guardianship or position as Michelle’s caretaker or that I would meekly turn my child over to her to continue her verbal assault?
Out of respect for Grace, I stayed long enough to talk to her. I told her that even if I wanted Michelle to stay for therapy, there was no way she would accomplish anything today. I said, “When we arrived, Michelle was happy and feeling good. She was looking forward to her therapy session with you. Now she’s crying and angry and her anxiety is through the roof. I think it’s better for me to take her home. I’ll let you know if I decide she should continue with therapy.”
The Second Assault
That was the last time we saw Grace. Michelle was with Grace for about seven months.
Then the next day, Michelle had a virtual appointment scheduled with Abbie, her new mental health case manager. I don’t know if Abbie overstepped her boundaries or if Courtnie didn’t do her job, but Abbie’s approach was just as harsh as Sue’s. She started her meeting with Michelle by calling her a liar and declaring that she was going to work with Michelle on being truthful.
I thought, Good luck with that one. You can only accomplish that if the person you’re working with sees the need to improve in that area.
Unfortunately for Abbie, Michelle believed she always told the truth. Regardless, Abbie had already sent Michelle running from the room crying. However, she was still determined to make Michelle face facts – that she was a liar and had better learn to tell the truth.
Since Michelle now refused to talk to Abbie, I sat in front of my computer and talked to her myself. And while I was at it, I asked her some questions.
- This incident that Courtnie reported…when did it happen? Abbie responded, “I don’t know.”
- Well, when did she report it? Abbie said, “I don’t know.”
I told Abbie, “The last time we saw Courtnie was a month ago. Don’t you find it strange that Courtnie would wait at least a month to report it if it bothered her that badly? And that’s if it happened on the last day they were together. Which it apparently didn’t because Michelle and Courtnie went out without me. But Sue said that we “ganged up on her,” which means I was there. And since neither Michelle, nor I, even remember this incident, it had to happen months ago. But she’s just now reporting it?”
Abbie had no answer.
Pieces to the Puzzle
The following week, Michelle had an appointment with Dr. Cannon. We told him and his staff what happened at therapy the week before. Jen and Lindsey both said, “Are you kidding? We’ve talked to Courtnie. She loved you guys to pieces.”
Doctor Cannon said, “This is a very familiar story. I’ve heard this exact same story from so many of my patients. They treat people horrible.”
Michelle had no desire to continue therapy with Necco, and I didn’t really want her in therapy at all. The Lord had shown me that this was a worldly system that opposed His Word at every turn. So I took this opportunity to withdraw her from Necco and sever her ties with all therapy.
Unfortunately, that meant discontinuing her visits with Dr. Cannon, because Necco required their patients to keep a minimum of two services.
So I let Grace know that we wouldn’t be back. Of course, both Abbie and Sue contacted me to inform me that if I stopped Michelle from therapy and from seeing her mental health case manager, she would no longer be permitted to see Dr. Cannon for her medication adjustment. It came across as a threat, and that’s how I took it.
However, I thanked them for their concern and told them both that we would miss Dr. Cannon. Then I informed them that Michelle had discontinued all her medications almost a year earlier.
And without a therapist filling Michelle’s head with all sorts of suggestions and ideas, Michelle is doing exceptionally well.