Dear [USER=18958]@Copabanana[/USER] - Thank you for this thoughtful post and best wishes to both you and your son. I hope that he is able to heal.
Reading your post it is clear that you love and care for your son and had the best intent when raising him. Another thing we must realize is that every situation is highly complex and sometimes things can be outside of our control. While I do believe it is true that acknowledging the reality of a diagnosis and realizing it is part of life is important, of course it's not that easy. You have thought long and hard about what you would have done differently, which I think can be of benefit to others here. But no doubt you did many things right as well and you should also remember that. Our society today is also more accepting of mental health issues. I think that children now who are diagnosed and treated are less likely to be stigmatized and thrown to the fringes. Children who are told they have a mental illness are less likely to immediately think that are bad, different or that their life is over. I think many parents were right to be concerned with labeling their kids in the past.
Sometimes we also forget the power of luck. While I did okay, there were certainly times where things were on a knife edge and one subtle change could have sent things awry. In my early 20s I stopped my medications, nearly lost a job, torched a relationship and came closer than comfort to a homelessness situation. What is different between me and others - I was fortunate to avoid alcohol and durgs and to have medical intervention at a critical time, but also...luck. It could have been different.
