[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9534-S9536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SCHIZOPHRENIA

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I don't know how many Senators saw an 
article in the Washington Post today, in section B of the Washington 
Post, called ``Tears Of Blood.'' I have the article in front of me. I 
ask unanimous consent it be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, July 31, 1998]

                             Tears of Blood

                          (By Megan Rosenfeld)

       First there was the gruesome and heartbreaking news of 
     Russell Weston's attack on the U.S. Capitol. Then came word 
     that he is a paranoid schizophrenic, information that 
     resonated for one set of families with unsettling emotions: 
     recognition mixed with horror, and in some cases thankfulness 
     that it wasn't the faces of their sons or sisters flashing 
     across the television screen.
       The families of schizophrenics, like those of other 
     seriously mentally ill people, suffer a particular kind of 
     torment. Years of bewildering and sometimes destructive 
     behavior usually precedes a diagnosis; years of false starts 
     or abandoned treatment often follow. Even when a mother or 
     father recognizes mental illness--as opposed to drug 
     addiction, rebelliousness or eccentricity--discovering the 
     legal barriers to involuntary commitment is yet another body 
     blow.
       ``Parents always feel it's your responsibility to help your 
     children, but we were powerless to help him,'' says 
     Jacqueline Shannon, whose son Greg began behaving strangely 
     in his last year of college. Now 35, Greg Shannon has been 
     stabilized for more than six years with the drug clozapine--
     although it took four hospital commitments before that 
     medication was prescribed.
       A publication by the Canadian-based Schizophrenia Society 
     lists some of the emotions family members are likely to feel: 
     sorrow (``We feel like we've lost our child''); anxiety 
     (``We're afraid to leave him alone or hurt his feelings''); 
     fear (``Will he harm himself or others?''). They also list 
     shame, bitterness, isolation, anger and ``excessive searching 
     for possible answers.''
       ``You want not to be blamed that your family member has 
     become deranged,'' says David Kaczynski, whose brother, Ted, 
     is notorious as the Unabomber. ``And you don't want people to 
     hate your brother or son, to form judgments that are not 
     based on compassion for the fact that this person is mentally 
     ill.'' There are so many complicated emotions, he said. ``You 
     recognize this family member you love is also an enemy.''
       Kaczynski recalls taking some of his brother's letters to a 
     psychologist in the early 1990s--before he knew that Ted had 
     been mailing lethal bombs--and was told that his brother was 
     very ill and needed treatment. And also that there was very 
     little David could do about that.
       For years Ted Kaczynski's primary method of communication 
     with his family was through long, irrational letters, in 
     which he blamed his parents for his loneliness and fears, and 
     even for the fact that he was three inches shorter than 
     David.
       ``I have got to know, I have GOT TO, GOT TO, GOT TO know 
     that every last tie joining me to this stinking family has 
     been cut FOREVER and that I will never NEVER have to 
     communicate with any of you again,'' he wrote David in 1991. 
     ``I've got to do it NOW. I can't tell you how desperate I am. 
     . . . It is killing me.''
       It was five years and hundreds of letters later that David, 
     recognizing similarities between things his brother had 
     written and the excerpts from the Unabomber manifesto 
     printed in The Washington Post and the New York Times, 
     went to the FBI, Ted Kaczynski

[[Page S9535]]

     had never agreed to treatment or to the idea that his 
     mental state was out of his control.
       David Kaczynski said he and his mother were greatly 
     comforted by numerous letters they received from other 
     families of the mentally ill--including one from the mother 
     of abortion clinic assassin John Salvi. In fact, Wanda 
     Kaczynski and Ann Marie Salvi had a long telephone 
     conversation, commiserating over the mystifying madness that 
     turned their sons into killers.
       Remembering how grateful he was to the people who wrote and 
     told him they knew he loved his brother, David has written 
     Russell Weston's parents. It is not their fault, he told 
     them; they did what they could. ``I think they have shown 
     great courage,'' he said, referring to the numerous 
     interviews the Westons have given explaining the difficulties 
     they had with Russell.
       Shannon's son never became violent. Indeed, Kaczynski, 
     Salvi and would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley are rare 
     explosions in a population of approximately 2 million 
     schizophrenics who, if properly treated with medication and 
     therapy, can lead peaceful if unorthodox lives.
       Greg Shannon's problems, which became evident when he was 
     22, confounded his parents. (Schizophrenia generally surfaces 
     between the ages of 16 and 25, according to reseach. The 
     illness is characterized by hallucinations and delusions; 
     schizophrenics are unable to differentiate their warped 
     perceptions or obsessive thoughts from reality.) ``We are 
     considered educated people,'' said Shannon, a retired 
     elementary school teacher in San Angelo, Tex. ``But mental 
     illness did not occur to us. We thought it had something to 
     do with drugs or alcohol.''
       Their son would get into irrational arguments with them, 
     stayed in his room for days on end (as did Kaczynski) and 
     seemed to perspire a lot. His college roommate called to say 
     Greg had talked about suicide. ``It was a frightening time,'' 
     his brother Brian recalls.
       Like other families, they tried for a while to 
     ``normalize'' Greg's behavior: He was different, he was going 
     through a rough patch--let him stay in his room if he wants.
       Because he was an adult, he could not be forced to see a 
     counselor. But they couldn't get through to him themselves. 
     Finally family members went to the county judge and began the 
     legal process of getting Greg involuntarily committed to a 
     private hospital, which involved affidavits from two doctors. 
     Then one evening the sheriff and a couple of deputies arrived 
     to take Greg Shannon away.
       ``It was awful,'' Jackie Shannon says. At the same time, 
     there was some relief. And the process was only beginning.
       ``The family members are hurt, bewildered and confused,'' 
     says Moe Armstrong, a paranoid schizophrenic who, with the 
     help of medication and many therapeutic programs, works to 
     help other patients in Massachusetts. Now 54, he had his 
     first breakdown during his four-year hitch in the Marine 
     Corps. His parents, he says, did not understand anything 
     about mental illness. And he no longer blames them. ``A 
     lot of us defy rationality. The way our minds work are not 
     the way people's minds work out there. . . . One day this 
     person is all right and the next anything goes.''
       His advice: ``It requires a lot of patience. You can make 
     suggestions, but only one or two, and you have to make them 
     over and over again. Most people want to say to A,B,C,D, tie 
     your shoes, get a job and everything will be all right. They 
     say things like `take your meds,' but not `What meds are you 
     taking? What effect are they having?' '' Life for the 
     relatives of the chronic mentally ill is often filled with 
     regrets, if not guilt, and the agonized wish they had known 
     more, and sooner. ``I wonder if we had started the commitment 
     process earlier, or if they'd prescribed clozaphine earlier 
     if he would have avoided permanent damage,'' says Brian 
     Shannon, ``Maybe not.''
       One thing all family members share: Having a mentally ill 
     child or sibling changes your life forever. In some cases, as 
     with the Shannons, it has led to volunteer work on behalf of 
     people like Greg. Jackie Shannon is now president of the 
     board of directors of the National Alliance for the Mentally 
     Ill.
       Brian Shannon knows that someday he will be responsible for 
     his brother, and consulted a genetic counselor before having 
     a child. David Kaczynski, who works with youthful runaways in 
     a shelter in Albany, N.Y.--as he did before his brother was 
     arrested--faces a lifetime of secondhand notoriety and 
     residual pain.
       ``I still believe in some way he does love me,'' he says.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, this is an article that follows on the 
tragedy that happened here in Washington when a man, 41 years of age, 
obviously suffering from a very serious disease called schizophrenia, 
was off his medication and, because of his disease, did the kind of 
things that have shocked our country and shocked our Capitol. The story 
is about four or five people in the United States who have family 
members with the same disease, schizophrenia, and have suffered the 
consequences of their relative, son or daughter, being off the 
medication--because there is a propensity on the part of those with 
this ailment to not want to be on medication. Sometimes it offends them 
a bit. Sometimes it causes extreme obesity. Sometimes it causes some 
muscular jittering. But whatever the case, it is hard to keep them on 
their medication.
  I believe we might turn this terrible incident into a constructive 
response to a very destructive event because, as this article points 
out, there is little that the parents and relatives can do in their 
communities to help when they begin to feel the desolation and absolute 
loneliness when a member of their family, a daughter or son who has 
this dread disease, decides not to stay on the medication or the 
medication needs to be changed to be effective. The loneliness is 
absolutely incredible. As a matter of fact, in this marvelous land of 
ours, it is fair to say that only in a few places is there any help at 
all for these people. I don't know how many Americans saw Russell 
Weston, Sr. and his wife when they met with the press and talked about 
their son, their son, the 41-year-old who burst through a door here in 
our Capitol. We all know about the events, and feel great, great 
sympathy and empathy for the family of the two fallen officers. We have 
almost been, as a nation, in mourning since that event occurred. And 
that is as it should be.
  Mr. President, I am not going to say much more about this, other than 
to say that I have worked with the mentally ill in this Nation. I have 
worked hard to get more and more people to recognize that this is a 
disease and that we ought to cover this disease with insurance just as 
we cover heart failure. That causes some difficulty. Nonetheless, today 
I don't rise on that score. I merely rise to say: Maybe, maybe this 
great land of ours, and maybe this institution called the U.S. Senate, 
and maybe groups across America that are worried about this, might just 
see if there is a way we can prevent this from happening, if we could 
prevent it from happening even a couple of hundred times. We frequently 
see schizophrenics committing acts of murder and degradation, and we 
all know why it is happening. As a matter of fact, we can almost say 
with certainty, I say to my friend, Senator Byrd, that if most of those 
people were on the right medicine they would not be perpetrating these 
kinds of acts. I hope we would use this to stimulate our collective 
thinking on what we might do about it.
  I don't have the answers. But I have talked to a few Senators. I have 
talked, in particular, to Dr. Frist, Senator Frist from Tennessee, who 
concurs with me that there is little help available. For, you see, in 
the case of Mr. Weston, if they wanted him to be taken care of, they 
had very few options. They could call the police. I think across 
America it is pretty obvious, police will come by and they will say, 
``This is a medical problem. We can't help you.'' They could take him 
to a hospital. A normal hospital would say, ``We can't help you.'' They 
could put him in an institution for a few weeks to try to get him back 
on board and on the medication, but they had already done that.
  So this Washington Post article called ``Tears of Blood; For Families 
of Schizophrenics, a Gunman's Shots Strike at Their Hearts'' is 
something we should all take cognizance of.
  I hope by these remarks--and some others in this community, I 
understand, are interested in this--that we will find a way to start 
meeting together in groups, trying to figure out what should an 
American response be? Maybe it is a State response. Maybe it is not a 
Federal response. But we might be the ones to stimulate some real 
thinking about a responsibility. In this case, we could really be 
preventers, we could be preventers of serious, serious acts of violence 
because that can be prevented. It is just we do not help at the time 
they need help. And we don't have a system set up to provide such help.
  I thank the Senator for listening, and, in particular, for giving me 
a few extra moments this morning. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.


                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I note on the floor the distinguished 
Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Nickles, who is the assistant majority 
leader. I wonder if he has a plane to catch? I am sure he may have some 
Senate business. If he does, I will be happy to defer. I have no

[[Page S9536]]

particular time problem myself. I will be glad to defer to the Senator.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, the Senator from West Virginia is so 
courteous, as usual. I have about a 10- or 15-minute speech, but I will 
be happy to listen to my colleague and then I will follow my colleague 
from West Virginia and I thank him, again, for his courtesy.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may be recognized 
immediately after Mr. Nickles is recognized, at which time I will 
proceed with the remarks. I ask unanimous consent that at that time I 
may consume such time as I may desire, but not to exceed 25 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, again to my colleague, I am more than 
happy to defer. He is so kind and gracious, as he always is. He sets an 
example in the Senate, which I think all of us should follow and makes 
all of us proud to have the title of ``Senator.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Oklahoma wish more than 
5 minutes?
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for not to exceed 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Again, I thank my colleague from West Virginia for his 
courtesy. I doubt I will take 15 minutes.

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