XPost: alt.native, alt.news-media, alt.niggers   
   XPost: alt.non.racism   
   From: fake@fake.com   
      
   Keith,   
      
   As someone who has worked in the mental health field and who has a mentally   
   ill mother, I have compassion for what you are going through.  My mother's   
   delusions are very similar to yours and she does a lot of the same things   
   (e.g., keeping phone logs, writing down license plate numbers).   
      
   My mother harassed the local police in her area until she got committed to a   
   state mental hospital.  She is now on the right medication for her condition   
   and is free of delusions along with the depression and anxiety that they   
   caused her.   
      
   I know that it is hard to understand that it is only an illness causing your   
   perceptions of being watched, followed, etc.  It's the brain, after all --   
   the very thing you rely on to make sense of reality.  But please listen to   
   me.  The brain can be diseased just like any other part of the body can be   
   diseased.  And doesn't it make sense that if the brain is diseased, it won't   
   be able to carry out its normal function of perceiving reality?  That is the   
   real source of your pain, Keith.   
      
   Fortunately, there are treatments, just like there are treatments for heart   
   conditions and diabetes.  There are medications that can make your brain   
   work properly again just like there are medications that can help your heart   
   or pancreas.  There are community mental health agencies in most parts of   
   the country who can get you the help you need even if you don't have   
   insurance to pay for it.   
      
   Once you have gotten on a medication and your condition is stable, you can   
   apply for public services like social security disability that will help you   
   keep your life more stable.  There are disability lawyers to help you   
   through the process, if you're not on SSI/SSDI already.   
      
   Keith, most of all, I want to say, please do not be ashamed of your illness.   
   Everybody has health problems.  I myself suffer from a "brain disease" --   
   depression.  It makes everything look hopeless and futile even when that is   
   not really true.  It has physical effects, too, robbing me of energy to do   
   the things I need to do.  After years of only taking medication when my   
   depression was at its worst, I have finally accepted that I will probably   
   live with this condition for the rest of my life, and I need to take my   
   medication to stay healthy.  People who meet me now never suspect that I am   
   depressive.  It's only when I refuse to take my medication that people can   
   see something is wrong with me.   
      
   God bless you, Keith.   
      
   A friend   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)