Mental illness is a hot topic these days. I wanted to learn more, so I called Annie Ewing of Landrum. Annie is a force in the local mental health community.

Working through NAMI (National Association for the Mentally Ill), she helps provide education to the public, the police, the clergy and offers support for families and the mentally ill.

I wanted the backside of the story. We know the diagnoses –  schizophrenia, bi-polar, paranoia, depression, but how does mental illness in a relative affect the rest of the family?  How do they cope?

Annie related her story.

“I was a music teacher. I started taking piano lessons at age six and didn’t stop until age 50. Music is essential to my being,” she said. “Earlier in my life, I had a job at a California State Home for Mentally Ill Children. These were very ill children. They would sit expressionless in front of me, staring and not relating to their surroundings.

Ewing said she would play and sing and the music would start causing the kids to clap and dance.  “For a brief time, they were drawn out of their neuroses,”  wistfully she added, “I didn’t know that this brief glimpse into mental illness foreshadowed what the future would bring into my life.”

Ewing went on to tell of her daughter’s experience with mental illness.

“She was a rebellious teenager, not uncommon for that age. She wanted to quit school. She claimed the teachers stared at her and she was uncomfortable. We told her if she quit, she would have to get a job. She started as a waitress and it lasted two days. She couldn’t keep the orders straight. Her brain couldn’t organize it all. It was my first clue that something was going on.”

In time the daughter was married and had her first child.  “It might have been the childbirth that was the catalyst,” Annie ponders. “She had a nervous breakdown and the diagnosis was schizophrenia.”

She reminisced, “I remember being stretched out on my bed, calling all around, trying to find help. I didn’t know where to turn. Information was elusive, it just wasn’t out there until I found NAMI. They provided some answers and support. It was my lifeline.

“Many families abandon their mentally ill once the difficulties of dealing with them becomes apparent. My daughter went on to have four children, all raised by their fathers, except for the youngest. My son has raised him.

One time my daughter ran away. Another time she cut her wrists.  And then there was the time the voices told her I was a witch and she attacked me.”

Annie returned to her Carolina roots. And she returned to her music roots.

“It’s who I am and it’s helped me cope with all the upheaval that mental illness brings into a family”.

Join her with the music group, “Foothills Old Tyme Jammers” at the Landrum Library the second and fourth Monday at 12:30 p.m.

For anyone interested in learning more about mental illness, NAMI will soon offer a free six week education course, the first Monday of the month.

Contact Leslie at
828-894-3507 for more information.