The first time Anita heard of her son’s schizophrenia was during his court-martial. It started a 20-year cycle of recovery, relapse, arrest, and involuntarily medicating him in a place where everything is involuntary: prison. Through it all, she has faced something that is virtually invisible and everywhere.

As a college senior, Xavier got a call from his brother that he had killed their dad. It would take Xavier nearly a decade to reconnect with his brother. But what he discovered would change the entire approach to schizophrenia for him and millions of others.

Paul is a spouse, parent, and brilliant composer, with an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music, 90s pop music and movies. He also lives with schizoaffective disorder. Paul’s mind is in a constant state of musical and verbal cacophony. The best way to experience that is in conversation. This is that conversation.

The story of Lindsay’s family was very well told in the bestselling book, Hidden Valley Road, which chronicles her family of 12 siblings, six of whom developed a serious mental illness. But there is always more to say. And in this episode, Lindsay says it.

Gwen was 10 when she arrived to the US, the hopes of her entire family on her shoulders. But her dream collapsed in college as she discovered her family’s history of Borderline Personality Disorder. In order to disrupt a dangerous cycle, she would have to forge a new understanding.

At 13, Adrian had plenty on his plate when he learned that schizophrenia was hereditary. And that his dad had it. It took him two decades to learn what you truly inherit when your parent lives with a serious mental illness.

Michael was nearly 60 when he began trying to overcome more than three decades of hearing voices and using crack. Michael rebuilt himself in the hills of California, and then became one of the most capable people for turning around the lives of others in the state.

Ronald’s bipolar disorder made his career as one of the world’s top conductors, and then destroyed it, leaving him un-employable and on the brink of suicide. That’s when he decided to launch the world’s first orchestra for those with mental illness.

_{Photo credit: Roland Fischer}