South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, May 19, 1989 Page: 8 of 16
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May 19, 1989—8
Insight
By Mary Alice Salinas
STC correspondent
CORPUS CHRISTI—Startled by a pre-dawn
telephone ring, Mary Louise Mount quickly lifted
*he receiver in her Corpus Christi home one cool
winter morning in 1969.
The peaceful sleep terminated and the nightmare
resumed as a police officer explained that her then-
19-ycar-old son was found a considerable distance
from home wandering the chilly city streets
barefoot and wearing shorts.
At that time, she was a working wife and mother
of six. In 198? she took her vows as an Incarnate
Word and Blessed Sacrament Sister and presently
resides at the Motherhouse here.
Although she knew her son had earlier retired to
his upstairs bedroom, she was certain the man
described by the patrol officer was, indeed, Mike.
She explained to the caller that he was mentally ill.
“He’s a weirdo,” the police officer told his part-
ner. “His mother gave me the address so we can
take him home."
The even? was one of countless instances when
the stigma of her son’s illness was painfully ex-
perienced.
Even worse, the younger Mike who was once a
high-average student, musically talented,
gregarious, thoughtful and sensitive seemed far
away. He had talked of being a teacher because
“there are so many kids with problems.”
In addition, he was meticulous about his ap-
pearance and always “chose a high caliber of
friends," said his mother.
Mysteriously, just prior to entering junior high
school, Mike’s personality began to change, but a
family doctor found no physical problems. Reason-
ing that it was due to puberty, the concerned
parents waited until Mike was in high school before
consulting a psychiatrist.
By this time, Mike’s grades had plummeted, he
neglected his personal hygiene, selected friends of
questionable character and his attention span pro-
gressively dwindled.
“I spent more time at school than he did, talking
with counselors and teachers,” recalled Sister
Mount.
Pyschiatric help was sought in 196? when the
teenager threw away a cobbler’s bench which was
loaned to him for a refintshing job in shop class.
Mrs. Mount knew “there was something badly
wrong” because “that was something Mike just
would not do.”
For the entire family this was only the beginn-
ing. School officials told Mrs. Mount that they
could not handle emotionally disturbed children.
After nine months in a Galveston hospital, he was
diagnosed as having schizophrenia and sent home.
Mike’s condition deteriorated arid he began
behaving erratically—he once lit a cigarette in
church, walked from table to table at a restaurant
and jumped out of a moving car. Obviously, caring
for Mike at home became increasingly difficult.
The young man was confined to four hospitals
and received 58 shock treatments. Insurance
benefitswere quickly exhausted. A clear and cer-
tain diagnosis was never given, although Mrs.
Mount was told the condition may have been caus-
ed by “a bad childhood environment."
She said many observers concluded that Mike
was simply a “badly behaved brat,” and they look-
ed with “disdain and reproach” upon the family.
However, a brain biopsy conducted on Mike in
1972 led a Houston neurosurgeon to reach a very
different conclusion.
The Mount's story is just one of many:
there are an estimated 14.5 million
Americans suffering from some form of
mental illness.
Immediately following the biopsy the German
doctor, moved by what he had just seen, approach-
ed the family with tear-filled eyes and explained,
“We don’t know how it happened but we know
what happened. His brain is degenerating.”
Sister Mount, who is now 62, in a recent inter-
view told the “long and painful story” of Mike’s
mental illness and of the heart-wrenching plight of
mentally ill persons and their families.
The bespeckled nun’s gentle smile and congenial
nature belie a woman who is not easily placated.
She is also politically and intellectually adept, par-
ticularly where issues of mental illness are concern-
ed.
After working 23 years as a direct sales manager,
Mrs. Mount entered Incarnate Word Convent in
1985, expecting to retire to a more contempletive
milieu to care for older Sisters and to engage in
simple domestic tasks.
Instead Sister Mount, who is now a grand-
mother, is on the IWBS Sisters’ task force for the
homeless mentally ill. Resulting from the group’s
efforts was the 1987 formation of Metro Ministries’
Rustic House, a 30-capacky shelter for mentally ill
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tally til persons
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homeless persons.
In addition to working on the legislative commit-
tee of the local Alliance for the Mentally 111, Sister
Mount is a member of that organization on the
state and national level as well. She also serves on
the board of Nueces County Mental Health/Mental
Retardation and Metro Ministries and is a member 1
of the convent’s health commission and family life
ministry.
The nun said she hopes to raise awareness about
challenges posed by mental illness in order to
generate an effective response in confronting them.
The Mount’s story is just one of many, there are
an estimated 14.5 million Americans suffering from!
some form of mental illness. More than half of
them live with their families; others live in nursing
homes and private boarding homes, while millions
more are homeless. In fact, approximately 40 wr-
cent of homeless people in this country are utal-
ly ill.
The cost of this national tragedy is high primari-
ly because of lost productivity and treatment costs.
Twenty-five percent of all hospital beds are filled
with mentally ill persons and an estimated $20
billion to $48 billion is spent yearly on medical and
social services for victims of schizophrenia and
depression, according to the National Alliance for
Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
Schizophrenia is one of the most serious mental
illnesses; affective disorders (diseases which aJTcet
mood) such as manic depressive illness are most
common.
Schizophrenia affects one in every 100 per-
sons—men and women equally—and usually sets injj
during the teens or early twenties.
Some symptoms are use of confused language,
which shows disconnected thoughts and poor
reasoning, memory and judgment. Also, high levels]
of anxiety, hallucinations or delusions may be ex-
perienced. For example, a person with
schizophrenia may believe that someone is controll-
ing his or her thoughts.
These Mount family photos at left show
Miks at different stages of his life. Signs of
his disabling mental illness became evident
during his adolescent years, as is common
among victims. The photo at the extreme
left shows Mike in a wheelchair shortly
before his death. (STC photo by Luz Loza)
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, May 19, 1989, newspaper, May 19, 1989; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840456/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .