Acclaimed Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, died on Sunday, December 14, 2025, which was the first night of Hanukkah this year. They were found by their daughter, Romy, stabbed in their Los Angeles home, leading to their son Nick Reiner being charged with their murder. Their middle child of three had substance abuse issues for most of his 32 years, being addicted to heroin, cycling in and out of rehabilitation centers and experiencing bouts of homelessness. It is also reported that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was prescribed medication for the disorder at some point before the tragic incident, however it is unclear the name of the drug and how long he had been prescribed it. Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of murder and could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted. He is being held on $4 million dollars bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, which is a mental health jail.
I feel profound sadness for this family and a great grief for the community of friends and colleagues of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. I am also personally heartbroken, having enjoyed Rob’s comedy as an actor playing Mike (Meathead) Stivic on the hit 1970s TV sitcom All In The Family, and having been touched by his tremendously moving and substantial body of work as a filmmaker of such wonderful films as Stand By Me, This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men.
As a certified paranoid schizophrenic formerly addicted to marijuana, who inadvertently took my own mother’s life during a botched exorcism while going through my first major psychotic breakdown, I also feel a great deal of empathy toward Nick Reiner.
Like him, I may forever be pursued by The Furies, tormenting spirits with roots in Greek mythology that haunt and seek to destroy those who kill their parents, though they’re probably just psychic manifestations of our profound guilt and shame. These two toxic self-conscious emotions already existed within Nick and I, and others like us who suffer from substance abuse, addiction, and dependency. Although my drug of choice was marijuana, it became for me more than just a harmless recreational dalliance but full-blown reefer madness. It didn’t help that I was raised in a very permissive familial culture where weed was smoked constantly by everyone in the home. All except me, until the age of 24 when the stressors of racism, familial grief upon the death of my father, and my unreadiness for adult responsibility pushed me toward self-medication, addiction and finally psychosis.
Although cannabis was decriminalized where I live in New York State in 2021, I was aware as a child of the 1970s that it was illegal, and my family were users, and I was engulfed in shame and fear. Shame that the straight community would find out the truth about my family’s illegal drug activity and shun us. And fear that the authorities would find out and arrest some or all of my family, prompting me to worry about cultivating my own alibi while terrified I’d be left to fend for myself in group homes, or worse, juvenile detention.
My fears of detention became painfully real when, after the death of my mom, I wound up in forensic psychiatric centers and state hospitals for a third of my life. Thirty-five years after the incident, the memory, the images, the regret and remorse linger. Present in mind not only for me and my estranged family, but also the community clinic I’m required to attend to get my meds and engage in therapy. If I ever were to forget for a moment my responsibility they’re sure to remind me, with therapeutic redirection and a needle in the ass.
It is still too early to tell where Nick Reiner will end up, in prison or a mental hospital, but I do believe he will be in his own private hell perhaps for the rest of his life. There will be plenty on the sidelines who believe that’s good enough for him. I can imagine his siblings and extended family will be polarized, some devastated but eventually supportive because they knew him, knew his heart, and are aware that he was sick and gave in to the demons of delusion and mental disease. And there will be others who are horrified by the act, afraid of him, and who wish to banish him from life, exile him to the dark corners of “Fuck’im.”
I’ve been there. I’m still there for most of my family and some people who can’t imagine or accept such a thing happening, unintended or not. Those dark corners are cold and lonely, save for taunting voices reminding you of your crime and worthlessness. Those voices are your own. Kept alive and magnified by birthdays, Mother’s Day, holidays, the occasional side-eye of someone you meet who discovers your “dirty secret,” and even triggered by something as trivial as a pop tune overheard on the radio recalling happier times at home with the deceased.
Nick Reiner has a long hard road ahead of him. Be it prison or the asylum he’s sure to spend many, many years inside and away from society. They’re both American institutions in a broken system so there’ll be similar sets of suffering. Either immediate, frightening and violent or insidious and psychologically torturous. In prison you’ve got one eye on your calendar, counting the days till release, with the other on the lookout for shanks or booty bandits. In a secure mental hospital as an Insanity Plea patient you have no release date, and you could conceivably stay there until you die. Both are crushing to the soul.
Perhaps, if he’s lucky, Nick will have someone from his former life arrange a system where whatever financial privilege he still has can carry over to his commissary or patient account, thus allowing some level of comfort and even a useful cushion that he may employ to acquire favors and protection. While this may sound cynical or be distasteful to some who can only think of the victims right now, know that I’m thinking several years down the line, where survival starts to kick in. As wracked as I was with my own guilt and remorse, by year 5, 8, and 12 of my 19-year commitment I was hustling hard to eat well, live well and make it out of the mad house as best I could and all in one piece.
My best bit of advice for Nick, wherever he winds up, is to work on himself. As much as his inner voice will sing in harmony with society’s squall of hate, it would behoove him to keep a hint of that melody in the front of his mind and remain mindful of what he’s done and the tremendous debt he has to repay: to his family, his community, the victim’s admirers and to God. I’d also suggest he stay away from inappropriate relationships with the staff. As tempting as they may be it never works out, always blows up in your face, and more than likely they’ll throw you under the bus. Take it from one who knows.
My greatest concern in this whole tragic affair is that Nick Reiner, already obviously wounded, fragile and vulnerable, will crumble under the weight of his new identity. No longer the ne’er-do-well son of a Hollywood icon but now a pariah who committed the unthinkable. It took almost ten years and many long nights of suicidal ideation before I turned the corner and realized that my mother would know I did not mean to take her life and that she loved me, would forgive me and would not want me to suffer any more on the back wards of the nut house. Then began my true journey of forgiveness and purpose, becoming an advocate for the mentally ill and finally writing and eventually publishing my memoir The Hospital Always Wins five years after I was released. The book has the notable distinction of being the first work published by an African American written from behind the walls of a mental institution.
Yes, I worry that Nick Reiner will look at his life and all he’s wrought and make the decision to leave this world. I only hope he gets the opportunity as we have in the wake of the tragedy to review the massive archive of video footage of his father Rob, who so beautifully took up the mantle of the father of a troubled son, one with substance abuse and mental health challenges. And Nick will see a man fighting the stigma, beating back the shame and disappointment, and loving the hell out of his son as only a good, decent, caring father could do, before the hell eventually became too great. I hope Nick sees that before any rash choices and recognizes, like I did, that they loved him, would forgive him and wouldn’t want him to suffer.
I hope that Nick Reimer could read this or benefit somehow from your hard won wisdom. So much of your own healing journey seems to be based on practical, everyday awareness of what it means to be human and learning self acceptance. All of us have the propensity to do evil things and conversely, very good things. We spend half our lives trapped in fear of others or ourselves.
Why can’t we reach this level of understanding at an earlier age and why do we need to suffer so much, and make so many regrettable choices just to gain wisdom?
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Thankyou for your honesty. As a mother of a son diagnosed with schizophrenia I can emphasize with the son who committed this awful crime, it’s a brain disease, he wasn’t in control, he is being punished for something he did when he wasn’t able to think logically or about consequences, it’s tragic.
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“A brain disease.” Scientifically, chemical imbalances from “mental illness” come from the medications interfering with natural functions of the brain; in fact at first the drug companies tried to make out that the affect of their medications came from such a disease, and this had to be corrected, as so much has. The spike in the occurrence of mental illness correlates with this idea that’s it’s a brain disease, and medications that actually cause a brain disease by disabling the mind are what treats a brain disease. The ideology that it’s a brain disease has yet to be proven, while that the medications cause a brain disease is concretely proven. People who are not treated such have more recovery, also. One can only wonder what would have happened if the truth was told, to begin with. Despite the media. I can only imagine how confusing it is to someone to try to navigate through all of the confusion, stress, anxiety and the resulting anger. To prevent all of that means something else than what did occur. Or the simple teaching of non violence, which I think needs to be on both sides. In fact all of them. And if it was taught on all sides, whether it was to a child, from an institution, or a nation, that would also have been what brings a different outcome.
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Sorry, Janice, while I sympathize with your son’s emotional difficulties, I am not aware of any credible evidence that the widely diverse set of behaviors labeled as schizophrenia are in fact the result of any brain-related pathology. That remains a highly controversial, still unproved hypothesis propagated by pharmaceutical companies and conventional psychiatry for their own self-serving purposes.
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Janice, you should know that the schizophrenia treatments – the antipsychotics / neuroleptics – can create the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, via anticholinergic toxidrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxidrome
Plus they can create the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, via neuroleptic induced deficit syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroleptic-induced_deficit_syndrome
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Disgusting. Why are you making excuses for a double homicide? He must be so lonely…… we’re all CRAZY out here. There is no excuse for those actions!
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We’re not really looking for excuses; we are looking for reasons why. Assassins do it for money or notoriety. Others do it out of some bizarre psychic impulse. Both reasons are basically sick. And both forms of sickness are incurable by most traditional methods. So, what do we do when it happens?
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It’s always disgusting to kill. We are all capable of killing. At times we must kill—to survive. And that’s ok. But who gets to decide what killing is to survive and what is not.
What makes me eligible? Because I’ve never killed? Because I’ve never had to kill? Because I have killed? Because I’ve had to kill. Because I’ve never had to kill? And where is the line between self defense and murder? And who gets to draw the line? The people like you Amberleigh or me who have never even met the victims nor the perpetrator? Or people who did know them? Was I there that day? Was I there during all their family interactions throughout Nicks 32 years as their son? Were you? But yes. It’s disgusting what he did. It shouldn’t be excused. I’m so grateful I’ve never been in whatever position the three of them were in & pray I never am.
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Exactly
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To author, thinking about above post. What I want to hear is how a person understands their actions years and decades later. I have a lot of questions. I will try to read your memoir and see if they are addressed.
Thank you and best wishes
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I don’t know if we will ever know for sure if it was premeditated or done during a psychotic episode. It seems premeditated to me because it happened shortly after he had a big fight with his parents and he has a history of hostility towards them and he is also prone to violent outbursts according to many articles that I’ve read about him. There seemed to be a deep resentment and hatred towards them for all their success that he’s not capable of.
On the other hand, years of drug addiction can harm the brain a lot and cause mental illness (possibly even schizophrenia). Moreover, I can’t imagine mixing psychiatric medications with alcohol and/or street/recreational drugs being a good combination for anyone to mess with.
I feel so sorry for the Reiner family. I wish them the best.
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I don’t know if we will ever really know for sure if it was premeditated or happened during a psychotic episode. He has a history of hostility towards his parents and this happened shortly after a fight he had with them. On the other hand psychiatric medications, other drugs or alcohol (especially combined) can harm the brain and cause mental disorders or psychotic episodes. I feel so sorry for the Reiner family. I wish them the best.
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At a minimum, I think it’s fair to say his psychiatric “treatment” did nothing to prevent his violent acts. The odds are that his “treatment” contributed to it, but it certainly didn’t prevent it. How is this not seen as a failure of the system?
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I think me can say the same thing out violence, suicide and psychiatric drugs. I think it is difficult to prove that the drugs cause it, but certainly when can look at our current situation, we can say that psychiatry isn’t helping the matter.
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From the statistics I am seeing, roughly half of homicides are “cold-blooded” and the other half “hot-blooded.” I am sure there is also the possibility of a combination of both impulses. And psych drugs just amplify whatever is there even more. There is good documentation that they play a role in human violence.
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There have been many tragic stories over the years I am thinking of Andrea Yates and all the myriad of school and other shootings. Gun laws and the armament industries and education and support systems such as medicine and helping professions all involved and all have stains on their hands some more than others. It is a hard thing to live with a life taken. Soldiers do but state sanctioned. In Ohio there was a psychologist from Colorado who was brought in to work with adolescents who had killed their parents. I heard her talk – was impressed. She was clear there were issues in the famiky but also clear long time processing was needed. At the end of her work she went with them to visit the graves of the family members they had killed.
Now it seems – my best guess the pill mills and rehab abd or treatment places ( for profit- money doesn’t not guarantee good care) lack of real support human beings get not only more volatile but in some countries the weapons are so easily available. And what was the pattern that changed from that was then this is now?
It takes bravery and courage to live with this situation. I would recommend Greg Orr’s memoir different but similar enough.
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I think what happened here might have more to do with the possible consequences of using psychoactive substances — legal or prescriptive — than a diagnosis of “schizophrenia”. This is because psychoactive substances — legal or prescriptive — are known to bring on psychosis, the gateway symptom for a schizophrenia diagnosis.
The truth: psychoactive substances — legal or prescriptive — can change brain chemistry in ways that seriously interfere with an individual’s accurate take on reality. And with that, the ability to make rational decisions. Impulse control can often go out the window.
It sounds like Rick Reiner had issues since he was a young kid, possibly stemming from family dynamics and/or the culture he was raised in, according to people who knew the family, issues that may have caused Rick to seek relief in illegal psychoactive substances.
Nevertheless, something terrible happened to Rick and his loved ones. They deserve oceans of compassion from here on in.
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CORRECTION:
I think what happened here might have more to do with the possible consequences of using psychoactive drugs — illegal or prescriptive — than a diagnosis of “schizophrenia”. This is because psychoactive substances — illegal or prescriptive — are known to cause psychotic episodes, the gateway symptom for a schizophrenia diagnosis.
The truth: psychoactive substances — illegal and prescriptive — can change brain chemistry in ways that can seriously interfere with an individual’s accurate take on reality. And with this, the ability to make rational decisions. Impulse control can go out the window.
It sounds like Rick Reiner had issues since he was very young, possibly stemming from family dynamics and/or the culture he was raised in, according to some people who knew the family, issues that may have caused Rick to seek relief in illegal psychoactive substances.
Nevertheless, something terrible happened to Rick and his loved ones, all of whom deserve oceans of compassion from here on in.
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Yes, the admitted involvement of psychiatric medications in this whole affair turns this into yet another tragedy possibly related to the use of psychiatric medications. Oddly, my group just recently released a new documentary on this subject. Its findings only add more urgency to our campaign to end the use of these medications for “mental health” purposes.
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That’s wonderful news, Larry. I appreciate your group’s finely tuned understanding of what human beings are up against regarding the indiscriminate prescription of psychiatric drugs—and psychiatry overall.
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I find this a balanced piece. The basic message is realistic: Nick is now screwed both ways – assuming he did it, which I guess is what most assume. Our justice system does not know how to remove guilt in a way that revives the spirit and the will to live an honest life. And our “mental health” system does not know, either.
The only alternative to these that most are aware of is death. But most do not understand the consequences of that, either.
Let me simply say what I know about this; I know very little about any of these personalities.
Death brings rebirth. This I am quite sure of. In this process, the being (the immortal spiritual being) does not normally change that much; all it does is forget.
The next “Nick” would be unaware of his past, but would be haunted by it. He might well fall into a pattern of addiction in his new life. Thus, death is no “answer,” but merely a temporary escape mechanism.
Methods DO exist that could remove Nick’s guilt in a way that would restore his ability to live an honest and happy life. But they are lengthy and expensive. My lament in this case is that Nick’s parents, his whole community, his doctors, his social workers, his therapists probably were totally unaware of these methods or being warned against them by the psychopaths of our world, or their minions. Nick’s parents were among the relatively few people on this planet who could have afforded these methods, and would have certainly benefited from them.
My larger lament is that even among those who can afford these methods, only a few are taking advantage of them. Much like Nick will be in his next life, many of us – possibly most of us – are guilty of transgressions long forgotten but still having the power to haunt us.
To locate these transgressions, forgive ourselves for them, and restore our self-respect thereafter is an involved but doable process. If only a significant fraction of the population took advantage of this, our world would change. Indeed, it probably has already changed due to those who have been through this process. We will never know (I hope) how much worse it would have been if they had not gone through that restorative procedure. But we may never know how much better life could be if more do not take advantage of it soon, before it is too late.
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What system are you referring to? The process to go through?
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What healing system do I refer to?
For drug addicts, it is delivered by Narconon. I don’t know what it costs, but I am sure it isn’t cheap.
There are also programs for the incarcerated delivered by Criminon, which I understand are fairly workable.
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“The most dangerous thing you can do in your life… is to see a psychiatrist.” – The Conscience of Psychiatry – Professor of Psychiatry Peter Breggin.
One of the biggest mistakes Nick Reiner and/or his family made… was to see a psychiatrist and trust them. This applies not just to Nick Reiner and his family… but to all the people around the world who make the same mistake – including us. It seems Nick Reiner’s past is not good. Furthermore, mainstream psychiatry and psychiatrists… along with their psychiatric medications (which are toxic chemicals)… seem to have only worsened Nick Reiner’s already troubled past. Anyway….
***
In short, if you have natural emotional problems… seeing a psychiatrist is a truly dangerous step. That psychiatrist will first (numbs) drugged you with psychiatric drugs, which are poisonous chemicals. And then he turns you into a real mentally ill person. (Such as the development, increase, and/or worsening of psychological symptoms caused by psychiatric drugs. This causes individuals to appear as “mentally ill”. Psychiatrists therefore label them as mentally ill. And then the drugged.)
And then it leads to you being admitted to a mental health facility (such as a psychiatric hospital or nursing home). And then it iatrogenically cripples (injures) you. (In other words, it can cause you to develop various permanent and fatal mental and physical illnesses and disorders.)
And then it kills you suddenly and/or slowly later. Etc. etc. Just like Nick Reiner, who is in the same position… like as it has happened to millions of other people around the world.
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The culture of cover-up… is quite common in the mainstream medical world…
If you are maimed (injured – disabled) and/or killed while undergoing psychiatric treatment… the mainstream medical world will cover up the cause of your iatrogenic maiming and/or death by blaming it on other reasons. And mainstream medicine… has been doing this (covering it up) for decades.
Cover-up culture is widespread in mainstream medicine. They are particularly adept at concealing the “iatrogenic harm” inflicted on people who are injured (disabled or killed) while undergoing psychiatric treatment.
“Mainstream medicine… is primarily (from first degree) responsible for the millions of people who have been maimed (injured – disabled) and killed while undergoing psychiatric treatment for decades.”
Probably due to this culture of cover-up, millions (billions including the dead) of people worldwide have been maimed (injured – disabled) and killed. This is just for those receiving psychiatric treatment. And these iatrogenic causes of injury and death… have always been covered up by mainstream medicine by blaming other causes on something else. In other words, the “real causes of injury and death” of these people have been deliberately concealed. And unfortunately, this culture of cover-up continues openly.
In the mainstream medical world… mainstream psychiatry, psychiatrists, and the operation to whitewash psychiatric drugs, which are “toxic chemicals”… this is how it works. Mainstream medicine… protects mainstream psychiatry; – by causing millions of people worldwide to be maimed (injured – disabled) and killed every year. Best regards.
With my sincerest wishes. Y.E 🙂 Research blog writer (Blogger)
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Good points, Yildirim.
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Schizophrenia is a dangerous paradigm disease to live within. Dangerous indeed. Marijuana use with the new pot thc 100x – not the old pot of 70s only perpetuates the ideations and psychosis. The recidivism rate falling off meds that are difficult to endure and mentally difficult and relentless to remember to take and the onslaught of side effects makes it remarkable in its affect and effect- death and pain and horror.
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My son suffered bouts of schizophrenia due to the meds he was given during the process of diagnosis. I have seen the angry and violent outburats triggered by simething small. Male parentstend to brush off diagnosis like this and.rhat is the danger as the patient then builds up anger. Also the fact that i didnt understand his lack of motivation frustrated him and built up more anger and led to violent outbursts. I was lucky thar he wanted psychiatric help but other people dont understand. You have tread very carefully with mental patients as anything can spatk off a catastrophic event.
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Posting as Moderator: Hi, Lizzie!
I almost moderated your comment based on your last sentence. It makes a gross generalization about “mental patients,” which I wanted to bring to the surface for everyone, hence I allowed the comment. It’s not OK to assume that all “mental patients” have anything in common with each other, including a tendency toward violence. Please don’t generalize from your specific experienced to all “mental patients.” Many, many studies have shown that the vast majority so labeled are far more likely to be victimized than to victimize others.
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An excellent rejoinder, Steve.
I would just add that on a worldwide scale, corporate players (environmental polluters, or producers of addictive and toxic foods that contribute to widespread diabetes, obesity, and other health problems) cause immeasurably greater harm to public safety and welfare than “mental patients” whose actions are sensationalized by the mainstream media.
Why don’t psychiatrists hospitalize and forcibly treat the CEOs who knowingly pollute the environment or otherwise endanger the public? Or does the pursuit of profit outweigh every other consideration?
The answer is not hard to guess.
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“You have tread very carefully with mental patients as anything can spatk off a catastrophic event.”
What is being said here?
It begins with saying a child suffered bouts of schizophrenia because of the medications he was put on when diagnosed, then the second to last sentence it says she was lucky he wanted psychiatric treatment and others don’t understand. What don’t they understand, that he was put on medications that caused his bouts? When he was angry at having to be motivated for this, although it seems it was promoted, then this is on him again? And what is the statement based on that male parents don’t tend to understand?
If he doesn’t want treatment that causes the problem, then he lacks motivation and to be angry at people promoting what caused the problem is on him. Then when “male” parents don’t agree with that they are stereotyped. And in the end, a person who has all of this coming at him is stereotyped and he can spark off into a catastrophic event.
Sorry, but is the next step going on about who is non reality based? Patients, male parents are stereotyped; one is said to be lucky when someone wants a treatment which has shown to cause the problem; and when we don’t get this we don’t understand; the person having all of such pushed on him is not supposed to get angry; when a male parent doesn’t promote such but “writes it off” he is adding to the problem rather than promoting the ideology that has shown to cause the problem.
I’m really trying to say things in a way that would communicate to people who put all of this forth with such contradictions and not myself get lost in all of the contradictions and programmed responses. What rewards is there for following such ideology? Statics show that the reward isn’t recovery of the patient.
When there’s anger against something that already has been said to cause the problem this is diagnosed; but to stereotype male parents, and patients and others who “don’t understand” this isn’t seen as displaced resentment and anger? Or programmed fear?
If one is to tread carefully, to begin with, one has to look beyond programmed, indoctrinated treatments that correlate with causing what they say they are treating (a chemical imbalance), as well as what correlates with a spike in the problem rather than a lessening, as well as not diagnosing and dismissing someone’s anger when they feel put upon to be forced, coerced or lead into such. When one is interested in healing this isn’t making whoever feel appeased that something is done, regardless of what statistics and science says the results are.
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Thank you for writing this. I immediately felt so sorry for his parents, siblings, and felt I was the only one to also feel so sorry for him.
If you kill the people who loved you most and thereby even destroy your own future, OF COURSE you are out of your mind. Murdering your parents is no one’s idea of a happy life.
How is that even a question?
I wish Nick Reiner all the best – just because no one else will.
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Your promethean journey, Issa Ibrahim, rinses us all, thank you.
The equally promethean but mystifying absence in your article, for me, remains personal agency. Identity as related to penultimate personal behavior (response-ability) manifests back into the opaque other-generated: parents, socialization, addiction, mental illness…
Perhaps, in human history, some earlier indigenous, adolescent “rite of passage”, involving true, material life danger, had important species value (I’m surely not saying it’s necessary): no one else, nothing else except personal adaptability then counted.
You’re right: Nick’s parents, Rob/Michele, surely forgive him (their wonderful, creative lives so testify). And? Surely more “time” isn’t necessary for the species to know: suffering is the catalyst, the universal and undeniable requirement – and there is no exit from that fact – for each to become what/who we are, for being able-to-respond with care and creativity to take hold of social maturity, instead of the endless acting out of the universal resentment (“blame”) that seemingly permeates our species.
One shares your wishes for the as yet only accused Nick: compassionately finding himself empowers all – you/your story/your art so confirms – out of the infinite sea of possibility that confronts each one of our very fraught species.
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Has anyone see this or remember it from the 70’s? I simply could not believe that I watched this yesterday (the video clip in the article) and that the uncanny and devastating correlation to the incident was so similar. What I wonder are two things: Did Rob Reiner as “Meathead” really feel that way about Capital Punishment or was that just acting? Also, did his son Nick ever watch his father on this sitcom and possibly see this particular segment and if so, did he think that if he ever got to a point to murder his own parents that he would be set free? This is so Eerie and Unbelievable: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15420297/sally-struthers-distraught-late-costar-rob-reiner.html#v-2885829780068677279
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Someone mentioned not know if it is true that they didn’t fight back as they didn’t want to harm him. In a case like this or under these circumstances maybe a friend or relative could have petitioned the probate court that he was a harm to himself and his parents an temporarily a professional guardian not one corrupt please of course to get the correct diagnoses, testing and treatment. That would have taken the pressure off his parents if Nick was blaming them and taking advantage of their love for him. I have seen cases where misdiagnoses has went in sense early teens where people had Autism for instance ontop of drug induced self medication by illegal means. I have seen psychiatrist continue with the medication clearly when a patient had Tardia Dyskinesia and they blamed it on Parkinson’s Disease when a medical doctor ordered a brain scan that proved their was no Parkinson’s and the psychiatrist refused to take patient off the affecting medication dropped the patient like a hot potato into a hospital where he acquired hospital pneumonia/sepsis and died. The corruption in the courts does not allow for suing these doctors as lawyers refuse most of the time to take these cases as it seems the cronyism is rampant with the whole system legal and medical. Clozaril sometimes works when all other drugs do not like in Nick’s case. The public should know sooner then later what drugs he was on that may have caused this rage or perhaps withdrawal rage if he wasn’t taking it at the time of this catastrophe. The regime in power now are taking funding away and want to lock people up without due process in like concentration camps. Vote them all out asap like your life depends on it cuz it does for all people. The rich only care for the rich in that group in power.
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The saddest part is that it seems to me that his parents didn’t see just how dire his situation was. I think bringing Nick to the party and then yelling and humiliating him in front of others pushed him over the edge. In no way did they deserve to die but I think they misjudged the severity of the situation. It’s very sad to me that they are gone.
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Deeply touched by your article ,Issa. I believe there is hope for Nick as there is for all of us . I would like to present you with a bitter pill that if taken can change everything . You ,Issa, have identified with Nick regarding your past . As we look at our own lives we see we are likewise are imprisoned by our addictions, our hatred and self loathing . We have slandered and destroyed .We have hated and used people . We may not have killed our parents but have taken the lives of our own children. We destroy everyone around us and ourselves. We live our lives in guilt and futility and then die and that’s not the end of it. There is a God and we will answer him as surely as Nick .
I am no great intellectual and don’t understand some of the therapies /tx mentioned in other comments .( not my area ,not my deal) But I have seen people change when they understand that their debt ( the sin, the pain and guilt) that they have caused , has been paid . There is freedom from our addictions, the chains are broken . This will occur when we repent , confess our deepest secret, guilt ,trespass and believe that Jesus paid our debt so we could be right with God . This is but the beginning of a changed life .
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Seems to me that the diagnosis of “Certified Paranoid Schizophrenic” is the main problem here, but yeah, let’s blame that already stigmatized demon “marijuana”….I’ve been smoking daily for the last 56 years and managed to raise 5 kids, work in the Electrical industry for 43 years (with NO incidents at all) and managed to get by just fine in my life….I’ve had to stop periodically for different reasons, and it was NO PROBLEM AT ALL….These people who label cannabis as “addictive” are casting aspersions on a substance that is the scapegoat for their own inability to handle the effects of cannabis….The problem is their mental issues, not the “marijuana”…..
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That’s not your real name, right? If you’ve been using steadily for 56 years, then you’re an addict. The difference is that you have remained functional. People who let their addictions cave them in are the reason there is social pressure to outlaw these drugs. But that sure didn’t work with alcohol!
Ideally, no one should need any drugs to live a good life. Society thinks that education, warnings, or prohibitions will keep their loved ones away from drugs. But “addictive personalities” tend to break easily. You are correct that the ultimate answer is to fix the addictive personality and not blame the drug.
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THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE LATER
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