Jani Schofield's parents are divorcing

[Eternalbluepearl]

who the heck is this? I ve rea first page only but he sounds like a vile disgusting swine.

This is a California family that has been featured on 2 TLC specials called Born Schizophrenic (If I remember correctly) where the daughter, Jani, was supposedly born with schizophrenia and her parents trying to help her and get her a proper diagnosis, making her the youngest person with schizophrenia I believe. Along the way, it was discovered that Jani's little brother, Bodhi, is also schizophrenic, at least according to the mom, Susan. Susan and Michael,the dad, are now getting divorced. Michael has a new girlfriend named Amy who has a little girl. They live out of state from each other and are currently trying to figure out a plan to be together, yet still have them see their respective children. Susan is single and remains as focused as ever on having Bodhi diagnosed as schizophrenic and put on the same medication that Jani is on. A post I saw recently on Facebook, looked like Michael doesn't agree with Susan that Bodhi is schizophrenic but rather autistic. Susan clarified that she believes he is both. There is some speculation that neither Jani or Bodhi are actually schizophrenic. The father, Michael has written a book about Jani's "descent into madness" called January First. The kids are now 13 (Jani) and maybe 8 or so (Bodhi.)

My own personal completely uneducated opinion is that the kids are autistic, with Jani being high functioning. The doctors at UCLA hospital refuse to diagnose Bodhi as anything but autistic with explosive outbursts (or something sorry I'm not a doctor) and that has sent Susan on a hunt for a doctor anywhere in the country that will see him as schizophrenic and give him a certain drug she wants him to take. She has a facebook page she updates regularly with posts and videos of the kids and has a few fan girls that hang on her every word. She also posts regularly about her divorce and occasionally Michael and/or Amy will chime in with responses. It's all very public and rather strange.

Susan is also working on a business called Schofield Productions where she is putting together videos about mental illness starting with her kids and then including other families. She and Michael speak out about the tragedies of things like Columbine and Sandy Hook and how the mental health care system is broken in America. She basically vacillates between possibly making sense about the huge topic of how mental illness is treated here in America to ranting about how no doctor understands just how broken her children are. That the TLC specials never quite captured it, the doctors visits never quite capture it, only she and Michael have ever seen the true extent of their kids' schizophrenia according to her but the videos she's captured for "Schofield Productions" will bring it all to light. It really just makes it seem like she's embellishing for attention. Susan describes herself as being bi-polar as well. It's like she has an intro to psych text book that she reads from and labels people as she sees fit.

[Taters]

I watched a few videos from when the children were younger. The parents did seem weird and the mother overly chirpy. And this Facebook thing...

I have no idea if the diagnosis for each of them is correct or not. It breaks my heart to see that little girl with those circles under her eyes.

[beckerbuns]

Michael blocked me on FB after I questioned his shaming of others for NOT sending money to pay his and other families' PG&E bills. My family with special needs kids was in its own financial crisis and I resented being shamed for not sending money to others. Apparently this did not meet with his world view. :pink-shock:

[dianapavelovna]

Woooow. In her September 24 post, Susan lists Bodhi's meds: 80 mg of Geodon, 600 mg of Lithium, and 75 mg of Benadryl. That is a shit ton of meds. I don't know how he stays awake. I think that much Benadryl alone would keep me half asleep.

I think Michael is an asshole and a creeper, but it's interesting that he's now taking the position that Bodhi is not schizophrenic.

[JillsFlowerHeadband]

Woooow. In her September 24 post, Susan lists Bodhi's meds: 80 mg of Geodon, 600 mg of Lithium, and 75 mg of Benadryl. That is a shit ton of meds. I don't know how he stays awake. I think that much Benadryl alone would keep me half asleep.

I think Michael is an asshole and a creeper, but it's interesting that he's now taking the position that Bodhi is not schizophrenic.

Poor baby... I feel sorry for Jani too, both those kids are medicated to the gills and to be honest (note I'm not a Degreed Medical Professional™ aka a licensed psychiatrist so my opinion is completely uneducated) a lot of Jani's tics and behaviors seem more like she's on the spectrum than actually schizophrenic... but that wouldn't make her oh-so-tragic and unique, would it? I do also think that some of her "episodes" are prompted by her parents like the one in the UCLA waiting room

[morri]

If the kids are mistreated since they are born I wouldnt wonder if they took brain damage./ (not saying i they have autism that it was because of mistreatment) Does TLC have any integrity at all or do they just film anyone that loudly screams me?

[Taters]

This blog has an interesting theory, that Joni has synesthesia, not schizophrenia.

Again, I have no idea, I'm not a medical expert at all.

incorrectpleasures.blogspot.ch/2010/04/jani-schofield-im-sorry-that-ill-have.html

[clueliss]

6 or so years ago when I first saw something on this family, a friend at church had seen the same whatever I had. She's a social worker (and we were in a group with someone studying early autism intervention, and a parent of a son with PDD-NOS (translation high functioning autism)). She doubted the schizophrenia diagnosis due to the child's age alone. So for me it is interesting to see others here weighing in with similar thoughts.

[morri]

i dont think yo can be born with schizophrenia, you dont get born depressed or bipolar either..

[Taters]

Just trying to to upgrade from Tater tots :mrgreen:

I tried to edit a previous post (I misspelled Jani) but I can't.

[beckerbuns]

i dont think yo can be born with schizophrenia, you dont get born depressed or bipolar either..

I don't know whether it's known for sure, but there is pretty strong evidence that these things are genetically inherited. For example, my bipolar son's dad and several other relatives are/were also bipolar.

[Eternalbluepearl]

I don't personally think Jani is schizophrenic. The videos I've seen of Jani as a baby looking around the room and her parents insisting she's hallucinating just don't add up. It was leading and confirmation bias from the beginning, in my super uneducated opinion. As soon as Bodhi starts showing signs of autism, Susan can say hey look! Just like Jani! :angry-banghead: Then she throws all of the responsibility onto the UCLA doctors to find the right meds and fix a condition they don't believe he has. When they don't comply with her demands, she posts immature rants and videos attacking them on Facebook.

[dianapavelovna]

This blog has an interesting theory, that Joni has synesthesia, not schizophrenia.

Again, I have no idea, I'm not a medical expert at all.

incorrectpleasures.blogspot.ch/2010/04/jani-schofield-im-sorry-that-ill-have.html

Thanks for posting this; it's really interesting. This part in particular caught my eye:

A December 2009 Los Angeles Times article contains a hint that Jani’s “hallucinations†display a consistency that is the hallmark of genuine synesthesia “She told me her hallucinations always wear the same clothes.†Another hint that Jani experiences OLP is her violent objection to being called by her full first name. Jani reportedly hates the name "January". Is this because her OLP associations with this month of the year clash with her self-image, or are simply not liked by her? Synesthesia is an inherited condition. One has to wonder at the coincidence in which a child who appears to have OLP has been given a month of the year for a first name.

I'm no neurologist/psychiatrist, but this seems worth exploring further.

[sockinshoe]

These kids could hardly have been born into a more ill- equipped family.

I find it interesting that a previous poster noted that, when Bodhi experiences episodes, it seems that Jani is suddenly left completely alone. Their father writes that, for him, it's the opposite; his default is to give Jani all his attention until Bodhi wrests the spotlight away from her. I find it sad (and more than a little juvenile) for a father to be playing favourites so blatantly. It's also pretty gross how he uses his kids (schizophrenic or not, they have serious issues and deserve to have those issues addressed in a careful and mature manner) to paint his own "woe is me, I'm so sad that it takes my son to bite me for me to feel alive" story. It's like he's in an abusive relationship with his kid (actually made me think of Harley Quinn), which, given his abuse of Jani, is very disconcerting.

[defraudingjezebel]

I looked at Jani's mother- Susan's- public facebook page and was really shocked and disturbed by what I saw in her past feed. She not only openly discusses the particulars of her divorce, but airs her grievances with her soon-to-be-ex husband and his girlfriend out on the facebook! And writes these kind of open appeals to them! Susan regularly engages in confrontations with them on her facebook and I am beyond shocked. Its just so juvenile and immature to carry out such conversations in the open. And as the daughter of a divorced set of parents, I feel that putting all of your business in the open (all of the accusations, hurts, etc.) is one of the worst things you can do for your kids. Even if her kids were neurotypical it would be incredibly hurtful to them. Only now do I realize just how immature, drama- and attention-hungry these people are... and it makes me sad.

[treemom]

i dont think yo can be born with schizophrenia, you dont get born depressed or bipolar either..

Eh, I'm not sure that is true. I was a full grown woman when my anxiety disorder and depression was diagnosed. Partially because I have felt like this for my entire life I never understood it wasn't normal. In fact I thought people who didn't do this weird anxiety thing we're just careless people. My earliest memories are actually of anxious thoughts.

But how could you possibly be diagnosed as anxious or depressed as a newborn..you can't. That doesn't mean it's for sure you can be born with it, I just am not sure you can't be. And my degreed professional agreed with me.

Does that mean I think jani was? No, I'm just not willing to discount it as possible.

[morri]

I know kids can be depressed like 6 yo but that all I know,

[treemom]

I know kids can be depressed like 6 yo but that all I know,

I can't quite understand what you mean since I think there might be some words missing. But my earliest memories, which are of anxious thoughts are at around 3.

Would I have fit a clinical description at 3? No. But probably because I would not have been able to ever express myself well enough.

Again, I don't think it is possible to state that mental illness can't be present at birth. I would say it is probably rare that it is, and impossible to diagnose under our current limitations. I would also give the hairy eyeball to anyone who stated with 100% confidence that it is present at birth. For the same reason.

[morri]

I have heard of 6 year olds being clinically depressed, but none of a younger age. Being anxious is one thing but clinically depressed?

[Lyle Lanley]

I think it's harmful to assume young children cannot fit the criteria of psychiatric disorders and the speculation on what Jani has/doesn't have makes me really uncomfortable. She was involuntarily committed and observed for 6 months at one point. We were not privy to that visit and those observations by psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses. Her diagnosis speculation should be strictly off limits. We simply don't know why the psychiatrists came to the decisions they did. We only have the specials to go by her behavior. As we know, reality TV can be heavily edited.

Now, Susan and Michael are a whole other issue because they have confirmed their special brand of crazy. Michael has admitted to abusing Susan and Jani outright. He talks about trying to push Susan out of a moving car. Then he wonders why the publishing company isn't interested in a second book? Michael was under investigation by CPS for abusing Jani when one of the nurses reported him.

Jani had the misfortune of being born into a dysfunctional family with a martyr complex.

[beckerbuns]

Yes, we are not psychiatric professionals an also were not present when Jani was observed and diagnosed.

Speaking from personal experiences, my son was evaluated at 4-5 years old and found to be depressed and anxious. This was changed a few years later to bipolar disorder. These evaluations were done at a major, reputable university's child psychiatry department.

[GodsKnickers]

I'm not going to argue the diagnoses for these kids. But holy craisins, their parents! I just.....I don't even know what I just.

I've followed this family off and on over the years. Mostly off, just every once in a while I think about them and look them up to see what's going on. The parents and their actions/behavior have always set the bells off, and I do wonder how different these children's lives might be with parents that aren't these 2.

[treemom]

I have heard of 6 year olds being clinically depressed, but none of a younger age. Being anxious is one thing but clinically depressed?

Why not? If a child can have general anxiety disorder why could they not have major depressive disorder?

[bucket]

I do not question that these kids are severely and profoundly ill and need help.

But the continued trauma of being raised by these two sorry excuses for parents is not helping matters. I'd rather be institutionalized than live with the two of them.

[Eternalbluepearl]

I worry about Susan's mental state. :?