Thank you for your wise words. I agree, "mental illness" is not appropriate. Living with so many suffering I am very aware of how physical an illness it is. Recently my son went through diagnostic tests to see if he had an ulcer. After the tests came back fine he concluded (he is 21) that the gastro problems, abdominal misery.... were all triggered by depression creeping back in, which was set into motion, he feels, by a very serious attack of the Nora virus which scared him as he ended up in the ER. A week after that he had a very paralyzing panic attack, then persistent stomach trouble. An increase in prozac has helped. I guess an assault on his system, causing stress, caused the neurochemistry to get out of whack!

You are right - arming them with knowledge is the best thing. I do sit in on dr. appts. with my teen daughter. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!