My oldest sister suffered with severe mental illness beginning around the age of 15. I should say the entire family suffered from her illness. It was terrible! Words can not describe it unless you have lived it. Had to deal with her constant emotional outburst and her violence towards us. As a very young teenager girl I learned to fight like a man just for my own protection. If you didn't fight back she would hurt you bad! Her problems became even worse when she became an adult and began self medicating with alcohol and drugs. We lost her to an overdose several years ago. There was no support for families 30+ years ago and sad to say there is not much more available for families now. We learned to be our own support group.