Monday, November 9, 2009

Heart of the Treasure Valley: Emerging from the darkness of mental illness | Life | Idaho Statesman

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The young man that Eric Buckner is today - happy, smiling, confident - is totally unrecognizable as the boy that he used to be.

He says: "I was kicked out of three preschools, three elementary schools, one high school - and loads of restaurants - for violent behavior. I could not control myself."

It wasn't just one thing that would set him off; it was a multitude of things. He didn't think; he reacted. He got so angry he couldn't remember things. Kids at school would make fun of him; his outbursts and tirades would perpetuate the cycle.

"If anybody told me to do something, I'd resist, freak out and get angry, just to spite. In preschool at nap time. You're going to tell ME? I'll tell YOU.

"I was so emotionally fractured.

I was depressed constantly and constantly bullied. I was borderline suicidal; I didn't want to live. That's a depressing thought when you're only in fourth grade."

Heart of the Treasure Valley: Emerging from the darkness of mental illness | Life | Idaho Statesman

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