That two months of torture eventually took its toll on my son.
Sleep deprivation over a long period gradually drives you into a state of mind in which the distinction between dream and reality fades. The two worlds become one.
I felt this disturbing state of mind start to affect me. Being an unemployed layabout, I was able to solve the problem by adopting a strict discipline of sleep. After my wife was admitted to hospital I slept as I needed to. I stayed up for only 4 hours each day within the span of the winter daylight. During that 4 hours I worked hard getting the house back into a functional state, some days venturing out to do the shopping.
This disturbing state of mind had also started to affect my son. Having a job, he had to go to work each day to do a full shift, as he had done throughout the two months of my wife's relapse. As a result, his perception of what was real and what was imagination merged. He started to become ill. He eventually became disruptive on Christmas Day 2000, trashing his bedroom. The next day (Boxing Day) he went out with a friend. I received a telephone call from the police. They said he wanted them to take him into hospital for treatment. He was admitted to hospital that day.
The vast difference between my wife and my son is that after one day, he admitted that he needed help and volunteered to go into hospital. He did not subject the rest of us to two months of torture.
Yet the law says that my wife was not a danger to us during her two months of relapse. Let those who make the law subject themselves to what their law subjects others. Let them be subjected to two months of disruption and enforced sleep deprivation. Then let them reconsider their precious law.