Word: glorias
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Suspecting that Greg was suffering from schizophrenia, Bob and Gloria Aller sought help from an expert at their alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles. Their fears were confirmed. But they also received some good news: Greg was eligible for a sophisticated UCLA research project that would provide him with the enormously expensive treatment and medication required by schizophrenia. The Allers felt they had found a way out for their troubled son. Instead they found a descent into hell...
Greg's parents were ecstatic with his progress. They were, however, wary of Phase 2. They talked to Nuechterlein and Greg's caseworker, Joseph Tietz, a graduate student. "We knew when Greg went into the program that they would take him off medication at a certain point," says Gloria Aller. "They explained to us that this was to test whether he really needed it for the long run." The scientists noted that antipsychotic drugs have powerful side effects, and they were trying to identify patients who might be able to stay off medication and avoid them. Among the drug...
...Gloria Aller remained concerned. "More than once I asked them, 'If he starts to slip, you'll put him back on medication?' " She says the staff assured her they would. On June 1, 1989, Greg Aller signed his second consent form. The form blandly said the study's "purpose" was "to take people like me off medication in a way that will give the most information about the medication, its effect on me, on others and on the way the brain works." Further, the clinic promised it would use "active medication again to improve ((Aller's)) condition" if he showed...
...Gloria Aller became alarmed at the change in their son. "He began to get agitated easily," says Gloria. "He stopped combing his hair, and he became rather antisocial." Says Bob: "Suddenly, nobody mattered to him." By Jan. 3 he was so disheveled that Bob called Tietz, Greg's caseworker. Greg was growling in public, sometimes in buses, startling fellow passengers. Tietz saw Greg, noted his "inappropriate laughter" and "swelling eyes," and added that "Greg denies any hallucinations or delusions," according to medical records the family obtained from UCLA. On Jan. 12, Bob recalls, after Greg saw Tietz again, the caseworker...
...mother's kitchen and called her by her nickname. "Come here, Pooh," he said several times, holding the knife where she could see it. "I thought my mom was possessed by the devil," Greg now recalls. "My plan was to scare the devil out of her, literally." Gloria ran into the bedroom. The Allers began barricading their bedroom door at night. Bob and Greg argued at one point, and Greg kicked his father and threatened to kill him. On Jan. 23 he packed his things and moved out. He was flunking out of school. Two days later, he saw Nuechterlein...