THE CITADEL

Let me get back to Andrew’s high school years. During his junior year, we started talking with Andrew about college. I thought it was important that he go away to school and we of course had no idea at the time how provocative separation is for persons with schizophrenia.

Andrew flew down to Charleston to visit the College of Charleston where he had a friend who was attending as a freshman. He also went to look at the Citadel. This was pre Iran Iraq and the Vietnam war was a distant memory. I thought the Citadel might be a good idea. It might give him structure.

When Andrew came home from this college visitation trip, he told us that he liked the Citadel better. He said that all they were doing at the College of Charleston was eating pizza and drinking beer. He did not feel like that would work for him. He said he felt like he needed discipline. 

Later people would wonder why he ever went to the Citadel-what with all the hazing and tough guy military stuff. I think there was a feeling on the part of some of our friends that the Citadel culture and environment were somehow the cause of Andrew’s first documented psychosis. After Andrew was diagnosed, several psychiatrists would tell us that while it is hard to determine the trigger points for psychosis, leaving home often correlates with the onset of overt symptoms of schizophrenia. Of course, we will never know. 

What I do know was Andrew wanted, always wanted to do the right thing. He knew it was hard for him to have study discipline and he wanted to be successful. He picked the Citadel to help him get there.