The short, unhappy life of Rebecca Riley is a parable for our times. Her diagnosis with bipolar disorder at the age of 28 months was followed by a downward spiral which parents, doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, and everybody else around her seemed powerless to halt.
Born into a troubled family, Rebecca had the deck stacked against her from the beginning. Rebecca's father had been banned from living with his family in public housing after Carolyn's thirteen-year-old daughter from a previous marriage had lodged a complaint against him for sexual assault (that daughter had been given up for adoption and was no longer living with her biological mother at the time of the alleged assault). Carolyn Riley once obtained a restraining order against her husband after claiming he grabbed their son by the neck and banged his head against the back window of a pickup truck (Michael denied the accusation and the restraining order was allowed to lapse). Michael identified himself as suffering from intermittent rage disorder and bipolar disorder; he was not taking any medication for these conditions. Carolyn was taking Paxil for anxiety and depression.
