01x02 - Part Two: Psychosis

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Mary Galvin] My parents had
no personal experience
with schizophrenia.

I mean, could you imagine
having a 20-something
year-old son

that just tried
to m*rder somebody
and commit suicide?

What would you do?
Where would you turn?

Was there any place
to turn?

[dramatic music playing]

-Okay. Comfortable?
-[Donald Galvin] Mmm-hmm.

[Mary] Okay.

[Mary] You're cold?

Want me to put it
around you shoulders?

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[dramatic music continues]

[indistinct voices whispering]

[Dr. Daniel Weinberger] Where
schizophrenia is diagnosed
between age 17 and 24.

[man 1] It's a tragic story.

To be part
of the Galvin family
is to be part of a tragedy.

[woman] This mutation
was present in every person

in that family
who had schizophrenia.

[Weinberger]
They might hear voices.

They can command them
to do things.

[echoing] Command them
to do things.

[Mary] Thrown a cat
into a bonfire,

dismembered a dog
in a bathtub.

[man 2] This family gave us
hope that there might be

a chance
to cure schizophrenia.

[Brenda Harris]
He shot her first
and then he shot himself.

[Richard Galvin]
Well, it started
to fall apart.

My brothers were falling ill.

They were losing their minds.

[echoing] They were
losing their minds.

There was no peace and quiet
growing up with nine brothers

and two sisters
in a very small house.

Some of the boys were just
a little bit too edgy.

They got
a little bit too rough,
beyond just playfulness.

And that's when you knew
something wasn't right.

It just was
never talked about,

nor did we know
what was going on.

If you look at
that first incident,
which was really Donald,

it took years before we really
started to know

something was really wrong.

[prison gate opens]

[Mary] "10:20 a.m.,
Donald Kenyon Galvin, 24,

was booked
for protective custody

in connection
with an alleged suicide

and possible
homicide attempt."

[gurgling]

"He mixed acid and cyanide
and held his wife and himself
in the room.

He had little insight
and gave little feeling

about the seriousness
of his actions."

[draw creaks]

Here is records
from Pueblo from the state
mental hospital...

-[draw closes]
-...from July 15th, 1970.

That is less than a month
after the incident with Jean.

And it says, "Donald is being
released to his father,
who lives in Colorado Springs,

who plans to set up
private psychiatric therapy

and continue
medications for Donald."

[eerie music playing]

[Richard] Don came home
a mess.

It really became apparent
that he had something
severely wrong with him.

[Mark] Donald's just been
a complete nutcase
for most of my life.

He came home from college
ill when I was
a ten or 12-year-old boy.

Though he spent a good portion
of that time in his room,

reciting the Beatitudes
to himself.

-[bell dinging]
-[whispering]

[Mark] It's kind of hard
to ignore his behavior
when you're a child.

I didn't know
what schizophrenia was
at the time, I mean.

But yeah,
from age 11 or so on,

I knew that there was
a serious problem there.

[soft piano music playing]

[Mary] Donald was difficult
to live with.

My parents just had
such a difficult time
managing him and his illness.

He would take all the pictures
off the walls

or break all the statues
in the house,

or he'd be burning photographs
in the fireplace.

There was one time
when we came home,

I remember going
in the front door,

and the whole house
was empty of furniture.
[chuckles]

Being like,
"What is going on here?"

And then it sort of
started to dawn on you.

Ugh! It's Donald again.

He had removed
all the furniture

from the living room
and kitchen

and taken it outside
up on the hill.

I don't think my parents
were very good at managing

those situations
without hysteria and anger.

They would be
very angry at him.

And then that would cause him
to be more agitated
and more violent.

[dramatic music playing]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[Richard] There was a lot
of bad times for Mom.

I don't know how she did it.

It was mostly that Donald
would just be a*usive to her.

You never know when
he was gonna come out
and do something stupid.

Uh, like hold up a knife
to my mother's throat.

I do remember Donald
coming after my mother

physically, a few times.

And other brothers
would step in.

Jim, probably Mark and Joe.

I never was personally
threatened by him
or physically harmed by him.

But we were all
afraid of him.

And we had all
witnessed his aggression.

And so Jim became
my mother's go-to

for babysitting
the younger kids.

[bird cawing]

Jim was the brother
that would pick us up

and take us home
from the swimming pool.

He would take us skating
to the skating rink
in the wintertime

and things like that.

[Mary] Jim,
he was fun to be around.

He was cool.

He drove a little
red convertible

and had a motorcycle
and wore a leather jacket.

Everyone always
called him James Dean.

Compared him
to that kind of persona.

That's sort of
too cool for school, you know.

Bad boy.

[John] Jim,
he liked to party.

He took me out to a place
when I was still underage.

But, my older brother says,
"Oh, you look old enough.
You look over 18."

I think I met Kathy,
who became his wife,

one of those nights.
[chuckles]

They were in a bar
and drinking beer.

Kathy was a very,
very lovely girl.

Um... very nice person.

And I thought
she was the best thing
that happened to Jim.

[Mary] I was, I think three,
when they got married.

But Kathy and Jim were always
taking the young children
off my parents' hands,

which I think,
they appreciated.

I loved being with them.

They were great fun.

I mean,
they were always great fun.

But then there's
this dark side to him,
that was horrible.

[Mark] I don't know
if Jim was, uh,
giving Mom and Dad a break

because we spent
a fair amount of time
at his home,

even on sleepovers.

And it seemed like
for a lot of years,

Jim and Kathy were
a pretty happy couple.

But I don't know

inside that relationship,
how things were.

[Mary] I don't know
how much the others remember
of those times,

but Jim was

extremely a*usive to Kathy.

[indistinct shouting]

[Mary] He would come home
at night, drunk,

and he would cause
some kind of ruckus with her.

And there'd be
yelling and screaming.

We would
just be hearing it.

We'd be in the other room.

[tires screeching]

[Mary] Then sometimes
Jim would then leave,
you know.

He'd go out in a rage

and Kathy would say,
"Okay, come on, kids.

Come on, kids.
Let's get in the car.
Let's go.

Let's go. We need
to get out of here."

Like, for fear
of our lives.

But it was either
be there with that,

or be at home with Donald,

which for some reason
was scarier,

because it involved things
that weren't real,

whereas I think
Jim's was more concrete.

It was like domestic violence
may be more
socially acceptable, perhaps,

than schizophrenia.

And so I don't know
which was worse.

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[indistinct voices whispering]

There are many causes
of people arriving
at this state of behavior

and experience
that we call schizophrenia.

But there are certain
common characteristics.

Probably the most
dramatic characteristic are
what we call hallucinations,

which can be very frequent,
very disturbing

and dominate
the person's life.

They hear things.
And generally,
what they hear are voices.

Usually multiple voices,

often of people
they don't know.

Rarely are
the voices friendly.

They're usually voices
that negatively comment
on their behavior,

on their appearance,
on their thinking.

They can command them
to do things that
can be very destructive.

And they generate
tremendous anxiety
and discomfort.

And this is one
of the most really dramatic,
harrowing experiences

of individuals
with schizophrenia.

Don and I
didn't get along very well.

And, uh,
Don was physically a*usive.

Don and Jim were
at each other's throats
all the time.

[soft piano music playing]

I tried to avoid the family
when it suited me to do so.

And not be part of the strife
that was going on.

After I graduated
from high school,

I didn't visit
Colorado Springs very often.

Because I got a scholarship
to go to music school.

I had piano
as my major instrument
while I was going to school.

And, uh...

That's where I met my wife
after a couple of years
at the University of Colorado.

Met in 1970.

And married
January 9th in '71.

And that was

When I first
went to his family,

it seemed a little off.

It was, uh,
overly orderly.

And, um, Mimi,

would give instructions
and everybody followed it
to the letter

like they're little robots.

I didn't see individual
personalities of interest.

And I thought it was strange
that each girl
had their own little room.

And these boys were stacked
two bunk beds in one room.

So you had four in one room,
four in another
and two in another.

Everything was in order.

And everybody had a job.

Somebody set the table,
somebody washed,
somebody dried.

Mimi would deliver orders
and they would do it.

It just seemed like
one bad apple
spoiled the whole bunch.

Thanksgiving is supposed
to be a day to be thankful
for a bountiful harvest

and whatever you have
in your life that is good.

[piano music playing]

My mother had prepared
a beautiful meal
for everybody.

[Richard] It was all
prim and proper,
setting up the table.

Beautiful tables,
china and the whole thing.
It was...

They spared nothing there.

But we were
one of those families

who was to be seen
and not heard.

[dramatic music playing]

[Mark] I don't know
what sparked the argument

between Donald
and Jim that day.

[muffled yelling]

I was the only sibling
in the dining room
when they came in.

They were chasing each other
around the dining room table

and Jim's faster.

-Donald can't catch him.
-[plate breaking]

They're on opposite sides
of the table

and Donald just decides
to pick the table up
and throw it.

-[table crashing]
-[dinnerware breaking]

And then my mother
comes in the room,

sees the wreck
of her dining room,

takes the rolling pin,

smashes the gingerbread house.

And I'm witness
to this. [chuckles]

Like what the heck
is going on? [chuckles]

[indistinct voices whispering]

[Richard]
Trying to get attention.
I think that was part of it.

They wanted attention.
They were losing their minds.

[indistinct voices continue]

They needed help.

[soft music playing]

[Mary] But I think my parents
knew that there was something
going on with Jim.

It sort of all
came crashing down

within a matter of,

felt like a very short time
in my life.

[Mark] I really didn't know
that Jim was schizophrenic
while I was growing up.

Donald, you know,
was the first obviously,
to become ill.

And I didn't know
about Jim's...

I know he had some issues
as a young boy

being admitted in Denver
at Fitzsimons Hospital.

But then he came out
and he seemed like
he was okay.

I was unaware, as a child,
that he was mentally ill.

I had no understanding
or indication that
he had sought treatment.

And that my parents
had helped him get treatment.

-And in retrospect, of course,
you know, he was quite ill.
-[voices whispering]

[Richard] God,
you couldn't believe
what you were hearing

that was happening.

Jimmy running around naked.

Donald on the monk road.

I mean, you're going,
"What is going on
with these brothers of mine?"

And so I started spending
a lot more time
with my friends.

Going out
and being with others
outside of the house.

I'm to partake
in the experimental drugs.

[Mark] Pretty much all of us
experimented with
recreational drugs.

[funky music playing]

I remember my elder brothers
giving me marijuana
at a very young age.

By middle school,
it was white crosses,

which was a speed, an upper.

And then on through college,
mushrooms, acid, cocaine.

Anything and everything
and usually
all at the same time

is how I put it. [chuckles]

[Mary] When I was a kid
and my parents

would go out of town
on a business trip,

my older brothers always had
a party at the house,

at Hidden Valley.

And there was
a lot of drug use.

[funky music continues]

[John] I saw firsthand
my brother smoking pot,

when we came home
from college,
which I couldn't believe.

Of course,
I was involved in athletics.

If you were caught smoking
or something like that,

you were off the team.
You were suspended.

You didn't play.

So, I didn't do
any of that stuff.

[upbeat music playing]

[Mark] My brothers,
Brian and Michael,

I consider both of those
true old school hippies.

[upbeat music continues]

Michael went to Woodstock.

You know, he was definitely
truly part of that culture
as a young guy.

[Mary] This is
Michael right here.

And you can see,
like, a little kid.

He's, like,
so, like, just...

I don't know.

He just had a...

a peacefulness about him.

From a very young age,
I think.

My parents were frustrated
because they wanted him
to, you know,

find a career
and go about the normal things

you're supposed
to go about in, in life.

He was much too interesting
for a traditional career.

[Levana Galvin]
He is an interesting guy.

[chuckles]

Um, my dad...

I was a daddy's girl.
He was my Peter Pan.

Like, my parents separated
when I was three.

So he's always been,
sort of, a nomad.

Like, he...

It took him a long time

to, kind of, find some
settlement in his life,
I think.

He always has loved
his music.

That's been
where he put his energy in

because it was probably
his way of escape.

[Mark] Michael and Mom
did not get along well
when Michael was younger.

He was a rebellious type,
you know.

Mom always wanted him
to cut his hair
and things like that.

I don't think my mom
understood the hippies at all.

He was counterculture.

He was...

He epitomized
what my parents feared

was causing
the schizophrenia.

[Levana] To see
whatever he saw as a kid

and having to,
you know, process through
and go through,

I can definitely
imagine that

he would have had
to, kind of, determine

"Am I normal? Am I okay?
Do I have this? Do I don't?"

If I were him growing up
in a household like that,

I probably would have
been like,

"Wow," you know?
"Is this going
to happen to me?"

[Mary]
Michael was in California.

And one day,
I think he was 17,

and he thought,
"Oh, we can't be that far
from the beach.

I'm going
to go to the beach."

And he cut through
a neighborhood

or a trailer park
or something.

And I think
someone's hose was running,

and he took
a drink of water from it.

The person called the police

and had him arrested
for trespassing.

He ended up
in a maximum-security

state mental hospital
in California

at the age
of 18 years old
for six months.

Can you imagine?

And so I hear my mom
is at home with Donald,
who's not well.

Jim was not well, either.

And then this happens.

I don't think
they knew what to make of it.

[Mary] My brother, Michael,
was originally, I think,
taken to jail

and then transferred
to the psychiatric hospital.

And I think maybe my parents
played a hand in that

in saying,
"Oh, he has a brother.

This must be
happening to him, too."

[Levana] There was
some overcrowding,
I think, issues.

And he had a choice.

And I guess he chose to go
to a mental institution

instead of staying
in the jail,

which he said to me was
a One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest sort of experience.

I think he thought
it was gonna be easier.

I think he thought
it was going to be

a little bit, like,
more laid back or something.

But mental institutions
at that time, in the '70s,
were not so much.

Um, from my understanding,
they were a little more scary

than probably just being
in a jail cell probably
would have been.

[John]
My parents wanted
to have him committed.

And Michael was
totally blown away,

the fact that they really
didn't understand him.

Because when
your brother has it,

everybody just looks at you
and says, "Oh. Are you next?"

You know, "Is that
going to happen to you?"

I think my parents suspected
schizophrenia in Michael.

But I don't know
if that was because

they already
had experienced it

with some of
my other siblings.

So they think,
"Why not another one,"
you know.

Certainly, with Michael,
that would have been
a misdiagnosis.

[Levana] My dad,
I think he's always had
to, sort of, present

that he's not, you know,
ill like his brothers.

Because I think
back in the '60s and '70s,

when a teenager had
the long hair and the hippies,

they thought something
was wrong with them.

That it was, you know,
outside of that normal,
clean-cut boy.

And I don't think
he's ever been that.

[John] I remember
many conversations

with my mother on the phone
about what was going on.

I dealt with it
on a as-it-comes-take-it,
you know.

You deal with one at a time.

I never thought
of the overall big picture.

I mean,
there were some moments

that I've heard about
with her,

with Donald trying
to strangle her at one point
and k*ll her.

Um...

That had to be frightening.

It had to be.

[Mary reading]

"She became quite frightened.

And the other
children in the home
broke up the struggle."

The conflict
was often over medication.

The conflict was often
over my mother

having to orchestrate
the medicines,

to administer
the medications

and prevent Donald
from overdosing.

[Nancy]
John's mother would often...

Every time we go, she says,
"Oh, I have no sharp knives
in the house."

Well, that speaks volumes.

[chuckles]

John and I had traveled
with this old trailer
with an icebox

because I didn't want
to sleep in the house.

John's mother had made up
these beds for the kids.

And we were invited
to go to dinner.

And, um, so we left the kids
at John's parents' house.

It took about, what,

-Yeah. Mmm-hmm.
-[Nancy] About.
For this dinner date.

And we were greeted
at the front door saying,

"Oh, there's an emergency
at your home.

You've got to leave
right now."

So we got in the car
and booked... booked home.

And there were
several cop cars there
with the lights blaring,

um, you know,
twirling around,
and it was dark.

And I rushed up the stairs.

And we were
stopped by the police.

"Oh, no,
you can't go there."

And I said,
"My children, my children."

And, um,
then they let us in.

[sirens wailing]

John's mother
had locked herself
in their bedroom,

and she called the cops.

And that might
have been the time

that Jim was wandering around
with a g*n or something.

It was very frightening.

[officer on radio]
323 to 584.

[Nancy] It doesn't
take much imagination

to realize
what could happen.

You don't know
if you're gonna find
dead bodies.

They never stayed
in that house again.

After that incident,
there was no problem
us staying somewhere else.

[Mary] So here
you're seeing violence.

And it was pretty chronic.
It was a pretty chronic thing.

But my mother relied on Jim
to get the younger children
out of the house.

I don't think my parents
had anywhere else to turn.

Jim, of course, was causing
tremendous damage as well.

But he wasn't the only one.

[indistinct voices whispering]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[Mary] Look at this,
here's the rock star, Brian.

It was before I was born.

But I know that everyone
always spoke about

his having created
this band in high school

that went on to play
all over the state.

Um, oh, here he is.
That's a good one.

That's how I remember him.

The long hair
and the mustache
at the piano.

Playing music.

Brian could listen
to a piece of music
on the radio,

and then he could
transpose it to the piano,
the guitar with one listen.

He just had that
savant-type ability.

He was really talented.

[Mark] My first
recollection of Brian

is with his high school band,

Paxton's
Back Street Carnival.

And then in college,
during his college years,

he played with a pretty
famous rock and roll band
from time to time.

Rock and roll was
the "counterculture," right?

[Richard] Mother and Father,
of course, were part
of the establishment.

They followed the rules.

But the culture at that time,

you've got to remember
we were in the '70s.

So it was the drugs,
sex and rock and roll

and to hell
with our government
because of Vietnam w*r.

[John] It was
a different time

and everything
was anti-establishment.

It was a brave new world.

[Mary] My parents
described Brian as having
taken a different path,

not the traditional
academic, go to college,
get a job.

That he was
reaching for the stars,

that he somehow
was going to be famous.

I think for some reason
my family was convinced

that Brian was going to be
some famous rock star.

[John] And I was
still going to school
with Nancy in Boulder.

I encouraged Brian
to come up there

and join me
at the music school.

And so he did
for maybe a semester.

And then he decided
he wanted to go to California
and start a band out there.

[Mary] He was very much
a part of the hippie culture
at that time in history.

You see? Um...

But these two are definitely
how I remember him.

You know, he had had
such tremendous success
with his high school band

that I think
they thought it was just
a natural evolution

for him to go and become
somehow a famous rock star
in California.

[interviewer speaking]

No, he most certainly
did not.

I do remember very clearly
Brian's girlfriend, Noni,
coming.

And I remember them
being very happy together,

and they were
having fun and...

So it was, you know,
probably first love,
I would imagine.

The only time I met Noni
was when she came to the house
to visit with Brian.

He was home from California
for a trip to visit.

And I talked to her
for just a brief period
of time when she came.

She seemed like
a very quiet, shy kind of gal.

A little bit withdrawn maybe.

[Brenda Harris]
Noni was the youngest...

The youngest child,
um, out of three.

My mother was,
um, her stepsister.

She was a beautiful girl.

Long blond hair,

um, kind of that
California tan look to her.

Um, blue eyes, you know.

She was definitely
a looker.

She went to school
in Sacramento.

And that's when she met Brian.

Brian was in a band,
um, that...

They were performing
on one of the campuses there.

[Richard] I've never been
closer to any of my other
brothers or sisters as Brian.

And then
he went to California.

Seemingly living the good life
with his girlfriend.

And he...

[exhales deeply]
I could never imagine,

ever in my wildest dream,
Brian hurting anyone.

[train whistle blowing]

[John] One morning,
I got a phone call
from my father,

and he was pretty short
and direct about it.

And he used
exactly these words.

He said, uh,

"Your brother is dead."

And, uh, I was stunned.

There wasn't
much conversation after that.

[Brenda] Somehow
he got into her apartment

and was basically laying wait
until, um, she showed up.

At the time, I didn't realize
[stammers] the violence of it,

of what actually took place.
I wasn't told right away.

He shot her first
and then, um,
he shot himself.

[Mary] "Sheriff's deputies
are investigating
an apparent m*rder-suicide

involving 19-year-old
Lorelei L. Smith of Lodi."

That's Noni.

"And Brian Galvin, 22,
of Sacramento."

[sighs]

Um...

"Lorelei Smith,
of an El Cerrito physician,

was apparently m*rder*d
by her former boyfriend,

who police said then turned
a 22-caliber r*fle on himself,
committing suicide."

"Police say there were
no signs of a struggle."

It's just hard.
It's just hard reading it.

[sniffles]

[sighs deeply]

[John] I was shocked.

I never could imagine
Brian doing that.

But I never knew he was
on antipsychotic drugs
for schizophrenia.

He was already on
prescribed drugs.

I knew nothing about it.

My parents never told me
anything about him being...

medically being treated
for schizophrenia.

I blame Brian
for his actions.

But I can't...

I can't sit there and say
it's all his fault

because of
his mental illness.

After Brian's death, I think
there was a lot more awareness

and, uh, about what was
going on in the family,

with mental illness.

Up until that time,
it was just...

It was, kind of,
taken lightly.

And then there was...

When Brian
committed suicide...

um...

I think things
in the family changed.

It was a lot more somber.

I know for...
Especially for my parents.

Uh...

Day had turned into night,
and it was dark.

There were... There were
frightening moments,
definitely.

Police would come
to the house, you know,

and have to deal
with one of the boys.

And, uh,
my older brother, Jim,

I think
the disease affected him
differently than Don.

The violence.

And the way he treated Kathy,
being violent with her.

And he was a*usive
to my sister Mary, I know.

[Mary] I think
the general overall feeling
in the household

was that of
complete disbelief.

How could
such tragedy happen?

My mom and dad
were quite distressed,

obviously, as anyone
would be,

with the death of Brian.

And my mother had
her hands full with Donald.

Being around
schizophrenia is...

very difficult.

And so I could either stay
at Hidden Valley Road

with my schizophrenic
brothers,

or I could go hang out
at my brother Jim's,

my perpetrator,
my ab*ser, my r*pist.