My brother’s 24. He got diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at a psych ward after having an incident where he acted very oddly and got picked up by the police for jogging around a residential neighborhood in his underwear. He couldn’t remember it the next day. He was having a hard time with unemployment and life in general. (He’s doing much better now, even stopped taking medication). Comparatively
When he was in middle school, school counselors suggested he had Asperger’s, but my parents couldn’t get him to go to a professional. He still, as an adult, gets very angry when confronted about it. I think he displays many symptoms – he can’t make eye contact with people, is obsessed with a very obscure video game that involves pattern repetition, can do complicated math equations in his head, and is very, very sensitive to loud noises, to name a few. He has a hard time with people because he alienates them with his mood swings, and spends the majority of the time in his bedroom. I’m really proud of him for being able to get a job at a grocery store. He stopped going to high school when he was 15.
My relatives are also riddled with disorders – schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism, etc. A few have done time in prison. An uncle is permanently in a hospital cause he lost it after ‘Nam.
I think a lot of people don’t get treated :(. It’s tricky for a doctor to look at someone’s life and come up with a correct diagnosis, and for a person to accept that diagnosis and be receptive to treatment.