Seen beaming from ear to ear in magazine photos, April’s Arts, Crafts & PPE, which she launched just two months ago, was designed by her during the COVID-19 outbreak. was gaining notoriety for its colorful face masks.

When the pandemic forced her to close her five-year-old nursery, she quickly switched gears, dusted the sewing machines, turned the nursery into a workshop, and sold thousands of masks. was manufacturing. time—and sold them through a website. She donated hundreds of dollars more.

Like millions of people whose incomes have suddenly been cut short by the pandemic, her new business with a steady stream of income could not have come at a better time. Her husband had just been laid off from her Freeport-McMoRan, a major Phoenix-based copper producer whose business supported them.

Her mask was a unique new product that hit the market at the right time and she was filling orders as fast as she could.

“The journey has been unexpected and I’m excited about the possibilities for the future,” she told Herald/Reviews in 2020.

But less than 24 months later, the world of April Trap was wide open, a swirl of “future possibilities” descending into the darkness of mental illness.

According to the nonprofit Mental Health America, Trappe affects nearly 50 million Americans with a mental illness, 4.91% of whom have a severe mental illness.

Even more frightening, the American Psychological Association says two-thirds of psychologists reported an increase in the severity of their patients’ symptoms in 2022.

Arizona ranks 35th in the nation for adult mental illness prevalence.

Married to Ben Trapp last month for 10 years — a big, strappy man who closed abandoned mines, refurbished a Freeport smelter and is deeply in love with his wife — April said last year, I started complaining of a stomach ailment that was getting worse. Gastroenterologist appointments had been delayed by months due to COVID, and the earliest available was five months away.

Her husband refused to let her wait that long. Her pain was so severe that he took her to the emergency room at Verde Her Valley Her Medical Her Center in Cottonwood, where she was working on a revitalization project for her smelter.

It’s where his and April’s world plummeted into a nightmare, with Trapp still struggling to survive.

She has been diagnosed five times, from generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and bipolar disorder, to premenstrual dysphoric disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, which Trappe thinks is wrong. Each time, a round of pharmaceuticals was made, which Trappe believed had wreaked havoc on her mental state.

“There is no operating manual for anyone who sees a husband or loved one going through this or is trying to figure out what’s going on,” Trapp said. , Diagnosis seems to keep changing, as do drugs, which is a big part of the problem.”

As he walked through the halls of the ER, Trappe saw where his wife was sitting, with a large group of doctors and nurses with equipment tending to her. She had no history of heart disease. She had experienced sudden episodes of ventricular tachycardia, an often life-threatening abnormal cardiac arrhythmia that could cause cardiac arrest.

“Her mind suddenly flipped. She must have written the code because she had a near-death experience that changed her entire mental state,” Trappe said. “She became a different person who was obsessed with Jesus.”

Trapp, who was released after four days, said all she spoke about was God, Jesus, and higher powers.

“She would have said she was an atheist,” he said. “Suddenly, it was as if she had swallowed some kind of Jesus Truth Serum, and Jesus showed her what heaven looked like and said all was well.”

But when she started acting out and became verbally aggressive, she called a string of people in the middle of the night, from her daughter, a classmate she hadn’t spoken to in years, a former district manager and a friend, angering them. When he did, Trappe realized something was seriously wrong.

“There was no coherence in what she said to them,” he said. “It looked to me like she was going into psychosis. She was taking a heart beta blocker and I thought she was having a drug reaction. It made her nauseous.” I didn’t know what to do or how to help her other than restrain her.”

On a follow-up visit at VVMC, things quickly spiraled out of control. Trapp said April didn’t get what she wanted from her own specialist. She became aggressive with her words and refused to leave until he gave a concrete answer about her medical condition, which he called the hospital’s security team.

“It was like she was sitting there protesting. I didn’t know what to do,” Trapp said. “She’s not listening to me. She’s telling doctors, me, security guards, ‘Don’t touch me.’ ’ and became more verbally aggressive.” She had never done anything like this before. I told my doctor that this was not the woman I brought to the hospital this morning. ”

A crisis assessor, a psychiatrist whom April saw briefly at the hospital, was called. Trappe’s wife, who is still talking about Jesus, said she told the evaluator that she wanted to go home to her. Her evaluator called the police and her ambulance took her to a Phoenix area hospital.

“At this point, she’s completely panicked and I’m screwed,” Trappe said. “I try to reach out to her because she’s been taken away, but I can’t. She’s taking action again.”

During the drive from Cottonwood to Phoenix, Trappe claimed April was physically abused by an ambulance crew for acting.

“She didn’t know where she was being taken,” he said. “She thought she had been kidnapped or taken for her trafficking.”

She was transferred three more times, once to Copper Springs Hospital, a recovery-based reception center in Avondale, where her behavior worsened, and then to Recovery Innovations, a private mental hospital in Peoria. She was eventually moved to a long-term care facility in Phoenix before being released into her husband’s care after undergoing a psychological examination on March 17, 2022, Trappe’s 10th wedding anniversary. Her aggression was mostly gone, but Trappe said April’s mood changed to her melancholy.

Trapp still worked at Freeport, but was transferred to Monticello, Utah to close an abandoned mine. While caring for April and trying to get off her drugs, PTSD, which she is now diagnosed with, took its toll on their marriage.The couple separated. Trapp continued to work in Utah, and April stayed with her longtime friend in Colorado to help her recover.

“The whole family was torn by all this,” Trapp said. “It was like a bomb dropped on our lives.”

They eventually got back together and resumed their marriage when Trapp moved back to Sierra Vista to work closer to home. , panic, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

“We had five days of group therapy each week and saw a psychiatrist every week,” Trappe said. “We were working, we were living, we were doing good.”

until they suddenly ceased to be.

April’s mood swings exploded at the Feb. 5 meeting.

“She wasn’t acting anymore, but she acted at an AA meeting,” Trappe said. “She became belligerent in an altercation and had an unfortunate farewell to her group. They told her not to return and issued her protection order against her.”

From there, her behavior took a nosedive and began to return to where it was months ago.

“The psychiatrist she went to noticed that the amount of her talk about Jesus had changed,” Trapp said. “Southeast Arizona Behavioral Health Services came to her home to evaluate her and petitioned her to Canyon Her Vista Her Medical Center for her psychiatric care. Police were called. , she went with pleasure.”

However, problems started shortly after April was hospitalized. Ms. Trapp said she refused to take the prescribed medication. He said her blood pressure was dangerously high. He’s trying to see if he can work with a naturopathic doctor instead.

April was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Trapp said he was worried his wife would undergo court-ordered treatment.

“After all, she could be under court-ordered psychiatric care for a year, which means 180 days of ingestion.” I have “trust in God” and believe that everything will be fine.