The State of Texas ranks 47th in the nation when it comes to the amount of money per capita spent treating people with mental illness.

While almost 550,000 Texans suffer from severe mental illness, only 30 percent, or less than 195,000, of those people received care. Many call that a mental health care crisis that's likely to get worse after this legislative session. Worse not just for the mentally ill but for taxpayers, too.

Two people, who went through the mental health care system, tell two very different stories: One woman succeeded, while another fell right through the cracks.

Diana Kern and Linda Akin both faced similar battles. They struggle with severe mental illness, but each went down a different path.

Kern is a success story – a label difficult for her to accept.

"I don't have an ordinary life. I have an extraordinary life, you know, for someone who's been through what I've been through," Kern said.

In 1981, at age 25, doctors diagnosed Kern with postpartum depression, followed by manic depression. Years later she was diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder.

The disorder is a combination of manic depression and schizophrenia, Kern said.

	Diana Kern is a success story of mental illness treatment.

The mental illness affected every day of her life.

"A lot of hallucinations, auditory and visual hallucinations and then severe mood swings to go along with that," Kern said.

Often, the medications made her worse.

"The medication that they used back then, the side effects were so incredibly terrible, that I'd rather be sick than take [that] medication. So, I was constantly going off of them," she said.

After more than a decade in and out of hospitals, the mid-'90s brought about a breakthrough.

	What is severe mental illness?
The Big Three mental illnesses are the most debilitating. Doctors refer those as: Schizophrenia: Delusional disorder where the person hears voices, hallucinates and loses ability to connect with others. Major Depression: The sufferer is tearful, has feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. Bipolar Disorder: Depressive part looks like major depression, but manic part manifests in over-cleaning, over-spending and racing thoughts.

"I was put on a new generation medication that has worked really well," she said.

Along with the support of people around her, Kern has not only conquered her disorder, she is helping others do the same working as the spokesperson for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Texas.

"I'm at a point where I'm able to push myself and I'm much more motivated than I've ever been in my life. I have a job that I enjoy going to very much," she said.

Linda Akin was not as fortunate. She was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic at 21, and she struggled for years.

"Some of the worst delusions, and all, that she claimed she was being drugged at night and being beaten and prostituted," her father Tom Akin said about his daughter's mental state.

		WATCH THE VIDEO
	Mental illness crisis Texas is third from the bottom when it comes to spending money on mental illness treatment. In his own words Bastrop County resident Tom Akin talks about the event where he lost both his wife and daughter to untreated mental illness. The Big Three Dr. Jim Van Norman with the ATCMHMR describes symptoms of the big three mental illness.

Linda was sick, but according to the state not sick enough. She tried several times to commit herself when she knew her mental state was worsening.

"If she's not threatening to hurt herself, hurt someone else, hurt us or trying to hurt the family pets, there was no way she could be put in the state hospital," Tom said.

That's because the state hospital was already full. So, Linda remained at home and her condition only worsened.

"She refused to take the medication," Tom said. "She was like a ticking time bomb. You just would never know what form it was going to take when she went bad on us."

Bad turned to tragic on July 8, 2002.

"According to the statements I got from the police department, my daughter came out and demanded my wife's car keys and she wouldn't give them to her and that's when she was attacked," Tom said.

Linda, weighing over 300 pounds, lay on top of her mother and suffocated her to death.

She was charged with murder and is now committed to the North Texas State Hospital.

Tom lost two family members to mental illness -- his wife at the hands of his daughter. Yet, to this day he doesn't blame her.

"I really blame the State of Texas and the mental health system because they don't have any support for people who are in dire straits when they are dealing with someone who is seriously mentally ill," Tom said. "She's sick. She couldn't help it."

More people could face a similar fate as Linda.

As state lawmakers ponder ways to offset a $9.9 billion budget shortfall, cuts in mental health and mental retardation services are inevitable.

Mental health advocates said less money for the mentally ill will cost all Texans more money in the future.

"We're going to see more people in the prisons and the jails, we're going to see more people in the hospitals and that cost is so much more expensive," Lynn Lasky, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Texas, said.

Kern said it doesn't have to be that way. She's proof people with mental illnesses, who get the right support, can have a fulfilling life.

"Don't ever think that you cannot have the life like I have where I can function and work and own a home and own my own car, have dogs and cats and don't ever give up hope," she said.

Cuts in current services will likely be felt hard in almost every community across the state because the state is already underserving hundreds of thousands of people with severe and persistent mental illnesses.