How You Can Help a Loved One with a Mental Illness
When you have a friend or family member that you are around quite often, who struggles with a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, then it can be a challenge for the whole family or for the relationship that you have with a friend. There needs to be a level of willingness to help and to come together in order to accept the illness diagnosis, so that they can look to help and sort through things. It isn’t always going to mean complete recovery, but if someone has a supportive system around them, then it is going to make a difference. If there is denial or even judgment and disapproval, then it can make things worse. The support can help to minimize the damage that can come from mental illness, as it can cause problems to the individual, and can be what they need to keep them alive. So here are some tips to help you support a loved one who suffers with a mental or psychiatric illness.
Taking steps to inform yourself as much as possible about the illness itself. If you haven’t suffered with something yourself, you can often have some questions and even ignorance around the situation, as you don’t understand it. So it is a good idea to get to the truth and not some myths around things.
It is important to start having open conversations about things, and not having debates around things. The person that you are trying to help might not think that they are depressed, for example, or will deny it. But you need to talk to them to find out why or how they are feeling. Talk to them to find things out, rather than just falling out and shouting at them. If they needed an intervention like going to an outpatient drug rehab center, then they aren’t going to go if you are forcing them or being unreasonable with them. Being able to focus on building trust and rapport with them is really important.
It can be really easy to just presume or guess what helps them, but it is best to simply ask them. You don’t know what kind of day they will have had and you don’t just want to presume anything. Ask them how best to help them and support them; what you think is what they need might not be what they need at all. Things will change, depending on how well they are doing. So just keep communication open and clear.
If you feel like caring for a loved one is taking its toll, then seeking some counseling for yourself can be a good idea. There is a lot of burden that comes with friends and family that feel this way, and there is nothing wrong with you getting some help too. You might start to feel anxious that something is going to happen, so being able to deal with that can make a difference. A qualified therapist can help to offer clarity and objectivity. Plus, the healthier you are, the better equipped you will be to be able to help those around you.