How to support a loved one with chronic mental illness, understanding their condition, effective communication, and encouraging professional help.
How to support a loved one with chronic mental illness, understanding their condition, effective communication, and encouraging professional help.
Savvy Psychologist is hosted by Dr. Monica Johnson. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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One of the most frequent questions I get is surrounding how to support a loved one with mental illness. It’s one of the reasons I talked about Schizophrenia a couple of weeks ago, and if you haven’t listened to that episode, please go check it out! Supporting a family member with a chronic mental illness requires understanding, patience, and consistent effort. Today, I’m going to provide you with a few tips to get you starting on this journey.
Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist, I'm your host, Dr. Monica Johnson. Every week on this show, I'll help you face life's challenges with evidence-based approaches, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.
Understanding Chronic Mental Illness
This first tip may seem obvious, but you want to increase your knowledge of their specific mental health condition. Chronic mental illnesses are long-term conditions that can affect a person's thinking, feeling, behavior, and ability to relate to others. Common examples include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety disorders. Understanding the specific illness your family member is facing is the first step in providing effective support.
Learn about the Illness:
Research: Read books, articles, and reliable online resources about the specific mental illness. Please only use verified sources when doing this research and do not rely solely on the personal accounts someone may post about a disorder online.
Talk to Professionals: Consult with doctors, therapists, and support groups for firsthand information.
Understand Symptoms and Triggers:
Recognize Signs: Identify symptoms to better understand what your family member is experiencing.
Know Triggers: Learn what might exacerbate their condition, such as stress, lack of sleep, or specific situations.
The next thing you want to consider in supporting a person with mental illness is your communication skills. If you’re not the best communicator, you may want to work on improving these skills across time. Having the ability to be a good listener which includes listening without judgment and showing empathy is a skill you want to develop. Even if you actually feel non-judgment and empathy, we aren’t always the best at communicating it, especially when we are dealing with an individual who may be irritable or under duress. Secondarily, to my point about the varying emotional states of others—it’s also important to learn how to communicate clearly to someone who may be in an impaired state. There are support groups for caregivers and you can also work with your own therapist to improve these skills.
Encourage Professional Help:
Generally speaking when supporting someone with chronic mental health issues, you want to encourage them to be actively engaged in their treatment. Depending on their diagnosis this could be simply weekly therapy all the way up to day treatment where a person is attending multiple sessions per day. In many instances, folks will need to meet with their primary therapist who would likely be doing individual therapy each week with them and medication management which may be a monthly visit for example. In terms of medications, you may have to check in that they are taking their medications as prescribed. Moreover, some people in your lives may have assigned case managers, home health aids that assist with activities of daily living, and support groups that they attend as examples.
Encourage Routine and Help with Daily Activities:
Routine and Structure: Help establish a daily routine to provide stability. This is helpful to everyone, but especially those with chronic mental health issues. Routines and structure lead to less overall stress.
Household Tasks: Assist with chores and daily tasks that may be overwhelming.
I will also say that sometimes a task may seem impossibly easy to you, but it may be extremely difficult for them.
Celebrate Small Wins: Acknowledge and celebrate their progress, no matter how small.
Set Realistic Goals: Help them set achievable goals to build confidence and a sense of accomplishment.
Know the Crisis Plan and Other Supports:
Emergency Contacts: Keep a list of emergency contacts and mental health professionals.
Crisis Intervention Plan: Develop a plan for handling emergencies, including recognizing warning signs and knowing when to seek immediate help.
Encourage Social Interaction:
Family and Friends: Encourage them to maintain relationships with supportive family and friends.
Support Groups: Join support groups where they can meet others facing similar challenges.
Positive Reinforcement:
Take Care of Your Mental Health:
Therapy for Yourself: Consider therapy to manage your stress and emotions.
Support Groups: Join caregiver support groups to share experiences and gain insights.
Set Boundaries: Establish clear boundaries to protect your own well-being.
Take Breaks: Ensure you take regular breaks to recharge and avoid burnout.
Nutrition and Exercise: Try to eat a balanced diet and engage in regular physical activity.
Sleep Hygiene: Help establish good sleep habits, as sleep is crucial for mental health.
Being a support or caregiver for another person is highly stressful. Don’t hesitate to seek to ensure you don’t get burned out or see your own mental health tank because you don’t have adequate support. As much as we are encouraging our loved one to take care of ourselves, we have to practice what we preach.
Have you found any resources that have helped you be a better caregiver? Let me know! You can contact me via Instagram @kindmindpsych or via my email at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com.
The Savvy Psychologist is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. It's audio engineered by Steve Riekeberg, with script editing by Brannan Goetschius. Our Podcast and Advertising Operations Specialist is Morgan Christiansen. Our Digital Operations Specialist is Holly Hutchings and Our Marketing and Publicity Associate is Davina Tomlin. Follow Savvy Psychologist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. That's all for this episode of Savvy Psychologist. Thanks for listening! I'll see you next week.