Let’s not delve into the technicalities of the terms of the mentally ill clients, instead, let’s look at the brighter side of the moon as we say. Suppose, there is already a member in your family that was diagnosed with mental illness, and he’s still manageable to be treated at home. How would you deal with him or her? How would you tell her that her hallucinations are not real? How would you keep your temper on her incessant demands? How would you deal with the stigma of having a mentally ill member of the family.
First, you have to understand that most mental illness are results of inappropriate coping mechanisms to anxiety. These anxieties may range from mild to severe depending on its source. But when it’s too much to bear, and there is limited support system, the brain regresses to a much safer functioning. It’s similar to your pet dog who accidentally bump into a boiling pot of water and got burned by it. The natural reaction would be to protect itself and hide or stay away from that place where it bumped the pot of boiling water. The difference is, we are human beings and we have friends, relatives, loved ones that pose as support systems on times of crisis.
It is expected that as a family member, you may feel helpless while witnessing the suffering of your loved one as a result of his condition. You need to realize that while many people judge the progress of recovery by the “level of improvement of health condition” alone, the ability for self-care is also an important benchmark for recovery. Progress in one’s ability to care for oneself is often the result of the love, support and hard work of relative. The support of family membes is indispensable to the recovery of people with mental illness. Without your guidance, they may not take their medicine or go for medical consultations. Without your support, they might not have survived the torturing side effects of the medicines and the discrimination they face.
According to Family Link Philippines, (a private clinic that caters to mentally ill clients), taking care of emotionally malfunctioning people is not easy. Sometimes what you achieve is not proportional to the efforts you have put in. Caught up in guilt and hopelessness, family members can easily end up in a vicious cycle of self-reproach. In fact, taking care of them does not mean sacrificing yourself. Try to be more relaxed and appreciate what you have done for your ill loved one – your efforts will not go to waste.
Family Link Philippines suggests ways as to how to deal effectively with the ill family member. First and foremost, you need to understand your emotions. You may feel the guilt, anger, worry and helplessness. These feelings stems from various angles but all these comes from yourself.
Primarily, you lack knowledge concerning the mental illness. Many family members do not realize that mental illness is a brain disease and as a result they often feel that they caused the illness somehow – they blame themselves for having mistreated the ill person in one way or another. In fact, you are not to blame. Whatever happened in the past does not change the facts of the illness. It is not helpful for your loved one if you become consumed with feelings of regret and guilt. The only way you can help is improving your knowledge of the disease and treatment.
Second, you lack channels to vent your feelings. People with mental illness and their families dare not admit that they are or someone in their family are ill due to society’s stigmatization. However, when people in the same situation gather together, they can share their experiences and support one another. You can meet many people who understand and sympathize with your situation by joining organizations made up of these families.
Lastly, lack of awareness of patient’s rights. Due to differences in social status and education levels some patients and their families follow medical workers’ instructions without daring to voice their doubts, concerns or questions. As a result these people and their families are in a passive position, know little about the medications and the progress of the treatment, and often feel helpless and hopeless. The situation can certainly be changed, especially since the introduction of newer psychiatric medications. Users of public medical service have the right to obtain the best medical services.
When you have equipped yourself with these things, you are much more to an advantage on how to effectively communicate and take care of the ill family member. Have you noticed that it is being aware of what we feel, what we know and how to deal with our own discriminations make us better individuals to help the mentally ill individual?
]]>That crucial ingredient is none other than social interaction. Studies on rats have found that rats housed with various to play with – such as a running wheel – had more neurons but this benefit disappears as soon as it is housed in isolation. Not only that, applying stress on these rats did not increase their neuron count but instead decreases it.
No one knows exactly why that is and the results are directly applicable to human beings but I think it would be wise to be careful than be sorry. After all, human beings evolved as social beings. The very reason that we survived as a species is because humans learned to stick and work together.
This kind of group work required more brain power than working in isolation and is thus part of what’s responsible for who we are today. Ironically, the technology humans invented to bring people closer achieved the opposite result. A fundamental element humans evolved with has now suddenly disappears… how could the brain not sensed it?
So here’s the best thing you can do today for your brain health: go out make a few friends. Join the local community and have some social interaction.
Who knows, your brain may spring back to life just from doing this alone?
]]>For example, a study involving more than 116,000 participants found that people with strong relationships had less mental decline and lived more active, pain-free lives without physical limitations. Other benefits of social interactions include, but not limited to, decreased probability of developing dementia, increased probability of staying independent in old age, decreased stress and maintaining mental sharpness.
This is because our brains are capable of neurogenesis, a process in which it grows new brain cells and thus reviving mental functions. But neurogenesis is possible only when you challenge your brain – either by learning something new, going through novel experiences… and interacting with other people.
“There’s a lot of evidence that other people are the most unpredictable things you can encounter. So activities that have you engaging with other human beings are a fantastic form of brain exercise.” – Lawrence Katz, author of “Keep Your Brain Alive“
Living an isolated life, on the other hand, encourages increased aging because boredom is a major driver of stress. And when you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that increases heart rate, increases blood pressure and kills brain cells. Obviously, you don’t want that, especially considering that brain cells naturally die and synapses natural break down as you age.
Studies have shown that older people tend to live a more solitary life. As families move out and friend pass/move away, they tend to lose the will to create new relationships – thus creating a vicious cycle of mental decline. To prevent that from happening, here’s what I suggest you do:
In this article, I want to debunk some of the myths perpetrated on the internet. With ever point I make, I would like to link to the scientific study that found it to be true, so that you know I’m not making these things up.