Mental illness help
Help for your family member
If a member of your family has a mental health problem, they need to talk to a doctor. The doctor would talk to them about how they are feeling and if he thought they had a mental health problem, he could either prescribe some medication, like antidepressant tablets, or refer them for an assessment where their needs would be looked at more closely to find out exactly what their illness is and how to make it better. Often people with mental illness can be helped through a talking therapy where they would go to a doctors or hospital once a week and talk about how they are feeling and how to change their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. There are different types of therapy, but one of the more common talking therapies is cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT.
Mostly people will be treated at home and they will regularly go back to their doctor or hospital for checks on their medication or meetings with their counsellor or therapist.
Some people who are very unwell would need treatment in hospital and may have to stay in hospital for a little while. Most people go to hospital because they want to get better but some people don’t want to go and if this means that the person with the mental health problem could become a danger to themselves or other people or may be at risk of hurting themselves or other people and the law then states that the person would then be taken to hospital, even if it was against their will. This is when the person is seriously unwell and it is not common. It is called sectioning someone and the law that sets it all out is the Mental Health Act.
Help for you
It can be very difficult living with someone who has a mental illness, especially if it is someone close to you like your parent, carer or a brother or sister. You may have different thoughts and reactions to what is going on.
- You may feel worried about the person
- You might feel angry that they have become poorly or that they are not like they used to be.
- You might be frightened about what will happen to them or if it can happen to you in future.
- You may be embarrassed about it and don’t want anyone to know in case you get teased or bullied. You might be embarrassed to bring people back to your home.
- You may feel sad that this is happening to your parent or sibling and that things aren’t how they used to be.
- You may feel a bit neglected that you don’t get any attention any more.
- You may feel resentful if it is a brother or sister that has a mental health problem and they get more of your parent’s time because they are not very well.
- You may feel as if you are to blame for things.
You may feel several of these emotions and things might be difficult at times. It is important that you talk about things because if you bottle up these emotions they could make you feel upset for a longer time and you may start doing things to try and get rid of these problems like drink alcohol or take drugs which will actually cause you more problems in the long term.
Try and talk to someone about how you are feeling. It might be your parents or a brother or sister or if they are the people with the mental illness you might want to talk to:-
- An auntie/uncle or other relative
- Grandparents
- Friends
- Parents’ friends
- Teacher
- School counsellor
- Youth worker
- Mentor
If you have become a carer at home and are looking after a parent or sibling with a mental health problem, you will need support as it can be difficult juggling school, college or work with responsibilities at home and housework or looking after younger siblings.
It is important to talk to someone if you are not being looked after well at home for example if you are not getting enough food or your clothes are dirty. On rare occasions people with some mental health problems may lash out and be aggressive to those around them. If this happens to you, you should talk to someone, maybe someone on the list above as it may be that extra help and support needs to be put in place to make sure your parent or carer can look after you well.
If you really feel you don’t have anyone to talk to, go and see your GP as they will be able to suggest things to help or put you in touch with other organisations or support groups.
See the next section for further sources of help and information.