My dad has schizophrenia and is unmedicated. I have trouble opening up to friends and family about my life struggles. Everyone is so distant. I feel so alone. I want to visit a Nami family support group soon, in the hopes of meeting people that I can open up to.
Have you opened up to your friends and family? What happened?
I try to be open about my son’s Sz dx, but in my family, everyone seems to be in denial- they are always trying to suggest more testing and different docs. I find that that talking to people outside of my family works best for me. You might find that counseling or a group works well for you. It is trial and error, but do find someone to talk to. You can’t be alone on this journey.
I have had some good experiences and some odd experiences. Sometimes people have acted as though I didn’t say anything at all regarding my son. My family was more supportive than I thought they would be, however, we don’t live near them.
NAMI support group was initially the way to go for me, until a regular there became pushy about wanting me to set up my son to have him arrested, so I stopped going. Over the past few years we have developed relationships with people who are comfortable with us referring to our son and his illness. This forum has worked out really well for me.
My friend wanted to know why I didn’t join a gym or something recently for workout support people. Did have to tell her that I am not ready for that yet. She had gotten her son on meds and had left the scz support world, I have not gotten there yet.
I can’t discuss my son’s illness with anyone in my family, each of them have some form of undiagnosed illness themselves and none of them think mental illness is a real thing. I used to be able to limitedly discuss my son with friends from work until I went on disability and now there is no one but the dear people here at this forum. Fortunately with my son as stable as he is these days I am okay with limited discussions on his situation. The stress levels are manageable now. I am grateful.
It’s hard for family members to take it in. I am going through the same thing. My husband doesn’t discuss it either. My other two adult children won’t even come over or call me anymore. I am all alone. I do have a therapist I talk to every week. That seems to help. Nobody understands this mental illness. I am very depressed right now. I watch my son go through this illness everyday. And it makes me sick. He doesn’t take his meds. He needs help and I don’t know what to do.
I do talk to my mom about my daughters illness. My husband talks to me about it sometimes, but not in detail. Two of my children do not talk to me about it and one of them had a surgical procedure to fix himself permanently, as he does hear everything that has happened and doesn’t want to deal with it himself with any future spouse. I do also have a therapist that I do talk to sometimes, but I think the NAMI support groups are a big help too. Every NAMI support group has a different feel and it is up to you to find one that works with your personality style.
my mom has schizophrenia and the first few years i was very distant from everyone except my dad because he was in the situation with me. although i was kind of thrust into telling one of my church leaders just because she happened to see things that i had to explain, honestly if it werent for telling her and opening up i would be in a very bad place and im so glad i had at least one person but that gradually got me talking about it to more and more people i still keep it pretty quiet and inner circle only but its crucial to have support.
Yes, I talk to most people about it, friends, some family, co-workers. I don’t, however, talk to my sons friends about it. That I figure is for him to do. I get a lot of support from friends and co-workers. Family - I don’t really have a lot around that I talk to on a regular basis. My sister and cousin are here and my cousin’s kids have bi-polar and depression issues so she understands.
I talk to people I work with ( I work at a hospital ), my in-laws, and strangers when I find we have something in common. I used to talk to my Mother, she passed away 10 months ago though; she would tell me that she wished things could have been different for my wife. The people I work with are very understanding, but don’t have any solutions since my wife doesn’t have insight and is not a threat to herself or others and is able to do what she feels she needs to do for herself. I usually mention to others about my wife when I mention that our young daughter doesn’t live with us ( she lives with her Aunt and Uncle ), because my wife is ill and our daughter won’t be with us unless my wife sees a doctor to get help. I keep my in-laws updated on any changes or new odd behavior with my wife, but I try not to overburden them because I know that is hard for them because they can’t get her help either.
If you need someone to talk to I would highly recommend a support group such as a NAMI group as others have mentioned