Reluctance or lack of motivation to engage on the part of families made it hard for staff to be truly collaborative with them
Professionals building trust and rapport, working creatively and persevering despite the family’s lack of contact or motivation were all facilitating factors for engagement
Seems to be blaming families when things don’t work. Pdocs/other mental health staff are abysmal for taking any form of responsibility for their part in anything.
First time my wife went with me she was asked intrusive questions like what I was like in bed. That put her off accompanying me. The next time she came(years later) she tried describing things she had noticed only to be curtly and rudely told to shut up.
Although both times my wife had shown her willingness to be involved the psychiatrists etc behaved like ignorant pigs and did nothing to engage with her in the process of supporting me throughout our being together.
I read most of it. I can’t tell what the point of the article is. On one hand it’s saying that family members don’t want to be involved yet it’s also saying that due to confidentiality and other things that family members can’t be involved. I guess that sums up the system pretty good
I follow Mental Elf on Twitter… I do believe she is a nurse…
That has happened many times to my parents and my sis. They come with… they try to tell the doc what they have observed… they are treated like ignorant dirt and told that their input is neither welcome or needed.
My doc now does understand that my family has put a lot of their own effort into my stability and he does listen to them… but there were so so many who don’t.
I think a lot of the problem was mental health services didn’t like my wife and in the pdocs’ eyes her social background didn’t pass muster.
This was in contrast to their behaviour with my parents who used to go for cosy, united talks with the pdoc despite arguing incessantly at home. The difference? My father came from an equal or higher professional background to the pdoc .
I know that many times I have felt disenfranchised from the recovery process from mental health care workers. Other times I have felt like I have to prove myself, that I had to prove my commitment to my daughter’s treatment plan over and over and over again before I have been taken seriously. I have no doubt there are many family members for those with sz who, for a wide variety of reasons, are not invested in the treatment process. The thing is, why are there so many biases among mental health professionals that they assume those who are clearly motivated to support their sz relative aren’t. I have frequently felt very dismissed by these professionals, and then they turn over her care to me.
There is definitely a disconnect there. I know several decades ago, before neuroscience, families carried the blame for their loved ones being sz. Remember the “schizophrenic mother?” I wonder if that attitude still prevails among professionals, if they have gotten jaded by dealing with those unmotivated families and so see them everywhere, or if it’s just an ego trip thing-maybe a combination of all of those issues. Regardless, this divide must be dealt with. I don’t know how professionals justify not seeing family support as an integral part of treating THEIR patients, whose well being they are supposed to be concerned with, and prioritizing bringing the family into the treatment plan, even when there are barriers.
its weird because i have very little family support now, my dad was a million dollars when he was fit and he championed the cause for me but now after what happened with him and my mums sight getting worse my sister and i seem to be caring more about my mum and my sister can’t help me as her son has problems too and she has a family and other commitments, luckily sweep helps me to no end doing lots of things and we all meet up once or twice a week for a chat so its not too bad like we all support each other you know.
