How Would a Mental Health Illness Affect a Family - Essay Example

Mental health illnesses affect a family Introduction Mental health illness affects the family and friends the most and causes a ripple effect that lasts for long. The term mental health relates to the ability of a person to study and work with his or her full potential in order to cope up with various stresses, to be attached with the community and also to live a life in the most satisfied way possible. It is often considered that an individual who possesses a good mental health condition has a good wellbeing emotionally as well as socially and are even able to cope up with various challenges and changes. Whenever there is problem in mental health it greatly affects personal relationships and even causes difficulties in carrying out the routine activities may that be at work or at home. There is no specific age for the occurrence of mental illness but it is mostly observed in the younger generation in the form of depression and mental disorders. Mental illness causes a series of effect such as it can affect thoughts, actions, memory and even feelings. Mental illness and mental health problems are two different terminologies and mental illness has a more drastic impact for a longer time and causes more of disruption and distress in an individual’s life. This in turn affects the wellbeing of the family and hampers many relationships. Discussion Mental illness if strikes any of the family members brings in a lot of chaos and confusion in the family. However the family members only can deal with such illness effectively by healing such illness and not moving away from those individuals who are suffering from such illness. Mental illness though affects the family members the most but they are the ones who can best support these affected individual in order to come out of the illness phase. Mental illness often spreads a wave of doubt amongst the family members which in turn results into a lot of confusion and disrupts the environment of the family. Though unintentionally but the person who is suffering from any kind of mental illness can be dominative towards the entire family that is either through excessive control, incapacity or even helplessness. Thus mental illness does not make an individual suffer but also his or her loved ones. The common outcomes that results due to mental illness are separation, abandonment, instability and divorce. Thus it can be stated that though the illness at the initial stage affects only one individual but it slowly attacks all the family members and disrupts the harmony that once used to prevail in the family. There are various kinds of mental illness that can be observed in an individual when they are in their early twenties or in their teenage (Allen, 2010). This can be in the form of anxiety disorder, depression, or bipolar disorder that is seen in individual when they are living together with other family members. On the contrary even if the individuals are much older and are not living with family members then also such distress or mental illness that can affect their life as well as the other people by whom they are surrounded. Such an illness always create a ripple effect on the family and results into uncertainty, changes in the lifestyle of people, troubled emotions and even creates a lot of tension in the family (Austin & Boyd, 2010). There are different ways in which the family members are affected due to such mental illness. Health professional do not often acknowledges such an impact that is created on family members due to mental illness of an individual of the family. The role of caring for such individuals on everyday basis is undertaken by the family. This is often carried on by the family with a little of support to such individuals and even giving them some sort of training. The families when take active part in caring for such individual’s and eve receive proper training on how to deal with such individuals then it often results into desirable outcome. Often when the mental illness first strikes an individual it is the family members who deny that there is such an illness in their loved ones. In many families it has been observed that since such an illness is a completely new phenomenon that is observed in an individual so when they start behaving a bit like before the other family members believe that their loved ones is back to normal behaviour and such a change was due to some kind of external stress or tension (Welfel & Ingersoll, 2004). In certain cases some of the family members understand about such illness and there are certain members who remain ignorant to such diseases. The ones who understands the root causes of such mental illness that is observed in an individual extends their support to them in comparison to those family members who fails to understand the problem of the ill person and always criticizes for their behaviour that is unacceptable. This is the main reason behind the family getting affected by mental illness as it leads to a lot of unnecessary tension in the family and even results into loss and isolation of many healthy relationships within the family majorly with those who fail to extend their support such as ill person. Family members may not possess sufficient knowledge regarding mental illness. The basic idea that is prevalent in most of the families regarding mental illness is that it is more of a disabling condition. Families if are not provided with sufficient information then while curing their loved ones of such illness can be totally pessimistic in respect of what the condition of individuals who has mental illness would be in the nearby future (Lefley & Wasow, 2013). The mental illness at various stages seems to execute a control on the destiny of the family then individual family members and at this stage it is very essential to find appropriate sources of information so that individuals who are suffering from such health illness can be cured. The family members should have the knowledge that both psychotherapy as well as medication helps such ill person to come back to their normal life along with that family should also gather some supportive information so as to deal with such individual suffering from such illness. Even though family members are well aware about the mental illness that strikes such person but they are reluctant to discuss about such issue with other family members because they are not very sure regarding the way how the other people would react towards such ill person who are a part of their family (Hatfield & Lefley, 2000). It has been observed that mental illness is often surrounded by misconception and myths. The family members may also become reluctant towards inviting their friends and relatives to their home because of the unpredictable behaviour of the ill person of their family towards other invited guests. The family may also turn to be anxious in terms of leaving the ill person alone at home. They are both bothered about what can happen if such an ill person is left at home alone and result of which they either do not go out at all or they may go separately. The outcome of the stigma affects the daily life of a family so drastically that they become to be more withdrawn. When many close relatives and peers fail in accepting the disease of mental illness then the only thing that is left to the family is to abandon all relations so as to protect their loved ones and also themselves from the society (Sadler, 2003). The family starts living in a very frightened stage mainly due to the rejection that it has to face in the society because of their ill family member and takes all possible measures so as to not get hurt anymore. It is very difficult for any person to deal with unpredictable behaviour or strange thinking of an individual. This is the reason that makes the families of mental illness stricken individual to suffer the most. This in turn results into more of exhausting and frightening situation for the family members. The ill person can be given proper medication so as to be in a stable situation but even motivational lack in such a stage that can disrupt the mental condition totally of the ill person. The best way that can be implemented by family members so as to deal with such ill person is to always have a positive and practical attitude. The first step to deal with such problem is to accept the fact that one of their loved ones have mental illness and this over the time can cause a serious impact on the their own life for being a friend or family member of such ill person. Such mental illness can also create a lot of anger, stress, confusion and even grief due to such changed behaviour of the ill person but it needs to be accepted as a more practical situation that needs to be dealt with properly. The family members should firstly acknowledge such feelings and even discuss openly about such illness with other relatives so that the ill person can be cured. The responsibility of the family members is also to develop a balance between various factors such as acknowledging the various affects that mental illness have over the individual and also to find out ways for their recovery, to make the person more independent and helping them in various ways possible, to develop a gesture that would reflect that they care for these ill person but should not be over involved in the situation, to give more of time and personal attention to the ill person and making him or her suffering with such illness spend time with the family members and prohibiting all such actions that would be make them demanding or unrealistic towards such ill person (Donovan, 2008). The last factor that should be kept in mind by the family members while dealing with such individual is to have a proper knowledge about all the symptoms of such illness and to find out what are the possible ways to cure such person by consulting some health professionals and even some other family members. Such a crisis situation that is created due to mental illness of an individual can be handles in the most effective way by following certain principles such as to communicate very well in a more understanding way and not to unnecessarily rush or even touch the ill person, provide a more safe and calm environment to such individual by moving to a more open space and even discarding any such items that can prove to be harmful for such individual, and to behave in a more confident and calm manner such as in a friendly way and not to be threatening for such ill person. The major factor that should be kept in mind by every person that any signs of such mental illness should not be ignored and the person who is suffering from such illness should be consulted with a doctor as fast as possible without any delay (Gibbons, 2000). The common feelings that is associated with the family members when one of their family members are suffering from such illness is of anger, shame and guilt. These feelings should be discarded by the family members so that they can resolve the problem faster. The members of the family should not blame such ill person and should extend their support and should even strike a balance between the needs of the ill person and that of their personal needs. The major forms of mental illness comprise of depression, eating disorders, anxiety, psychosis, self harm, bipolar disorder, and excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs. There are number of factors that cause such mental illness most of them are overlapping and can be summarized as – biological issues such as genes that are inherited from parents, individual issues such as thinking styles, self esteem and coping skills, certain experiences in life such as loosing someone, being neglected or abused, and certain current situations such as stress at work, home or school, monetary problems, problems with family members or any other difficulties being faced in personal relationships. Conclusion There are various reasons that causes mental health illness however the major reasons behind such illness is stress and high level of dissatisfaction that an individual have towards their life. Mental illness of a person affects the family members and creates a lot of confusion and chaos in the family. It depends totally on the family members as to how well they can handle such situation and take effective measures so that the person suffering from such illness can be cured. There are various ways through which a person can protect themselves from such mental illness that is through engaging in some kinds of sports, yoga, meditation, or any other form of relaxation exercises. Even opting for a well balanced diet protects the mental and physical health of an individual. The main concern of the family members should be towards ignoring any form of misconceptions, anger or shame and to develop a positive attitude that would enable an individual suffering from such illness to recover at a faster pace. The common form of problems that arise due to such mental illness is fear, hatred, embarrassment, confusion, jealousy and resentment. Family members should always extend their support to such ill person in the best possible way and avoid any such grief that mainly arises when they see their loved ones suffering due to such mental illness. References Allen, D. M. 2010. How Dysfunctional Families Spur Mental Disorders: A Balanced Approach to Resolve Problems and Reconcile Relationships. USA: ABC-CLIO. Austin, W., & Boyd, M. A. 2010. Psychiatric and Mental Health. Canada: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Donovan, J. 2008. A History of Stigma: Towards a Sociology of Mental Illness. Canada: Concordia University. Gibbons, J. H. 2000. Childrens mental health: problems and services. UK: DIANE Publishing. Hatfield, A.B., & Lefley, H. P. 2000. Surviving Mental Illness: Stress, Coping, and Adaptation. USA: Guilford Press. Lefley, H.P., & Wasow, M. 2013. Helping Families Cope with Mental Illness. Switzerland: Routledge. Sadler, J. Z. 2003. Descriptions and Prescriptions: Values, Mental Disorders, and the DSMs. USA: JHU Press. Welfel, E. R., & Ingersoll, R. E. 2004. The Mental Health Desk Reference: A Practice-Based Guide to Diagnosis, Treatment, and Professional Ethics. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More