How to Deal with Mentally Unhealthy Family Members? 5 Effective Ways to Help You.

It’s really challenging to deal with mentally unhealthy family members, other members of family need a lot of patience, understanding and empathetic attitude to deal with them. But sometimes family members cannot also figure out the causes of behavioral disorders in their loved ones and the situation get worsen. So to deal with mentally unhealthy people first we need to know about their mental health issues- know about the common signs and symptoms of any mental disorder and also the coping mechanisms to help them.

Common Signs and Symptoms of Mentally Unhealthy People

If you notice some unusual ways in the behavioral pattern of your family members or some drastic changes in their habits, attitude or communication, you should be careful about them. You may notice those common signs and symptoms in your mentally unhealthy family members as stated below-

. Irritability, Frequent Anger Outbursts without any solid reason.

. Too much Talking or very little talk with others, often do arguments for a little thing.

. Changes in Appetite- No or less appetite sometimes, sometimes eat continuously.

. Prefer to stay alone- social isolation and withdrawal.

. Prolonged Sadness, hopelessness.

. Changes in Sleeping Pattern- too much Sleep or Insomnia.

. Always in Fear, Suspicious attitude, phobia regarding something.

. Problems in Intimacy with the Life Partners.

. Too much Superiority Complex or Inferiority Complex.

. Major changes in Behavioral Pattern.

If you notice 4 or 5 of those symptoms are present in your loved ones, you should need immediately contact with the professional for guidance and support to deal effectively your mentally unhealthy family members.

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Ways to Deal with Mentally Unhealthy Family Members

Though it’s quite difficult to deal with our mentally unhealthy family members but we need to learn as they are our loved ones. We are also the primary caregivers of them- so we should first notice the signs and symptoms seen in them, their difficulties and also to comprehend the ways of helping them. Some effective ways are stated below to help our mentally unhealthy family members.

First Accept the Fact

We should first accept the fact that our loved ones may be suffering from any kind of mental health issues- they have unhealthy mental status and this acknowledgment is the most important step to help people with mental disorders.

Be Empathetic to them

Empathetic understanding is must to deal with mentally unhealthy family members- if we are empathetic to them, we can be able to comprehend their issues and concerns, their trigger points of anxiety or tension and can help them to solve or minimize their issues. Mentally disturbed people often show peculiar pattern of behavior, say rude things or unnecessary things even repetitive words, don’t follow the routine of daily life and sometimes show aggression or hostility or just make themselves withdrawn from the world. Only our empathetic understanding can deal with mentally unhealthy family members.

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Notice and Record of Signs and symptoms

We should notice the behavioral changes of our mentally unhealthy people – whether their sleeping pattern is changed or not, any changes in eating pattern or communication or in their attitudes. We should minutely observe the signs and symptoms, record those and report those to the mental health professionals to whom you are going to contact for professional support for our family members.

Convince the Family Members for Help

To effectively deal with mentally unhealthy family members, we should convince them for asking help from counselors, psychiatrists or therapists and follow the ways suggested by them. But, it’s really a challenge to convince the mentally disturbed people to be ready for getting professional support and guidance for their issues and difficulties as they don’t accept the fact that their mental status is not healthy.

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Self-Care is Essential for Care-givers

To make yourself healthy and happy and also to help your unhealthy family members, it is essential to do some self-care activities like little bit exercise, reading a book or taking a hair massage, gardening or just spending time with nature etc. Self-care always rejuvenates ourselves and make us ready to face life. Here self-care need to be practiced by the family members to help the mentally unhealthy one as dealing with mentally disturbed people need lot of patience, hardwork and dedication.

Words from Wingsofwishes.in

Mental health is as important as the physical health- we should make mental health also at the top of our priority list. We or our family members may be ill mentally and we should accept that first and get the help needed here. To deal with our mentally unhealthy family members, we should also learn a lot about mental health disorders, their signs, coping mechanism, availability of help etc. But at first we should fight to break the stigma and taboos associated with mental health.

References

1.Family Support in Mental Health Treatment: Understanding Mental Health and the Importance of Family Support (mentalhealthcenter.org)

2.7 Strategies to Deal With Difficult Family Members | Psychology Today

3.Having Healthy Family Relationships With Less Stress (verywellmind.com)

4.Supporting a family member with serious mental illness (apa.org)

5.Caring for Adult Children with Mental Illness: How to Help (webmd.com)