I often hear people explain that the reason that they do not get involved with helping a loved one seek mental health treatment is that they do not want a confrontation.
That is certainly a valid reason for all parties involved not to get into a physical confrontation. There are professionals in the community that you can contact if a person with a mental illness becomes belligerent or physically confrontational. Oftentimes, family is afraid to call the police on a family member with a mental illness, but in most areas, the police are trained to safely handle the mentally ill person. For everybody's safety, the police should be allowed to handle the mentally ill. Meanwhile, family members should adamantly contact local mental health professionals and ask for assistance.
Rather than ask for the prompt release of a loved one, which usually is what happens, family members should ask for immediate help for the mentally ill person so that they can achieve stabilization. It's a tough pill to swallow if your loved one is "locked up," but the rewards over the long haul because you sought mental healthcare for the individual, are well worth it. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) offers literature, support groups, and access to professionals in your area. Simply visit NAMI at
www.nami.org. Most branches of NAMI have a Crisis Hotline, too!
Having a family member with an untreated mental illness is very painful and extremely damaging psychologically. Arguing with loved ones to stop their behaviors will not solve the problems until he or she is receiving medication to stabilize the chemical imbalance caused by the brain disorder. Then the person must learn coping skills through trained professionals to handle his or her anger, mood swings, etc. This can be accomplished by participating in a support group and/or seeing a therapist.
Being verbally or physically abusive to a loved one is NEVER the alternative choice for obvious reasons. Spitting out verbal attacks is non-sensible behavior and will only incite worse behaviors. Family members should also participate in a NAMI (or similar agency) family support group. Doing so is good for a couple of reasons: 1) Family members can identify symptoms ahead of time and take appropriate action, 2) Family members can network with other families and share ideas and coping skills that work, and 3) Family members can develop strong mental health strategies for themselves.
NAMI can locate an organization near you who will have emergency numbers for your area to contact in the event a loved one is uncontrollable. Sometimes, a family member or friend must be the one to actively take the first step to seek therapy. Sometimes, the family member or friend has to participate alone for their own mental well-being if the individual with a mental illness is in denial. All the time, family members need to have God guiding them!
When someone is in denial, their resistance should not be taken personally. Remember, as your loved one or yourself undergo medication therapy/treatment and become stabilized, peace and happiness can by achieved. This leads to a quality of life while living with a brain disorder!
Lastly, do not have too much pride to speak with your Pastor about a family member's behavior and your concerns about a possible mental illness. One of the things that contribute to stigmas about, and non-treatment for, the mentally ill person, is keeping it a family secret in the first place. When the family secret is allowed to stay buried, other members in the family develop health issues tied to the mentally ill person. For example, high blood pressure, obesity, anxiety, and depression.
For more information, visit: the American Association of Pastoral Counselors at
www.aapc.org; and
The National Alliance on Mental Illness at
www.nami.org. Today, I wish we remember that education is the key to success. The more educated the African-American community is about mental illnesses, the more successful we become!
Agnes ~ Too Wise Not To Praise Him!
Author of "Cooling Well Water: A Collection of Work By An African-American Bipolar Woman" ISBN 0975461206 Winter Release Pending -
www.myspace.com/coolingwellwater NOTE: The blogazine I publish is a contender for an AAMBC Award. Please consider voting at
http://aambcvoting.blogspot.com. There is no social network to join and you can check out Swaggie's voice yourself at
http://swaggiecoleman.blogspot.com!:) Thank you.
Posted By: agnes levine
Saturday, September 27th 2008 at 3:57PM
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