How to Cope With Schizophrenia in Family Members

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects the brain and causes delusions, hallucinations, distorted perceptions, illogical and unreasonable thinking. It affects men and woman equally. The family of the schizophrenic can begin to find ways to cope, through the use of a fully developed treatment plan.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Balance the seriousness of the emotional relationship of family with planned activities that create joy, laughter and fun, whenever possible. Maintain a sense of optimism when dealing with the schizophrenic family member.
2. Appreciate the fact that your loved one suffering from schizophrenia may have as much difficulty accepting the mental illness as do other members of the family. Look for ways to accept the disorder and define your parent, child or sibling in ways other than schizophrenia (see Resources).
3. Realize that delusions cannot be reasoned away. When a schizophrenic person is actively delusional, it's extremely difficult for her to respond to logic, reason and rational argument.
4. Acknowledge the needs of a spouse/parent, children and/or siblings to make sure each family members exercises self-care. The person suffering from schizophrenia can overwhelm the family unit. Expect family members to have feelings of resentment, especially school-aged children or younger siblings.
5. Draw up a chart that assigns medication monitoring. Create a schedule to divide up transportation needs so that no one family member has too much responsibility.
6. Accept the diagnosis without shame. Join an organization the has a goal of raising public awareness. Understand that an educated public is less likely to be apprehensive about interacting with your loved one (see Resources).

Tips & Warnings

• Men tend to develop it in their late teens and early 20s, while most women display the early symptoms in their late 20s and early 30s.
• There is no cure for schizophrenia in a family member, yet. Realize that symptoms may worsen, despite the efforts of family members or that symptoms may improve on their own.
• The child of a schizophrenic is four times as likely to develop the disease as compared to the general population. Siblings of a schizophrenic have a slight increased chance of developing schizophrenia up until the age of 30, after which the chances are nearly zero.