Living with A Loved One's Mental Illness
There are those among us who seem to be natural-born caretakers.
Often it's due to the way we grew up in our nuclear families --
Mom was ill for years or Dad was an alcoholic, and the list goes
on. Doesn't it seem that, as adults, caretakers would run toward
Normalcy? Unfortunately, it doesn't usually play out that way.
For caretakers, what they knew as children was the norm.
In fact, we may pair up with someone who needs to be taken care
of, so we can continue devoting the better part of our energies
to a partner's problems. The years go by, with crisis after
crisis, until the caretaker feels drained, frightened, and
filled with despair. The caretaker may no longer feel healthy.
He/she wonders if loving the ill partner even figures into the
equation any longer. Meanwhile, the partner may turn on the
caring spouse, seeming resentful and filled with hate and even
rage toward the very person who has tried to make life bearable.
But The Illness itself is another entity in the house, a
strange, alien presence that exacts its toll. The ill partner
may refuse to attend Alcoholics Anonymous groups, relapse, and
start drinking more than ever. The depressed or bipolar partner
stops taking medications and cancels appointments with the
therapist. When the spouse had hoped fervently that they were
finally on the road to a healthy relationship, the bottom falls
out. Friends and family may have turned away, weary of the ill
partner's abuse, insults, or weird behaviors, and the couple
becomes isolated.
The healthy spouse dreams of cutting bait/jumping ship, but is
filled with guilt and shame for "not being able to make it
work." Worse, the spouse feels overwhelmed, and in psychic pain.
What's the answer -- leave the relationship, or dig in for the
long haul, no matter what? Again, this is one of those entirely
personal decisions.
But who takes care of the caretaker? For a brief article on what
it means to be codependent in one writer's view, go to:
http://www.mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap8/chap8g.htm Beacon of
Hope offers help for partners of the mentally ill:
http://www.lightship.org/resource.htm/index.htm The National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill lists resources, at
http://www.nami/org/ And for personal recovery stories of those
suffering from depression or bipolar disorder, go to:
http://www.chinspirations.com/mhsourcepage.storybook.html
If you find yourself in the caretaker role for a person with a
mental illness whose condition seems to be steadily
deteriorating and you're at a loss about what to do next, it's
likely that at some point you will need counseling for yourself.
At very least, it may help you to understand what lies ahead,
and to sort through your own options.