What Advice Would you give...

[Soulless Angel]

Simple question, What advice would you give to someone, who was living with someone, with/who has a mental illness?

 

[mjs135]

Simple question, What advice would you give to someone, who was living with someone, with/who has a mental illness?

Listen to them, be there when they need you but respect their wishes.

 

[GenesAndEnvironment]

Simple question, how would you treat a patient that just arrived at the ER?

 

[Makko]

My only advice would be "get out of there".

 

[LONE WOLF.]

I'd accept them as they are and give them plenty of space when they needed it, l'd also research their condition so l was able to help them as much as I can!

 

[Soulless Angel]

My only advice would be "get out of there".

wow, what makes you say that?

 

[Makko]

wow, what makes you say that?

Mental illness projects a psychological swamp that slowly (or rapidly) drowns everyone close to the sufferer. Getting away is the only way to preserve yourself. You have the option to stick around and offer support as a noble self-sacrifice, but that would not be my advice, especially if you have your own issues to deal with.

 

[WornOutLife]

It depends on the mental illness.

When If failed to ctb, I was forced to live with my parents again and here's the thing: my mother has schizophrenia. She becomes literally a monster and thinks people (including my dad and me) want to kill her.

What did I do? I just tried to ignore her and do whatever she wanted me to but there were times in which I just went mad and we ended up insulting each other lots.

What advice can I give you?

As it was said above, just get out of there but try to get them professional help. My mother didn't want to go neither to therapy nor to a psychiatrist and sending her against her will, here in Argentina, it's almost impossible.

If you have no choice but to live with them, whenever you go mad or sad, just try to remember they're "sick". Only meds can help them but treating them with love and respect always helps.

 

[ashedout]

It likely depends on the mental illness and the exact circumstances the person who has it is in. My advice would be to have an open and honest conversation with the person to set the expectations of what they hope to get out of living together (would be different for friends vs roommates vs romantic partner, etc) and have some sort of framework of what both parties need and expect overall and for specific situations. Boundaries are key. Is this the sort of conversation that would happen in real life? Probably not but communication with that end goal in mind would hopefully help.

 

[Mixo]

I guess first I'd ask if they are looking for advice in the first place. People are usually the best experts of their own lives and sometimes advice that isn't asked for can seem presumptuous or unhelpful. I would say that I can't guarantee that I understand every dimension of their experience, but I'll be there if they ever do want to share what's going on for them.