https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 01 May 2026 15:50:25 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910389 Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:02:18 +0000 Anagram 2910389@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: gotcha. And schizophrenia itself causes brain damage, the longer the psychotic episodes go untreated, the more the brain changes. It’s interesting/sad. Electroshock therapy is definitely controversial! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910242 Sat, 15 Feb 2020 14:25:36 +0000 periwinklebee 2910242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: Thank you so much! I'm so sorry about your sister and the expense of treatment, that's so rough.... I'm sure medication will take awhile to optimize. My relative was able to get some medication, and hopefully it's a first step. </p> <p>About my relative's BIL - I've only heard second hand as it happened before I was born, but my understanding is that he was treated with electric shock therapy (and I think some strong drugs as well) for paranoid schizophrenia at a state mental institution, and the treatment caused brain damage. I think the ways that they used to treat mental illness, and not all that long ago, were quite extreme, it's really sad... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910120 Thu, 13 Feb 2020 06:18:55 +0000 Anagram 2910120@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I hope your family member gets help. Sometimes an intensive program is the best way—medications can take a while to even out. He may need to go on medical leave until he gets this sorted out. The medication part is tricky—it can take a long while to find just the right medication and dosage that helps. My sister has something more difficult—schizophrenia—but it took the better part of a year and a half to get her stable and on the right combo of drugs and therapy. She ended up doing cbt and dbt in an inpatient program, but it was at a private facility and cost more than an Ivy League college education—my mom drained her retirement accounts to pay for it 😕</p> <p>There are outpatient programs as well. My sister lives in a small town and ended up going 2 hours to the nearest big city for treatment. </p> <p>I’m very curious about your reference to the botched treatment before-would love to hear about that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910079 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:15:28 +0000 periwinklebee 2910079@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Rocker2014: Thank you!! I had never heard of this </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910073 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:27:33 +0000 Rocker2014 2910073@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) can be helpful in situations like this:</p> <p><a href="https://nami.org/Find-Support/NAMI-HelpLine" rel="nofollow">https://nami.org/Find-Support/NAMI-HelpLine</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910048 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:36:54 +0000 periwinklebee 2910048@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@josina: Thank you!!! Ruled out a stroke thankfully and he has an appointment with his GP tomorrow. Hopefully the GP is open to prescribing anti-anxiety medicine and can recommend other resources, as I know in the area they live that the recommendation for mental health issues is often Christian counseling (not trying to knock it, but also don't think it's a substitute for modern medicine...) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910044 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:16:38 +0000 josina 2910044@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: How scary if it is a stroke! Hope everything turns out okay. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910042 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:03:28 +0000 periwinklebee 2910042@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@josina: Thank you! </p> <p>My relative was able to get a hold of the GP, who was concerned that the anxious ramblings could be a sign of a stroke rather than a nervous break down. I had no idea that strokes could manifest that way. So they are at the ER getting it checked out, I hope they will be able to help regardless of the cause. I still suspect mental health issues given history, but I’m not a doctor and I’m really glad there getting things checked out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910034 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 10:20:07 +0000 josina 2910034@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We live in a semi-rural area; my DH just mentioned his (albeit minor) anxiety issues to his GP and she prescribed anxiety meds, no big deal. And it was surprising to me that once we mentioned it to friends/family there are so many people taking them. The meds have helped him a ton! I think he's taking zoloft, but I'm not 100% on that.</p> <p>Talking to his GP seems like a great place to start. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/helping-a-relative-with-mental-health-challenges#post-2910020 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:34:12 +0000 periwinklebee 2910020@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm hoping some of you with more experience with mental health care may have some advice... I got a call from a relative early this morning whose husband seems to be having some sort of anxious breakdown - convinced he's going to be fired from work to the extent that he walked out of the office - she took him back to his boss who said everything was perfectly fine and his performance has been great. Convinced she's going to want a divorce, ranting and crying while making very little sense. He also has some problems with addictive behavior (i.e. gambling) but has never been medicated for mental health issues before. I suggested considering impatient care since he seems to be having some sort of breakdown, but they live in a rural area that's not very attractive to medical professionals and she said the quality of the place they can access locally is very, very bad (which I would guess is not a wholly unreasonable concern) and she's really scared of it. Backstory is that she has a lot of anxiety about mental health care and has never sought it because back in the 80s, a doctor botched her BIL's schizophrenia treatment, causing permanent severe brain damage. So she's absolutely terrified about medications for mental health issues and of mental health professionals. So I told her to do whatever she can today to get ahold of the GP that she trusts to get a recommendation and/or have him prescribe medicine directly. </p> <p>What are resources that I can direct them to? Anyone know of resources about how to medicate anxiety and the safety of medication? Or a way to find good quality impatient programs, in case it is required? I think he will ultimately need CBT but right now getting medication seems first order. </p> <p>Thank you! </p>