Loved one with bipolar, schizoaffective, or schizophrenia? Do not listen to use when we say we are fine. We are quite possibly lying to you.
Don’t assume that because we are going to work that we are actually working. We might just be sitting there getting nothing done.
Don’t listen to what we say when asked insipid questions.
How is your day?
Having a good day?
What great weather we are having!
How are you?
Bla bla bla….
We will not tell you the truth.
Instead, look at our actions and our output. Are you seeing the work? Are you seeing the person actually socialize or are they only telling you they are socializing?
Have you looked- really looked at their room and bathroom to see if it’s being cleaned?
Is your loved one lying to you? If they are ill, the answer is 90% yes.
I ask this from a place of great worry about our current mental health treatment protocol. There are too many questions. We place way too much emphasis on listening to ill people who are too sick to ask for help.
We confronted with the miserableness of our existence, we are overwhelmed and we will lie to you.
Asking a person with severe mental illness how they are doing is like telling a fox not to go after the chickens.
Check our hygiene. Check our work output. Look at what we are writing online. See if we are actually seeing other human begins. Look us in the eye and really see what is going on. Stop talking to us so much. Do something.
Check our living space. We can lie with words, but our actions and the space around us, including the state of our cars will tell you the truth.
If you smell weed on a person, the person is using weed. Don’t ask if they are using weed. Geez!
Get active to help a loved one who has bipolar, schizoaffective or schizophrenia. Don’t give us the chance to lie to you about how we are doing. We will either be too sick or too embarrassed to tell you the truth.
Julie
PS: This kind of lying is truthfully more an evasion technique due to being sick. We are not lying to be deceitful.
PSS: The Health Cards and the charting systems in Take Charge and Loving are essential to knowing when a loved one is sick. We often have symptoms we simply can’t tell you about when we are really sick.
If you are a parent, family member, caregiver or health care professional, please join me on The Stable Table. This is a closed Facebook page just for you!
If you are a partner, please join me on The Stable Bed.
If you have bipolar or schizoaffective, please join me on my Julie A. Fast and Julie A. Fast Books Facebook pages.
