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When It Comes to Mental Illness, Family Members Need Support, Too

Tanya J. Peterson

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

Providing consistent mental health support is a huge undertaking and caregivers often forget to care for themselves. Learn how to do that on HealthyPlace.

When It Comes to Mental Illness, Family Members Need Support, Too

Mental illness isn't an individual experience; instead, it's a family affair. Mental illness is something that impacts the person experiencing it as well as his/her entire network of systems (family, friendships, school, work, and more). The effect of mental illness on loved ones is, unfortunately, something that can get lost in the shuffle of supporting someone living with mental illness (How to Help Someone with a Mental Illness).

Often, when someone is diagnosed with a mental illness, the focus of care is on him or her. Appointments, sometimes in-patient treatment, diagnoses, medications, therapy, and more take place. A huge part of recovery is the support provided by the family and friends of someone living with mental illness. Family and friends, though, need support, too.

If you're a family member of someone living with mental illness, allow yourself to feel what you feel, and take care of yourself based on your feelings. Self-care is vital. Also, seek some support for yourself. Many communities have classes and support groups for family members; the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is one of the many groups that offers support for families. Because mental illness impacts everyone, it's natural and okay for all family members to need support. It's how everyone achieves mental health and wellbeing.

Related Articles Dealing with Family Members and Mental Illness

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: Today’s Question: How do you care for yourself while supporting a family member or friend with a mental illness? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

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Share our Stories

At the top and bottom of all our stories, you'll find social share buttons for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites. If you find a particular story, video, psychological test or other HealthyPlace feature helpful, there's a good chance others in need will too. Please share.

We also get many inquiries about our linking policy. If you have a website or blog, you can link to any page on the HealthyPlace website without asking us beforehand.

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

  1. For Partners Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder
  2. Walk Away From Verbal Abuse
  3. Power of the Mind. How You Can Unleash It!

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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Stand Up for Mental Health

Thousands Have Joined the Stand Up for Mental Health Campaign

But we still need you. Let others know there's no shame in having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, trichotillomania, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia or any other mental illness.

Join the Stand Up for Mental Health campaign. Put a button on your website or blog (buttons for family members, parents, mental health professionals and organizations too). We also have covers for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

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Latest Mental Health News

These stories and more are featured on our mental health news page:

  • Antipsychotic Medications May Be Ineffective For Treating Or Preventing Delirium
  • Loneliness Increases Risk Of Heart Disease And Stroke
  • Psilocybin Reduces Psychological Pain After Social Exclusion
  • Too Much 'Noise' Can Affect Brain Development
  • Autism Patients Have More Cancer Gene Mutations But Lower Cancer Risk
  • Marijuana Use May Reduce Dopamine In The Brain, Causing Negative Effects On Learning And Behavior
  • Kids Who Decide To Join Gangs Are More Likely To Be Depressed And Suicidal
  • Depression, Metabolic Factors Combine To Boost Risk Of Developing Diabetes, Study Finds

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index

APA Reference
Peterson, T. (2016, June 3). When It Comes to Mental Illness, Family Members Need Support, Too, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, April 19 from https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-health-newsletter/when-it-comes-to-mental-illness-family-members-need-support-too

Last Updated: June 3, 2016
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Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD

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