Loving Someone with a Serious Mental Illness

Powerful and practical tools to help you support your loved one with serious mental illness, while also making room for your own need.

If you have a loved one-a spouse, adult child, or other family member-who is experiencing a mental health crisis such as schizophrenia, delusion, hearing voices, mania, depression, or catatonia, you need help right now. Your loved one might be resistant to treatment. You may feel helpless watching them struggle. And you may question whether you can handle the myriad everyday practical and emotional challenges ahead. It's important to know that you are not alone.

Authors Katherine Ponte and Izzy Goncalves have been there. They are there. During Katherine's ongoing eighteen-year recovery from severe bipolar disorder and depression, her husband Izzy has been her primary caregiver. Together through trial, trauma, and triumph, they have amassed an unmatched store of lived experiences, shared perspectives, and lessons learned. They now bravely share, for the first time, everything they have come to understand about the challenges they've faced and surmounted together.

A vital resource for families in crisis, this book will help you: ?Recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness ?Maintain and improve communication between you and your loved one ? Better understand your loved one's feelings and emotions ?Handle special situations, including de-escalating crises ?Discover different options for treatment ?Make room for self-care

The book never forgets one crucial truth: you have needs, too. That's why the authors provide resources to ensure that you stay healthy, well-rested, and energized, so you can help your loved one on the path to recovery.