DO YOU HAVE A LOVED ONE IN YOUR FAMILY? DO YOU HAVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A MENTALLY ILL PERSON? ALTHOUGH IT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO BELIEVE THERE CAN BE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.

I used to think that anyone afflicted with a mental illness was going to be a very ill person for the rest of their lives.

Having personally seen a family member gain a very reasonable standard of living from being chronically ill, I now believe that it is possible.

For some, a mental illness may only last a couple of weeks or months, but for others the time could lead into many years.

I am a carer, and certainly no medical expert, but I am speaking from experience of my own situation and from observing many other situations with people who I personally know and who have suffered chronic illnesses.

GETTING A DIAGNOSIS There are many types of mental disorders and because of the fact that specialists are dealing with matters of the mind, it is often hard to: 1. Establish the symptoms because at the time of ill health, communication can be a severe hindrance, or 2. The client could be showing symptoms of several different illnesses. There are other issues too, but unfortunately getting a good diagnosis often takes longer than we hoped.

Having said that, once you know what you are dealing with as a carer, I would suggest that you find out as much information as you can about the particular illness, then, as soon as you think there is a chance, start taking positive steps towards recovery.

"Recovery", I said. What do you mean, but now I believe it is more a question of "how and when" rather than a question of "if". Let me promise you, I never used to think this way at all.

RECOVERY Ten years ago when my son became ill with paranoid/schizophrenia all we could think of was that 'this illness will go away soon and all will be well'. But it wasn't quite that simple and there certainly are too many stories to tell now. Once you have seen your loved one go to the depths of 'hell' all you want is for them to be "OK", well, anyway that was what we thought. After all these years of watching a my chronically ill son, and with the knowledge I have now, I know that once a mentally ill person is ready life can be so much better.

Now, I am so happy to say, my son is living independently in a self contained flat on the property, drives his own car and maintains it, sorts out his own medication (with a little prompting at times), feeds and clothes himself to a fairly high standard and handles his finances well. A situation I was starting to think I would never see again. So, to all carers and family members reading this article I would encourage you not to give up hope but work through that horrendous first stage of everyone learning to cope with the illness and support the person who is ill as our journey, as carer and family, is nowhere as bad as their journey. It may only take months for things to settle down but, as in our case, it may take years.

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