Mental illness affects relationship, health, behavior, way of thinking, and most importantly it cast negative impacts on the patient’s personality. It is quite difficult for a mentally ill person to keep up the moderation and affection of relationships, right?
You must be wondering, is it possible for a mentally ill person to enjoy the life – in the way a normal person enjoys life?
Aw! To be honest – NO!
Mental illness affects your relationships because no one likes a mentally ill person. People show sympathy for an ill person but no one is ready to add him/her to their friends-circle – A stinky TRUTH of life!
Mental disorder not only steals your blood-relationships but also limits your social circle. In short, any kind of mental illness is far more dangerous than a physical disorder.
Let’s have a close look on side effects of mental illness on different relationships.
How mental illness affects Child-Parent relationship?
Although, child-parent relationship is priceless but mental disorder can make it dull and less captivating. Without any doubt, parents wanna treat all of their children equally.
Since a person suffering from mental illness requires extra care and attention, it can disturb this beautiful relationship because they can’t give same attention all the time!
According to researchers, it becomes difficult for parents to get over the feeling that they have a special child. In some cases, it gets worse and they become reluctant to take care of their child because they start thinking that he/she’ll never change!
Moreover, some parents admit their kids to rehabilitation centers just to get rid of the shame and taunting of others – that they have an abnormal kid!
It ultimately weakens their bond with the special-kid and that’s how mental illness affects Child-Parent relationship!
How mental illness affects Husband-Wife relationship?
Mental illness of any of the partner makes life tough, right? Living with a spouse who is suffering from mental illness can be stressful. According to researchers, mental illness affects Husband-Wife relationships in many ways like emotional insecurities, guilt of having a mentally ill partner and limitation of social circle etc.
Moreover, mental illness demolishes physical intimacy of the both partners which ruins the marriage because one partner is not getting the same care, emotional attachment and affection that he was getting before!
This is a critical situation for both partners and continuity of the marriage depends upon the emotional strength of the healthy partner because he’s the one who is bearing taunting, rude behavior and negative comments of this so called Civilized-Society.
In short, life isn’t easy for a couple if any of the partner is mentally ill.
Impacts of mental illness on Siblings:
Mental illness of brother or sister can put other siblings in a lot of psychological issues and physical insecurities. Although, mental disorder is a natural aspect of life but it’ll make them think that they could also suffer from the same problem that their mentally ill sibling is suffering from!
The outset of mental illness of sibling can put other siblings in a lot of stress, confusion, sadness and stigma. Their family life revolves around the mental illness of their sibling which makes them fearful about their own emotional and physical health.
In most cases siblings start hating their mentally ill brother or sister because they start to consider him a burden. They avoid sitting near him/her and the bitter truth is, “they feel shame in calling her a brother/sister!”
In some cases, they hate their abnormal brother or sister just because he/she is getting more attention of the parents as compared to other siblings.
Effects of mental illness on social relationships:
Negative impacts of mental illness aren’t confined to family members. Instead, mental disorder also cast negative effects on social status of a mentally ill person as well as his/her family.
If he/she has a friend’s circle before the illness, with the passage of time those friends will separate their ways because no one wants to have a friend who can give nothing except sorrow, shame and fear!
People avoid listening or talking to an abnormal person because they consider it a wastage of time. People ignore him/her because of his/her strange behavior, odd body gestures and weird habits. In short, no one wants to be friend with a mentally ill person.
Tips for dealing with mental illness and mentally ill persons:
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- Spend some time with the mentally ill person to make him realize that he’s not alone.
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- To save the brother/sister relationship, parents must share illness information with their other kids according to their age – It’ll help kids to understand that mental illness of their brother/sister is a natural thing and they must treat him/her in a special way.
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- Encourage family sittings especially on weekends to ensure every one spends time with the patient.
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- Advice his/her siblings to introduce him/her to their friends.
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- Don’t hesitate to take the patient to social places like parks, beaches and other family spots.
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- It’s good to be polite with the mentally ill person but don’t always make him/her realize that he/she is a patient.
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- To minimize impacts of mental illness, don’t forget to take the patient with you in gatherings like birthday celebrations, thanksgiving parties, Christmas events etc. In short, you have to make him/her realize that he/she can do everything just like others!
