With all the merriment associated with the holidays having a family member who struggles to find merriment no matter what day of the year it is can be difficult. Mental illness takes no holiday. It is there 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Often it intensifies during the time everyone else is at the height of merriment.
As a caregiver for someone with mental illness it is not always easy to avoid being pulled into your loved one's depression. Your work as a caregiver intensifies along with their anxiety. I am still struggling to find a way to separate myself from my brother's illness. Because it is an ongoing battle measured by phone calls, thoughts of suicide and delusional thinking I live as much with his schizophrenia at times as he does.
At times I am acutely aware that I am in over my head but that doesn't seem to matter. I'm here and that is where I will remain. I'm in this until one of us has taken our last breath.
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1 comment:
I wish I had answers for you but I am grateful for you sharing. It is such a fine line between caregiving and codependency for all of us, that is if there is a line at all.
Caregivingly Yours, Patrick
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