Category FAQs Search : Schizophrenia
Question: What can family, friends and partners do to help?
Answer: Friends, relatives and partners have a vital role in helping people with schizophrenia recover, and make a relapse less likely.
Do not blame the person with schizophrenia or tell them to "pull themselves together", or blame other people. It's important to stay positive and supportive when dealing with a friend or loved one's mental illness.
As well as supporting the person with schizophrenia, you may want to get support to cope with your own feelings. Several voluntary organisations provide help and support for carers.
Friends and family should try to understand what schizophrenia is, how it affects people, and how they can help. You can provide emotional and practical support, and encourage people to get appropriate support and treatment.
As part of someone's treatment, you may be offered family therapy. This can provide information and support for the person with schizophrenia and their family.
Friends and family can play a major role by monitoring the person's mental state, watching out for any signs of relapse, and encouraging them to take their medication and attend medical appointments.
If you're the nearest relative of a person who has schizophrenia, you have certain rights that can be used to protect the patient's interests.
These include requesting that the local social services authority ask an approved mental health professional to consider whether the person with schizophrenia should be detained in hospital.
(Source: The National Health Service (NHS), 12 May 2021)
Source Link: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/schizophrenia/living-with/