YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hello Everyone,

I have a brother with various mental issues and on medication,
The podcast is amazing and has given me some insight as to the fight people have to try and life a " normal" life.
I was hoping i could get some directions from this forum.
I have insufficent experience with medical conditions to even classify what my brother has.
I would like to help but i dont know how, continious explosions with threats that escalate demanding attention ( i will kill myself, i will walk on the street naked).
Personal hygiene is non existent,
He remains an intelligent person that i can still normally talk to at times when he takes enough of his medication, so muck so that i think that there still exists a possibiity for him to live a normal life if he can undserstand/manage his condition.

Hello Waragi,
I'm not sure I have any great advice for you. The first thing I would say is that when he is making threats or acting out, try to remember that this is the disorder and not your brother. I would suggest maybe finding a support group for family members of the mentally ill and try to find out what he has and educate yourself. When he is medicated and thinking normal, try having a conversation with him about what he goes through. I'm sure he hates this horror movie he is stuck in. Try to talk to him about managing his condition and ask if there is anything you can do to help him. As far as him living a normal life, the responsibility of that will fall on him in the end. You can try your best to encourage him to stay medicated and to try to get him to start working to manage his illness. But if he doesn't take his meds or take responsibility for managing his condition it won't happen. It is possible with the help of meds for a mentally ill person to live a more or less normal life, but it is very hard.

thanks for the feedback, a lot of solid advice, I have to adjust the way I think of things.

The thing that I still wonder about is how much use a psychologist will be if the desire is not there from him to improve.

I want to help but how is so difficult.

If he doesn't have the desire to change, then chances are nothing will help. It is still worth trying to get through to him, hoping he will wake up at some point. Best of luck to you and your brother