Being There for Another With a Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

In this article I describe the unique caring and caretaking relationship between a mentally ill person and the nonprofessional caretaker in his or her life. Stressing the perspective of the caretaker, I call this relationship "being there" for the mentally ill person. I collected the data through in-depth interviews and used a descriptive phenomenological approach to unveil the general structure of the experience. Eight constituents emerged as central to the general structure of this experience: (a) accepting the changed other and grieving the loss of who the other once was; (b) taking action in challenging circumstances; (c) recognizing the ongoing, never-ending, and sometimes unpredictable nature of the experience; (d) feeling isolated; (e) having ambiguity of the heart; (f) experiencing the tension of waiting; (g) knowing the other well; and (h) caring for the other. Knowledge gained from the study findings will help health care professionals understand and support people who are in this experience from a more caring paradigm.

‘Sustaining Place’ – a grounded theory of how informal carers of people with dementia manage alterations to relationships within their social worlds

“…The consequent social isolation, similarly identified by Papastavrou et al . () and Champlin (), is exacerbated where an informal carer experiences ‘Becoming a lesser person’. In this study, this related to changes to social identities as a result of alterations to inter‐relationships with the person with dementia; carer roles; and how others perceive and act with the informal carer and person with dementia.…”

Choosing “The Best of the Hells”: Mothers Face Housing Dilemmas for Their Adult Children With Mental Illness and a History of Violence

“…Unfortunately, increased caregiving responsibilities have been associated with increased psychological distress among familial caregivers (Saunders, 2003). Family members of individuals with mental illness report feeling isolated, seeing no resolution to their situations, maintaining constant vigilance, and living with fear and anxiety while wishing to maintain the safety of their ill relatives (Champlin, 2009). Thus, families attempting to provide in-home care for their mentally ill relative who has a history of violence might need more, or different, support than families whose relative does not have such a history.…”

The Bond We Share: Experiences of Caring for a Person with Mental and Physical Health Conditions

“…They mirror many of the fears, dilemmas and concerns highlighted in other international studies [21,35,69,74]. Likewise, other studies have spoken at length about the personal impact on carers in managing day-to-day care of the person and enduring the caring process [14.32-34,37,41].…”