Posted by special_k on April 16, 2006, at 20:54:38
In reply to helping my son to understand his illness, posted by shareb on April 16, 2006, at 13:17:58
Hey. I tend to think that labels aren't so helpful. What does it mean to say that someone has schizophrenia? Different people with the same dx can be very different people...
Maybe ease off on the 'schizophrenia' side of it and worry about him coming to accept his symptoms.
What kinds of symptoms does he have?
Does he get hallucinations? Delusions? People can learn something about the kinds of hallucinations / delusional thinking that they have and can start to see that they are getting into a period of illness again. It can be HARD though. I've met a few people with schizophrenia and while they were able to talk about the hallucinations / delusions AS hallucinations / delusions in a period of wellness when they were okay, once they started to have an episode... They didnt' see them as symptoms of illness anymore. And they had immense difficulty in being able to say 'I think I'm getting sick again'. That can be really very hard to spot.
Other people I knew... Never did think their delusions were part of an episode. Not even when the doctors thought they were doing ok. It is a hard one...
> What can I do to encourage him to get out, he rarely goes anywhere, what should I be doing to encourage him to find a hobby?
That can be hard... Loss of motivation for those kinds of things can be part of it... I think... Some kind of structure / support tends to help. Can you go with him? Get him into it that way? Or pick up some kind of hobby with him?
Are there any support groups near where you live. I don't know where you are. Is there a 'schizophrenia fellowship' in your area? They typically run programs for family members (and consumers) to help them understand / come to terms with things. And they typically run groups like a gardening group, a music group, a poetry group, an art group etc. Sports groups too. There might be community programs in your area where he can go and do activities during the day and meet people and stuff...
poster:special_k
thread:633849
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060413/msgs/633976.html