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Monday, March 15, 2010

Mental Illness and the Ones You Love

Mental Illness (MI) is not something we tend to talk about a lot but when you live with someone with it, you want it to be 'out there' in the open. It is part of who that person is whether you like it or not and although we don't like to focus on it sometimes it rears its ugly face and you can not help but have it control and influence everything going on.
My husband had a Brain Haemorrhage (Aneurysm) in March 1984You can follow a time line of his illness's and the affect on me here. 
He has suffered from the MI of chronic depression with suicidal attempts. Last November he tried another overdose and is at the moment in a very low place again talking of doing it again. It is a real life situation that we as his family and those who love him, have to watch and live through as he receives the help he needs to come through.
Sometimes it is hard to separate the MI from the person who suffers it and you can become very confused and annoyed that they think the bad thoughts that they do, but when you can separate the illness as being "The Illness" you see the person you love and so want them to break through it.
The journey is hard and even more so when for myself as a wife and mother I have to support my husband and then all the family as they cope with it too.
This is when I so need to look after myself so that the illness I had (mentioned in the link above) does not bring me down as well.

It is my faith in God that carries me through for without Him I would fall and probably not even be here myself.
Praise God that He knows and will not give us more than we can handle.

1 comment:

  1. I am so sorry to hear about your husband, what a difficult thing to have to go through. I lost a very close friend to suicide following years of depression some years ago now, and it is such a difficult thing to deal with, and seems such a senseless waste. Mental illness is also such a difficult concept to come to terms with, especially to those who have never experienced it, and despite ongoing publicity and education there is still a massive stigma attached to it.

    I wish you all the best with your husband and I really hope you work through this together and that he can get through this current difficult time.

    All the best to you both.

    Elise
    http://onceohmarvellousonce.blogspot.com/

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