Re: Mental Health
Meet the person with undercover shrink......so the shrink can diagnose/assess..
Re: Mental Health
you don't have to mention bipolar to this person but you can say that if she sees a professional, he/she maybe able to help her with periods of depression and that she may feel much better. Does she have periods of no sleep? bc then you can tell her that maybe she can see a psychiatrist for her sleep problem and they maybe able to help out with her sleep...(make up other reasons to see a professional other than a mental health issue)
Re: Mental Health
that's a pretty good idea hula.
I think I might try that.
Re: Mental Health
Muzna, the best thing you can do is to be a supportive friend and you sound like you’re doing an awesome job already! :)
Unfortunately, mental illnesses have a huge stigma associated with them and your friend seems like s/he is in a state of denial. The process of seeking help requires fundamental changes in the thought process - something that is explained pretty clearly by Prochaska's Stages of Change model. You may find it useful to go over this yourself and to familiarise yourself with it to better understand his/her predicament. Your friend is the ONLY one who can decide s/he wants to seek help; while you may be able to influence him/her, always remember that ultimately it is his/her choice alone.
Having said that, there are still ways that you can help him/her out.
Neuroscience research shows us that for people suffering from mental illnesses, changes in the brain are quite significant. Externalising **the issue is always helpful in these cases. What I mean by this is explaining the process of change in the brain; sometimes our brains aren't the most helpful to us and mental illnesses are caused by very real chemical imbalances in the brain. **Normalising the fact that there are thousands of other people who feel this way will also help. People with mental illnesses often feel that they are the only ‘defective’ individuals and that can lead to a sense of isolation, which aggravates any existing depression.
Your empathy and ability to actively listen to your friend during these difficult times will be invaluable. S/he is likely just looking for someone who will understand him/her, and you seem to be doing that already. Because you have gained such a high degree of trust, never contradict or directly challenge his/her thoughts and beliefs. This takes months and years of psychotherapy to resolve.
Avoid using labels because even psychiatrists are extremely careful about making diagnoses - this is the reason why they often don't diagnose kids even though they show the majority of the symptoms of a said mental illness. It could be bipolar, it could be depression, it could be something totally different or nothing at all. The point is that the DSM is socially-constructed tool with a very rigid definition of 'normal'.
Talk to your friend about any somatic issues he/she may be experiences. How is s/he sleeping? Eating? Energy levels? Any pain or chronic tension in the body? Most mental illnesses are accompanied by very real somatic experiences, and getting your friend to admit that these are a nuisance can often be the first step - after all, most of us are more likely to go to a physician about bodily pain than we would about suspected mental health issues. Also talk to him/her about how this experience gets in the way of his/her normal day-to-day activities – how does it prevent him/her from doing the things s/he really wants to do?
Finally, one does not need to see a psychiatrist to be diagnosed - your friend's family physician (GP) may be able to diagnose and prescribe medication in some cases. Just getting him/her to see her/his regular doctor (with whom one already has an existing relationship) is often less threatening than seeing a mental health specialist (or a "psycho" doctor as many people in this situation may see it- no offense intended to all those wonderful psychiatrists out there- I love you all very much!)
I hope this helps, and feel free to contact me if you need any more advice. (fyi: I'm a MSW, RSW.)