Friends, Family & Carers Forum

[trihard]

Its a very hard situation. My in law has psychosis (schizophrenia) and is not doing well. His young wife has a baby and a toddler and is very depressed. We are caring as best we can but he needs to be assessed and properly treated. His current psych has little experience and seems out of his depth. Where can we find up to date experience? His wife needs help too as her depression is becoming critical. Are their other young wives out there she could share with? The family feels something awful is going to happen soon if we dont do something, but what to do. Id love some suggestions and contacts if anyone has any. Thanks for caring.

[Acacia]

Hi trihard,

Welcome to the Forums and thank you for sharing your story.

It sounds like your family’s going through a really difficult time. I’m glad you’ve reached out for support. I think you’ll find the Forums are a great place for connecting with other people in similar circumstances.

I’d just like to put forward a couple of suggestions, which you may or may not be aware of. To find a psychologist who specialises in schizophrenia, you can use the search tool on the Australian Psychological Society website.

If your in-law’s wife is suffering post-natal depression, PANDA has a helpline and can link people with support groups and other services. This could be a good way to link up with other young wives. She may also find a carers support group helpful. ARAFMI is a good place to start for finding out about those groups.

In the meantime, you might like to take a look at our recent Topic Tuesday about psychosis.

There are also lots of members on the Forums who’ve experienced psychosis themselves or have a loved one who’s experienced psychosis, including @kenny66 , @Linmerc, @soul, @Shadow , @K8Ramen , @Iam and @Sheybridge

Welcome once again. Please keep posting and sharing your thoughts.

[Eagle]

Hi @trihard

Sometimes it's so hard when you can see things fall apart but you feel helpless.

Acacia gave some great advice on places you can check out, especially ARAFMI in your state - they can give you location specific referrals.

When you say he has psychosis, do you mean he's currently experiencing an episode?
If he is, you can contact his local CATT team who are able to come out, assess and admit him to hospital (voluntarily or not)
Medication can help to manage psychotic episodes. When you said his 'psych' is out of his depth, are you referring to a psychologist or psychiatrist? The reason I ask is because a psychologist can't prescribe medication, and I was going to recommend delving a bit further into why he's not seeing psychiatrist.

Your in-law is lucky to have a family like you who are rallying around him and his family.

[trihard]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I am going to work my way through them right now as tomorrow I am meeting with my niece to make some plans.

This is a great forum and I thank you for the work you do.

[trihard]

Thanks Eagle. I wrote a reply to you but it seems to have gone missing in cyber space (a not uncommon occurence with me).

My relo sees a psychiatrist who is a nice man but he seems to have no plan or helpful strategy for what to do next. The meds have relieved the psychosis but he still gets what we call stuck and is unable to work or be left alone with his children who are 20 and 6 months old respectively. Often he seems vulnerable and lost but at other times is belligerent and unhelpful. His workplace has "let him go" and its difficult to watch this professional man who had a good career struggling to find a future doing anything.

His wife is understandably depressed and I am grateful for the suggestions that have been made to help her.

Unfortunately I am still trying to locate a psychiatrist with an interest in psychosis/schizophrenia. The profiles mentioned on the Australian Psychological website seemed more concerned with anxiety and other issues even though I looked under psychosis and it didnt offer schizophrenia as an issue.

I feel a bit frustrated that if you wanted a builder people could give you a name of someone who was really good but with mental illness its deemed to be inappropriate to name individuals so its like working your way through a maze.

But thank you and the forum for taking an interest and giving me hints on how to navigate.

[Acacia]

Hi @trihard

Sorry you haven't had much luck finding better support for your in-law. As @Eagle says, your neice and her husband are so lucky to have a caring family around them.

Finding the right support can be a long and frustrating process but usually a worthwhile one. The website I referred you to earlier is for psychologists, but the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists offers a similar service with the details of psychiatrists. Perhaps you can find someone helpful through their search tool.

I can understand that it must be difficult to feel hopeful at the moment, but remember that having young children is a stressful time for any family and is likely to be even more stressful if there are mental health issues involved. It sounds like you're doing a wonderful job in being there for your relatives and helping them link in with profesional support.

I wish you and your family all the best and look forward to hearing how things progress.

[Appleblossom]

Yes, the young mum is in a tough situation not even being able to rely on husband for light babysitting. 

I worry that a few of the practising psychologists may not really be up to dealing with scizophrenia .. I have felt I have had to put in "work" in helping them understand when I have had counselling.  So I allowed them to use me as a human guinea pig .. part of it is the divide line between serious pathology and what are seen as "normal" human issues.

These days people often have access to both types. I guess the more help the better.