Helping your relative accept the diagnosis
It is thought that people with better 'insight' in to their illness spend less time in hospital and are most likely to accept medication when they need it. Some research studies indicate that the more aware a seriously ill person is of their condition and of the benefits of appropriate medication and other treatment, the better the prognosis. But helping your relative to accept the diagnosis canbe very difficult.
Mental health professionals will sometimes describe someone with a severe mental illness as 'lacking insight' or 'having poor insight'. They usually mean that the person concerned does not accept that they have an illness or condition, and that they are therefore unwilling to take medication prescribed for them.In practice, insight tends to fluctuate from time to time and may be partial or incomplete. There are also different types of awareness of awareness or insight. Some people are able to recognise that they can function better if they use antipsychotic medication, but still do not recognise that they have a psychotic condition. In other words, a persons perception of their condition can be different to that of the professionals, or even their family.
Some researchers believe that 'lack of insight' is caused by a malfunction in the brain, the same which can prevent people who have suffered a stroke from recognising a resulting physical disability.
In practice, insight tends to fluctuate from time to time and may be partial or incomplete. There are also different types of awareness of awareness or insight.
Why acceptance can be difficult
It is important to recognise that your relative has a number of obstacles to overcome in order to accept the diagnosis, and may want to deny that anything has happened at all because...
- developing a potentially life-limiting illness at a stage in life when friends are moving confidently into adulthood can be devastating
- medication given to treat severe mental illness can have unpleasant side effects. If your relative knows that they must continue taking the drugs for a very long time in order to stay well, they may refuse to accept a diagnosis which requires such treatment
- society's attitudes to mental illness are slow to change. A diagnosis such as Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia still has a significant stigma attached to it and this may lead to discrimination in various areas of life - which can lead people to feeling isolated and labelled by such as diagnosis
Your relative's reluctance to accept their diagnosis will be easier to understand once you realise how their sense of control is further undermined by such external factors. This is contributed to further when mental health professionals neglect to discuss recovery or provide survival and coping strategies for people coming to terms with their illness.
