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Hope for recovery

It can be distressing to see what your sibling is going through when they are experiencing a mental illness, and it can affect you and your family greatly, but people can recover from a mental illness and it can help to find out about what this can mean for you and your sibling.

When will my sibling recover?

Everyone has different expectations and fears when someone in their family is experiencing a mental illness. People sometimes worry that their brother or sister will never get better, hope that they will get better quickly or wonder how long it will take.

Mental illness can affect people in many different ways. There is no one way that people get better and getting better can mean different things to different people.

It can help first to accept that your sibling has an illness. They might think or act differently from before because of their mental health problem and it can take time for them to start to recover from this. Mental illness can change people in some negative ways, and also in positive ways, where people learn things from their experience, and so having gone through this experience will change them in some way, as all of our life experiences change us as we get older.

We might want our sibling to 'get back to normal' and want this to happen quickly, but it is good to think of mental illness as part of someone's life journey, and something they will need to learn how to manage.

Some people can recover so that they no longer need the same help, for instance medication or therapy, that they might need to begin with, while other people might need more long term support. Being patient, and finding out what recovery might mean for your sibling can help, and it can take a process of learning and trying until someone gets on the road to recovery and finds out what is right for them.

“It does get better, there's a lot of learning and a lot of loving that can take place. And it can be good.”

How can I support my sibling to recover?

When your sibling has been experiencing mental illness and starts to recover, whether from experiencing psychosis, or recovering from a period of depression or another mental health problem, they can feel low or worried as they come to terms with what has happened and begin thinking about their plans for the future.

You can support your sibling by:
•    showing that you are available to talk
•    being positive
•    encouraging your brother or sister to do things that they are good at
•    giving your sibling genuine compliments to help their confidence grow
•    being yourself and showing that you care.