Mentally Ill but Lacking Insight: What Family Members Can Do

You can’t force anyone to accept help. There are still some things you can do, though. What you can influence is your own attitude in your contact with the other person: stay present without pressuring them, say what you see without turning it into a diagnosis, make the path to getting help easier, and know your own limits, including your own exhaustion. Whether the other person accepts help is up to them. Refusing help and failing to recognize the illness are two different things; some people recognize the illness but still don’t want to accept the offer of help. In cases of acute danger to the person or to others, professional help is part of the response: in Germany via the emergency number 112, abroad via the local emergency number. In Germany, 116117 arranges medical help outside practice hours.

Resources for Family Members

In Germany, there is a free resource for family members: the local social psychiatric service. It also provides counseling to family members, makes home visits, and can offer help to the person with the illness on its own initiative. My own counseling for family members is a self-pay service; statutory health insurance (GKV) pays for psychotherapy only as long as the insured person themselves has a mental illness. The Telephone Counseling Service (TelefonSeelsorge) is there for you yourself, at 0800 1110111 or 116 123, day and night.

Worry as a Reason in Its Own Right

Worry about the other person is a reason in its own right. It deserves a conversation of its own. Counseling for family members is a place where your own role can be clarified and your own exhaustion is given room.