The aim of this page is to put together something for the others caught in the depression/mental illness trap, the partners and families of the victims.
For the moment it is going to be a bit sparse, but hopefully it will remain a living growing document.
Resources
Here I want to put together a list of the resources available for partners and families of those suffering mental illness. If you know of something that I’ve missed then please put up a comment and I’ll add them to the list. See our Resources page.
I am a partner of a person with a mental illness= bipolar disorder. Although we have been married 17 years, the diagnoses was only a year ago. It has helped to know what the problem is, but in the meantime, a lot of damage was done.
Hi,
My husband of 5 years is a Geek, and a bi-polar surrerer for most of his 28 years. He showed me your website the other day and I think what you guys are doing is awesome. And its a great idea to have a page for spouses and families of the sufferers too, theres not that many resources out there for us, well, that I have found anyway.
Although these websites are not Australian they have helped me a lot:
http://getolife.com/what.aspx
– A somewhat humerous look at what its like to live with bi-polar spouse.I especially related to the ‘Reality’, ‘Stay or leave’. The ‘why not work’ and the ’stressors’ page gave me a well needed laugh.
Another useful website I stumbled across was
http://www.bpso.org/
It is aimed at Bipolar Significant Others (aka, spouses and families) and has a fantastic collection of links to all kinds of useful information. Also not Australian, but useful none the less.
I have also just finished reading a book called “Loving someone with bipolar disorder: understanding and helping your partner” by Julie A. Fast. It was an interesting read which helped me to understand the difference between the person and the disease (know when “the bipolar disorder is talking”) identifying the triggers that lead to symptoms and it gave tips on transforming the “bipolar conversation”.
Good luck with your website!
– Heather
Hi, a mutual friend connected me to this, so I’m new. Great that you are wanting to network resources. I’d encourage ‘inclusive diversity.’ That’s because a key thing about the mind is it’s inherently complicated. So it’s helpful to encourage a wide diversity of perspectives. I sum it up as “voices for choices.” This is my 34th year as a community organizer of, by and for people who have personally experienced mental health care. This is my 24th year doing this full time, as a director of an independent human rights nonprofit, MindFreedom International. One reason my friend sent me here, is that we are using Plone, and if someone is passionate about human rights in mental health, and enjoys Plone…. we have some super-powerful ways you can assist. We unite about 100 grassroots groups. By the way… One way toward inclusion is about language. I have a personal essay on the MindFreedom web site about this. You can google the following words to find my essay, which is about our living language (and not political correctness). The words to Google are: Let’s Stop Saying Mental Illness.