crisis

One of our family members had a mental health crisis last week. The crisis was so serious she was committed to a mental health hospital for 72 hours. A commitment of this type is enacted when a health professional (this time an emergency room staff) determined she was a danger to herself.

Her illness is of a compulsive nature and had been a concern for a couple of years but not openly discussed among family members. From my perspective, as a psychiatric mental health nurse of 30 years, it is a prime example of minimization and denial that allows a disease to progress. That is the tragedy of denial. Everybody thinks they are doing the right thing but the disease progresses.

There are several layers to her illness and several layers to the animosity between some family members. So as is typical in any crisis, everybody does more of what is their usual pattern. The mother rushes in to rescue  her daughter from this "terrible" mental institution. The father and father-in-law disagree about the situation. The lawyer uncle threatens legal action and tells another member "it's none of her damn business."

If I was writing a case study, this would be a perfect example of the layers of a disease. And yet as a family member, my gut reaction is one of sadness. Sad for the patient---what a trauma for this young woman. Sad for the mother---what a blow to her self image as a caring, loving, competent mother. Sad for the father who feels helpless and excluded. Sad for the father-in-law who feels invalidated. Sad for the uncle and other family members who feel guilty that they didn't say more, confront more when they identified signs of the illness.

The other side of the situation is that it is an opportunity---an opportunity for the woman to get the help she needs---an opportunity for the family to examine their relationships, their definition of family.  At best I fear it will all get minimized again and the disease will simply go undercover until the next crisis.

Sadly, there is no prayer life within the family members most affected by this. I pray for them to somehow feels God's presence. He promised to be with us in the dark places.

Are you open to God's presence in your dark places?
Blessings-Penny