4.2 Behaviour changes

Outline - Chapter 4: How concurrent disorders affect family life

• How concurrent disorders affect family life
• Behaviour changes
• Relationship changes
• Increased responsibility
• Impact on caregivers

Mental health problems can bring frightening changes in how people experience reality. These changes can affect their relationships and ability to function. Behaviour changes include paranoia and hallucinations, feelings of anger, drastic mood changes or overwhelming anxiety. People with mental health problems may:

• begin to lose trust in close family members
• find it hard to make even simple decisions, to complete plans or to set goals
• stop participating in activities that they once enjoyed
• cut themselves off from the outside world
• find it hard to express their feelings and thoughts
• retreat into their own inner world
• become hostile, even with their families.

You have lots of your own feelings about it, and then lots of feelings for your loved one. How is this going to affect their life? What’s going to happen to them? There are so many things that just come pouring in. And you have concerns for their siblings, for your other children . . . it can affect so many people.

Substance use problems can interfere with a person’s ability to follow family routines and meet their responsibilities. They may:

• spend more time getting and using substances, and less time or no time in their usual activities
• have financial problems (the cost of using substances can become quite high; in some cases, substance use can lead to job loss, which can create further money problems)
• act out physically.