| Diagnosing Family Members
Question:
My husband is a \"passive aggresive\" Frankenstein. He supliments this with
greif, (the loss of a child), stress, (near bankruptsey), sleeping problems, and several other
personality disorders that I have yet to put my finger on. After 4 years of a
marriage from hell I have only just discovered that most of our problems can be
rounded up and classified under this name.
My questions are, (I have set an appointment with a phsycotherapist), how long before we will start to see any changes, (months,
years), how long will counselling need to go on typically, and is there anything that we can
do at home in the meanwhile to begin to have a normal life?
Any ways to help him and to keep ourselves from going completely insane?
Response:
It is kind of dangerous to diagnose a person yourself. The behaviors you mention could also indicate depression or bipolar
disorder. Scheduling an appointment with a psychotherapist is the first step
to an accurate diagnosis.
My suggestion at this point is to wait for the professional's diagnosis and
suggestions. In my experience when a family member tries to be a therapist,
it never works. (This does not mean that you are wrong in your understanding
of what is going on with your husband, just that there could be many things
you might be missing.) There are too many other
dynamics at play in your relationship for it to work. Patients are generally
more open to
hearing a diagnosis from a professional than a family member....which is often
construed as criticism and lack of support. Instead, it would be more helpful
if you note these problems and take them to the therapist... who with the whole picture in front can guide you better.
Length of treatment depends on the diagnosis, the issues involved, the severity, intensity and duration of the problem and
the willingness of the patient to work.... generally, some positive change
should be noticeable within 6 months.
I hope this helps
Regards
Uzma Mazhar |
