How can I best support my schizophrenic sibling?

Sibling friend or family member any one who is schizophrenic, firs thing to do is Educate yourself. Learning about schizophrenia and its treatment will allow you to make informed decisions about how best to cope with symptoms, encourage your loved one to pursue self-help strategies, handle setbacks, and work towards recovery. The second most important thing is to empower your loved one. Be careful that you’re not taking over and doing things for your loved one that he or she is capable of doing. Support your loved one while still encouraging as much independence and self-help as possible. Recognize your own limits. Be realistic about the level of support and care you can provide. You can’t do it all, and you won’t be much help to a loved one if you’re exhausted, so seek help where you can. Encouraging treatment and self-help is a cornerstone of helping a loved one with schizophrenia. While medication is an important element of schizophrenia treatment, your loved one’s recovery depends on other factors as well. Self-help strategies such as changing to a healthy diet, managing stress, exercising, and seeking social support can have a profound effect on your loved one’s symptoms, feelings, and self-esteem. And the more someone does for themselves, the less hopeless and helpless they’ll feel, and the more likely their doctor will be able to reduce their medication. Your encouragement and support can be crucial to your loved one starting and continuing a program of self-help. The best way to help a person suffering from schizophrenia is by treating them with as much respect and tolerance as one would treat every other person. People suffering from schizophrenia are, first and foremost, people and should be treated as such. They may need a bit more help dealing with everyday problems but there are many other people who do as well without suffering from schizophrenia. This is why I am so intolerant of people using the word schizophrenic or schizo to describe people suffering from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is an illness and should be treated just like eg. high blood pressure. If it is left untreated the symptoms might spiral out of control. In such a case, it will depend on how much one would like to help the ill person and how much one is prepared to face the consequences. Forcing a person with schizophrenia into a clinic or into medical treatment might end an existing friendship as, unlike high blood pressure, people with schizophrenia often don’t realise they have a problem. So…treat them as you’d wish to be treated and maybe cut them a bit more slack in areas they have problems with.