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To Be A Relative
How does it feel to be a relative
of a person who suffers from schizophrenia? In the Swedish book
"Vår son har schizofreni" ("Our son has schizophrenia")
which was published in a new edit in 1999, the authors write about
their meetings with relatives:
"We have met a group of
people who were sad most of the time, sometimes shaken and resigned,
and occasionally with such strong and naked pain that we ourselves
were deeply touched for a long period."The parents "bear
and mediate when you come closer a paralyzing and heavily agonizing
feeling of powerlessness, and of being stuck in an impossible situation,
with no way out."
"Vår son har schizofreni"was
first published in 1987 with the Swedish title "Vår son
är schizofren? Familjeröster" ("Our son is a
schizophrenic? Family voices"). In this book, the authors Marie
Ahnlund, Ingrid Rosén and Lennart Lundin interviewed 17 parents
of children afflicted with schizophrenia. The book is based on a
university essay in psychology.
The material of the book "Vår
son har schizofreni" is hence more than 15 years old. Has the
gloomy picture of those relatives with the toughest situation changed
for the better? Unfortunately not, as suggested by recent statements
from a couple of mothers who have children with schizophrenia.
The two mothers have chosen
to be anonymous, so the names used in the texts are fictitious.
Source:
Interview with the two mothers.
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