This is the next video in our new advice segment responding to questions or scenarios submitted by our viewers. In this video, I respond to this submission:

“My husband has been living with schizoaffective disorder for about 6 years. For the first few years, he had trouble coming to terms with his diagnosis which resulted in issues with adherence to medication and several hospitalizations. In more recent years, he is doing much better with taking his meds, but we still seem to have communication issues when it comes to the subject of his mental health. During the past year he had a long period of really good health and it was nice because it seemed like "normal" and I didn't feel like I had to bring up the topic of his mental health regularly. However, a few months ago I started to notice changes in his behaviour and I became concerned that he might be heading towards another psychotic episode. When I tried to talk to him about it, I thought I was being as gentle as I could when I told him what I was noticing and asked if he was still taking his medication. He became defensive and thought I was accusing him of something, and this started a conflict between us. I kept trying to explain what I was noticing, but he kept giving excuses for that behaviour and saying that it had nothing to do with his mental health. So I left the subject alone, but within a few weeks he was experiencing another acute psychotic episode which ended with police intervention and another hospitalization. I feel defeated because I knew this was coming and I tried to offer my support early, but I still couldn't lessen the impact of the episode. I would appreciate any advice you have for talking to someone who doesn't want to talk about their mental health!”

I provide my own experience with this as well as advice I've learned from trying to navigate it myself.

I have a background as a social worker and of course have my own experience navigating living with schizoaffective disorder. In these segments I try to bridge together these two perspectives. However I am not a medical practitioner so all advice is purely based off my own experiences and should not be taken as medical advice.

If you would like to submit your own question or scenario for advice, please email a few lines to [email protected]

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