Coping with my adult daughter's mental illess

Hi @Annie19 and welcome to the forums.

I'm really glad that you've found this space and felt able to share your story with us, which I'm sure many parents and carers in here can relate to.

I'm hearing how hard it's been to see your daughter relapse, but I'm also hearing that prior to this she had seen improvements that hadn't seemed possible. To me, that gives me hope that your daughter can get back to that. Unfortunately, it is very common to have times where it seems we take 1 step forward and then 2 steps back, progress is very up and down for most (if not all) who are working on their mental health. I guess what I'm saying is that while I know it's hard to feel much hope right now, maybe it's still there.

I'm curious, what lead to her good period last time?

Thanks so much for responding! Her real improvement started nearly 4 years ago, she stopped smoking weed and also slowly went off all her medication, I mean there were of course lots of ups and downs, but she was working and functioning pretty well. She hasn't smoked weed since. Recently she went back on several medications (in the physch ward) but has since come off as they had such a detrimental affect. Last December she had some sort of episode which was the beginging of this relapse - it was very sudden.

She works really hard at trying to get better, but she feels very hopeless and can't see a good outcome at this stage. Her OCD symptoms in particular are giving her a terrible time, however she has a good psychologist and psychiatrist although recent sessions with them seem to trigger her in a bad way...so it's hard to know what to do!

I don't feel hopeless in the long term, I agree that if she has been good before she can be again, but it is excruciating witnessing her going through this. It's the day to day that I really struggle with, trying to stay positive, etc.

hi Annie. I didn’t know whether to post here or not because I feel your pain. I am in a similar situation to yourself but there are some massive differences as well.
I would suggest that you make sure you still have things in your life so that you can continue to be a support to your daughter when she needs it. It’s easy to be a carer and forget about our own needs. And it sounds like you have continued to have a strong bond with your daughter and that she is looking for ways to improve her own situation which is fantastic. Things do go up and down a lot with mental health but it looks like she’s got wonderful support there as well so it’s a positive Part of her stability

I might post my own Experience separately but just remember you are doing an amazing job. Annie is trying to help her recovery with the support people that she has found, so it is a positive step in overcoming her current situation. Hang in there