Should you disclose serious mental illness when in a relationship?
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Anonymous
| I guess the question should be "how soon..." but anyway. How would you react if you found out after a year that your SO is schizophrenic? |
Anonymous
| How old? How serious? For an adult, serious relationship, I think waiting 1 year to disclose is too long. |
Anonymous
| If someone is schizophrenic the person with whom they are in the relationship will know very shortly. |
Anonymous
Actually a lot of symptoms can be well managed with meds and self care for some individuals. But a year seems like a long time, as though a lot of purposeful hiding and omission has been going on. |
Anonymous
| 1 month to 3 months depending on the pace of the relationship |
Anonymous
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You should disclose fairly early in the relationship. A year is way too long. Remember the guy in Sophie's Choice? Shocker.
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Anonymous
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How long would you wait to disclose a serious, chronic "physical" illness? Use that guideline, because there's not much difference.
A year is way too long. |
Anonymous
+1 I think the 1-3 month timeframe is appropriate. A year is way too long and I'd be angry if someone waited that long to tell me. |
Anonymous
| Disclose early, OP. Serious mental illness requires support and understanding. Don't waste time with someone who will not be there for you. |
Anonymous
+2 |
Anonymous
| I have chronic illnesses (one life-threatening) along with some mental issues (PTSD is one). I told my husband as soon as we started dating because it wouldn't have been fair to either of us to get too attached and then tell him on the off-chance that he wouldn't be able to deal with it. He was, and we've been married for almost 8 years. |
Anonymous
| If things get serious. Those of us who have already done our time probably wish not to tackle serious mental health issues in a partner again. |
Anonymous
This was my initial thought. |
Anonymous
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Oh and how would I react? I’d be upset. And “why” did the person wait? Does the person withhold other huge things from me?
Some of these are genetic and so you have a higher rate of having a child with a similar challenge. I don’t know about schizophrenia in particular. These are the things id want to research. Knowledge is power. And I would wonder why my SO was withholding that knowledge. Whether I stayed or not would depend on a lot of things. But something tells me the lack of disclosure is in line with other less-than-healthy relationship behavior. |
Anonymous
| You can't really sustain a long term relationship with a person suffering from schizophrenia. You certainly can't have children with them. |