Recognizing and understanding persecutory delusions as a caregiver

The responsibility for caregiving is increasingly being placed in families rather than institutions. Caregivers need to become more skilled at handling a loved one with a mental illness

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Caregivers face dealing with several behavioural deficits when caring for loved ones with a mental illness.

For those caring for a loved one with schizophrenia or schizoaffective mental conditions, recognizing and understanding persecutory delusion is is important.

Here's a definition of persecutory delusions from Healthline: A person with persecutory delusions is unable to recognize reality. They strongly believe people or groups, like the government, intend to harm them. These beliefs are often unrealistic or bizarre. Persecutory delusions frequently appear in mental health disorders, like schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

We needn’t go into studies and the science behind persecutory delusions here but rather consider how you as a caregiver can handle your loved one.

I know from experience that persecutory or victimization delusions can become challenging in a family. The loved one with these delusions can react in various ways, including shouting abuse at a caregiver, sulking all day long, and generally putting a strain on relationships within the family.

In working with a loved one with persecutory delusions one has to be careful not to raise the level of anxiety that the loved one already has. It’s important to try to calm the person and situation down. It's perhaps suitable to leave a loved one alone for a while so their emotions can settle.

So a calming down of the situation will help. There are various ways of dealing with your loved one with the persecutory or victimization delusions and we won’t go into them here except to say it’s more helpful to give them reassurance and make them feel comfortable than to question why they believe someone is persecuting or victimizing them.

As a caregiver, you may also need to handle extremely disruptive persecutory delusional behaviour. This can be a sensitive area and it might be better to get advice from a psychology practitioner than a skilled helper.

For example, in a situation where the loved one with a mental illness is being destructive towards your partner, you may need to even change living arrangements to prevent your partner suffering from the verbal attacks from your loved one who has a mental illness.

All I’ve learnt in my more than 16 years as a caregiver and skilled helper for loved ones with a mental illness, is to learn as much as you can about mental wellness and coping skills. It can bring about more harmony in the family.

The burden (what a word!) of care is increasingly being placed in families rather than institutions. This is why caregivers need to become more skilled at handling a loved one with a mental illness otherwise things can go awry.

There is a huge feeling of overwhelm and emotional distress associated with caring for a loved one with a mental illness. Unless you can handle the rigours of caring, you will find that your health and well-being suffers and in some cases to such an extent that you may find yourself needing medical help.

Chesney Bradshaw is a skilled caregiver.