I attended a research presentation during my Abnormal Psych mod and met a guy who did his project on caregiver burnout. It was a very fresh topic bc most ppl chose to focus on a specific diagnosis and patients instead of caregivers + https://twitter.com/escargoing_/status/1386265049673568256

Intrigued, i approached him to ask him why he chose this topic. Then he asked me if i’ve heard of IOTNBO. I tried so hard to hide my fangirl-ass and just nodded. He said he has a family member with severe mental illness. Initially he was able to take care of him well, but then +

covid happened and he couldn’t hang out with his friends to relieve his stress. So he was stuck at home with that family member 24/7. He was in a very bad state, but then he saw IOTNBO on netflix. He said he could really relate to MGT

how he also has his own desires, but can’t show them to others bc it may make him look selfish. He kept censuring himself by saying “how can i ask for this when my family member is suffering?”. He has also wanted to just run away, but that might make him irresponsible

Then he asked me if it’s really his responsibility to take care of that family member. Things might be different if you are the parent of that patient, but what if he’s a sibling? Is it fair for him to sacrifice himself?

I was better able to understand MGT’s behaviours after talking to that guy. Whenever we encounter someone with obvious mental illness, we always give extra attention to the patient but never their caregiver. PBIO really made us see the struggles and conflicts of ppl like MGT

That’s what i like about PBIO. It tries to paint mental illnesses in a less repulsive manner so it’s easier for the general public to accept that fact that mental illnesses shouldn’t be stigmatised, & that we should also emphasise the caregivers who have fallen between the cracks