It’s so hard to accept that a loved one is suffering from a mental health disorder. There is the “shame” you might feel as you notice other children/spouses moving up the ladder and yours is just slipping. There are those that will project their illness back on you in a defensive mechanism which only hurts them more and causes you additional confusion. Then there is our defensive nature as a whole which does everything possible before we will believe that our loved one has a sickness that happens to be in their head. We can hide our head in the sand or be brave enough to take on the challenge so that our loved one can truly get better. Keeping in mind that if our loved one had a sickness in their heart we would treat it therefore its only a difference in location that causes this pain.