title: The relief of a caregiver's burden through guided imagery, role-playing, humor, and paradoxical intervention.
abstract: Caregiving by relatives to a person with mental illness is demanding and overwhelming. This paper describes how to use guided imagery, role-playing, humor, and paradoxical intervention to help the wife of a man with mental illness in easing her worry, anxiety, and frustration engendered by caregiving. The intervention made the wife feel normal and relaxed in facing the "symptoms" of her husband's mental illness. It also revived the wife's patience, hope, and strength in the process of rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Social Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. sskyip@polyu.edu.hk
authors.forename: Kam-Shing
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Yip
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D012381:Role Playing; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic