Things a partner should do:

1. Communicate with their partner about their illness.
2. Read up on your partner’s mental or chronic illness.
3. Make sure that your partner and yourself set boundaries and take care of yourselves.

Things a partner with a mental illness may think:

• I just want you to listen.
• Just tell me that everything is going to be okay.
• Don’t tell me to just get over it.
• You can tell me what I want to hear, but it won’t make my mental illness magically go away.
• Sometimes anxiety just happens and I can’t explain why.
• My depression has nothing to do with your strength as a partner.
• I need you to challenge me to challenge myself.
• Don’t assume I’m as strong as I appear.
• It takes time to heal.
• I need to work on me before bringing someone into this mess.
• Ask questions with an open mind.
• My stress evaporates once there is time to relax.
• You might never understand exactly what I’m going through.
• Not getting a text back from you makes me spiral.
• It’s part of who I am.
• It’s not often about you.
• Don’t assume that if I’m upset, it’s all because I’m crazy.
• It can be challenging dealing with the real world and my own world.
• Don’t assume you know or understand. You don’t have to pretend to have all the answers.
• Don’t add to the problem.
• Most importantly know that you should have your own social life outside of this relationship. Don’t forget to practice self-care. It’s important to have boundaries and so should I.

Thank you for being with me. Let us rebuild a healthy state of mind.

Sending you Angel love and Blessings.

Love, Francesca.