‘Interfere less, listen more’: Hong Kong mum shares how to support loved ones after a schizophrenia diagnosis
- Mother Lily Chan says gentle humour and kindness cornerstones for helping daughter Sandy Ho adjust after being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1980s
- ‘Since she was diagnosed, I have been worried as to whether I would need to take care of her for life, but now, she can take care of me too,’ Chan adds
Hongkonger Lily Chan worried for more than three decades that her daughter Sandy Ho would never be able to live a fully independent life after she was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager in the 1980s.
Chan decided to quit her job a year after her daughter’s diagnosis to focus on better understanding her symptoms, which included hallucinations and abrupt outbursts.
After the pair learned over the years to communicate with kindness, especially during moments of emotional strain, Ho, now in her 40s, is the one taking care of her 73-year-old mother.
“Since she was diagnosed, I have been worried as to whether I would need to take care of her for life, but now, she can take care of me too,” Chan told the Post in an interview before Mother’s Day on Sunday.
“Our relationship has always been close since she was young, it’s just that she got sick.”
Chan, now a member of the government’s Advisory Committee on Mental Health, explained that a harmonious family environment was essential to helping patients cope with the symptoms of schizophrenia, arguing medicine alone was not enough.
