How do I get help for my wife who has anasognosia

[KICKER]

Hi all, my wife is probably suffering from anasognoia, which I undertand is akin to a broken brain and hence my wife has no insight into her mental health condition. She has had thsi fror well over 10 years and I have been unable to get help for her, depsite her G.P telling her she needs to have a mental health assessment. Naturally, if she doesn't think she has a mental health problem she shall not seek help. My wife, thinks things are happening that are not, such as people spying on her, cameras being installed in the TV and Air Conditioner spying on her, someone living in the roof etc. So it seems as though she may have paranoia including delusions etc, possibly even schizophrenia. Its been pretty difficult living like this for myslelf and my 3 kids. It's really tested my levels of frustration and self control and of coure made life extremmely challenging for my wife. I love her dearly.

I recenly discovered a framework for helping someone like my wife, who may suffer from anasognosia, come to receive treatment, via the LEAP institute in USA. I have read their book, "Im not sick, I don't need a Doctor" , which outlines the LEAP process. (Listen reflectively, Empathise, Agree, Partner). Whilst there are some online training tools on their website, mainly videos, and the book is very helpful, I would really love to attend face to face training in this approach. The courses however are only held in USA.

Has anyone had experience with this LEAP approach and are there any LEAP trained professionals in Australia, as I understand LEAP also condust train the trainer courses for mental health professionals. Also, are there any other similar approaches that may help my wife come to agree to have tretament even though it is impossible for her to be aware that she has a mental helath issue.

Kind regards. Kicker

[geoff]

Hello Kicker, welcome to the forums and sorry your thread has been overlooked, so I hope you are still checking whether or not you have had a reply.

I'm posting this so it's taken back to page 1.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Kicker,

Welcome to the forums. I'm not familiar with LEAP or Anosognosia so I'm not sure how helpful I can be, but I'm also on a computer so I'll do my best. 🙂 I am sorry that you're struggling so much and yet really glad you're here and learning and advocating for your wife.

From searches on Leap approach in Australia, I'm struggling to find professionals who've trained in it. Given that it's a tool, it's probably unlikely to find 'psychologists trained in LEAP' or something similar - since it's not something clients would usually search for/need.

One of the things I'm wondering is if you could take a 'future focused' type of approach, looking at where your wife wants to be or what her aims are. Looking at this rather than a symptomatic (this is not right), can redirect it to a more collaborative discussion and might make her more open to the idea of therapy.

You mentioned in your post that you've been dealing with this for 10 years; how have you both coped so far?

The other thing that I thought of is going to a professional yourself. While this isn't your aim, it will allow you to get more insight from a professional; as well as being able to talk about how all of this affects you, and even potentially getting more strategies on how to get your wife to join therapy too.

I hope some of this might be helpful to you. Perhaps the GP might have some further ideas on which way to go next.

[KICKER]

Thank you for your advice and support, some good tips there. If I can’t find LEAP training in Australia, shall consider training offered in USA. They tell me they have courses coming up in Nebraska in September and Ohio in October. The cost is probably worth it given the benefits. Your probably correct in that I should seek some professional help myself to cope also.

Kind Regards

Kicker