Comedian Shares How Schizophrenia Affects His Relationship With His Dad

Having a loved one with a chronic illness can be challenging in many ways, and even more so when it’s a mental illness. In a short set on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” comedian Byron Bowers shares his experience with a humorous, lighthearted delivery. In only a few minutes he builds awareness for schizophrenia and how it affects relationships. Many of the issues he brought up are not unique to the condition. They can apply to any condition. Let’s look at three things he brought up.

1. Awareness: It’s hard to understand something that isn’t happening to you. It’s equally hard to explain what your illness feels like. When a loved one has a diagnosis you want to understand what they’re going through, but it’s not always possible.

2. Helplessness: You want to help your loved one in anyway you can. When they are sick you want to do something to make them feel better, but there isn’t a magic pill with chronic illnesses. “Blow on it,” he says; because when your loved one is sick you just have to do something.

3. Acceptance. At the end of it, you have to accept your loved one and their chronic illness.  You learn to live with their illness and you may even laugh with them about it.

You can see the entire video below:

What do you wish the world knew about chronic illness?