1. How did your sibling’s experience with mental illness affect family relationships?
2. What did you do to support your parents when they first realized one of their children lived with bipolar disorder?
3. How did having a sibling living with bipolar disorder affect your own development as a young adult?
4. What did you do to try and help your sibling? What strategies have you found to be helpful? What strategies have not worked?
5. How did your experience with your sibling influence interactions in your own family?
6. How have mental health care professionals and staff facilitated recovery for your sibling?
7. What do you wish could be changed about the mental health care system, given your experience as a family member?
8. What are your “go-to” coping strategies for finding balance in supporting your sibling? How do you manage the emotions connected with frustration and disappointment when your sibling’s symptoms cause difficulty?
9. What strengths do you see in your sibling?
10. How do you balance hope for recovery with acceptance that your sibling lives with mental illness?