But this can make things worse. It's much better to contact the doctor treating the person, or the mental health team at the nearest hospital or community health centre to get professional help. This makes it easier to control the illness and keep the person stable. If someone in your family is mentally ill, try to learn as much about the illness as possible. This helps you know what to expect and how to cope with it - mental health workers can give you advice on how to cope with and communicate with someone who is having delusions or hallucinations, for example, or someone who is depressed or threatening suicide.
Many factors can combine to cause mental illness.
There may be an inherited disposition, a chemical imbalance in the brain, there may be life stresses like unemployment, retirement, breakdown or even migration. But no one is to blame for the illness neither the patient nor the family. If someone in the family is mentally ill there are places which can help. The University of Melbourne.