Someone sees a snake in the room. They turn to others and say “don’t worry it won’t bite you”. This is called denial. Another says there is no snake in the room, when in fact there is. This is called delusion.
I use this illustration all the time to help people understand what is happening in their family.
In the first case the family says, “Oh, don’t worry. Dad (or mom or grandma or grandpa or whoever) just has a little memory issue, or a little falling issue, but it is not so bad and it will probably be OK in the long run.” This is denial. We may know there is some kind of a problem it is easy to convince ourselves that it won’t get any worse.
The above is bad enough, but the second case literally can destroy families. It causes more heartache and guilt than I have time to discuss here. This is the refusal to even acknowledge that there is a problem. There is no snake in the room. Delusion at work.
Which of these is true in your family? If you are ready, I can help. Call or email me today to set up a time when we can all sit down together, in person or by phone, and make the snakes go away.