The Relief of a Caregiver’s Burden through Guided Imagery, Role-playing, Humor, and Paradoxical Intervention

Caregiving by relatives to a person with mental illness is demanding and overwhelming. This paper describes how to use guided imagery, role-playing, humor, and paradoxical intervention to help the wife of a man with mental illness in easing her worry, anxiety, and frustration engendered by caregiving. The intervention made the wife feel normal and relaxed in facing the “symptoms” of her husband’s mental illness. It also revived the wife’s patience, hope, and strength in the process of rehabilitation.