To caregivers: parents, siblings, relatives, friends, and professionals—who show up every day, often unseen and uncelebrated, carrying a heavy responsibility with love, patience, and resilience.
Introduction
Mental health is one of the most misunderstood aspects of human life. Across cultures, communities, and families, it has been surrounded by fear, shame, myths, and silence. Many people still believe that mental disorders are a result of weakness, curses, moral failure, poor upbringing, or spiritual neglect. Others believe that people with mental health conditions are dangerous, incapable, or unable to live meaningful lives. These beliefs have caused untold harm. I have written this book, Living With Mental Health: A caregiver’s Narrative, to challenge those beliefs.
Much of what you will read here comes from lived experiences—walking alongside people with mental disorders, living with them day and night, caring for them, observing their struggles, their strengths, their pain, and their humanity. I have not written this book from a distance. It is written from real relationships, real moments of conflict, exhaustion, misunderstanding, and also deep connection.
From the very beginning of all my interactions with people living with mental health conditions, one truth became clear: the most important person in the life of someone with a mental disorder is not the psychiatrist, not the therapist, and not the hospital. It is the person who lives with them. The caregiver. The parent. The sibling. The friend. The one who sees them every day. The one who notices the small changes. The one who listens—or fails to listen.
I have written to create awareness, but more than that, it is about responsibility. It speaks to those who live with people with mental disorders and asks difficult questions. How do we treat them? Do we respect their rights? Do we allow culture, stigma, or fear to dictate our actions? Do we control, restrain, silence, or isolate them in the name of care? Or do we support, listen, include, and protect their dignity?
Throughout these chapters, I have explored mental health conditions, trauma, communication, boundaries, culture, medication, caregiver burnout, suicide prevention, person-centered care, and the daily realities of living together. The goal has never been to diagnose, judge, or label, but to humanize. Mental health is not separate from life. It is part of life. And understanding it begins not with experts, but with how we choose to treat one another.
David Waithera
Living With Mental Health: A caregiver’s Narrative
© 2025
