Yep. Everyone brings his or her own issues to the table. What I see with sz (don't know if other MI's are the same) is that everyone is driven by fear. You can almost taste it.

IMO sz is fear gone wild for the person at the center of concern.

Then the family is so afraid. Afraid they'll be blamed. Afraid for their loved one. Afraid of their loved one.

The professionals are afraid too. Afraid they won't know what to do. Afraid their authority will be questioned. Afraid they'll be sued. Afraid of their clients. (The case workers at the mhc were very afraid of my son. I'm not really clear about why, but there was definitely a sense that they had to medicate him in order to neutralize some perceived threat. We don't really medicate psychotic people for their own good. We medicate them for our own good.)

Fear makes us shut down, and we lose access to our resources. It makes us inflexible and risk-averse. And fear feeds fear - both in ourselves and in those in contact with us. It makes us want to seek safety by clamping down and taking control. That leads to forced treatment and overmedication. The person at the center of concern is forced into a state of medicated "anti-psychosis" (in Pat Deegan's words). That's not a life.

If you want to help a person suffering from sz, you have to master your fear. You have to learn to ride it or stay open despite it. It's hard. It's much easier to shut down and seek safety.