Don’t expect immediate results from this coping mechanism. Consumers usually find it difficult to execute this strategy, at least initially. Often they have to unlearn the contrary standards of success they have been taught all their lives.

What a family member can do is to celebrate their consumer’s every success in making each day better than the one before, even if this is just a hug or a slap on the back.

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In closing, I will observe that the coping mechanisms that have been the most productive for me over the long term, both as a consumer and as a family member, have been those that, although not always intuitive, upon further examination made common sense and yet were commonly ignored by others.