when your loved ones fall

It seems like the accepted course of action is to let people learn from their own mistakes in life, let them fall, while others can just watch or walk away from the problem and go on with their own lives. The problem here is, in the long run, both parties lose. I have been in both situations before, first I was the one that fell from grace, with schizophrenia and lost total control. It was a few years before a doctor finally noticed and sent me to a pdoc. Why are people so afraid of the truth? And in denial there is a problem? I don't see why a person who was once a loving and respectful person can be excommunicated from their friends and family because of something that is beyond their control. To me, it's unfair... to be judged on the basis of an illness. It says a lot about people when they go on selfishly leading their lives when a family member is in such need.