Written for families
Someone you love has a new diagnosis. This can help you follow what their team explains.
Kinlantern puts published family guides from NIMH, NAMI, SAMHSA, MedlinePlus, and the American Psychiatric Association into plainer words. Every claim links back to the organization it came from. It is written for parents, partners, siblings, and adult children, to help you understand what your family member's own clinicians tell you and to help you arrive at the next appointment with better questions.
The weeks families ask about most
A hospital stay and the first weeks back at home raise the most questions. These two guides describe what usually happens, so you know what to ask the treatment team.
- Family guide Your family member is in the hospital What a psychiatric hospital stay is for, what the unit is like, who you will meet, and how to help plan for the day your family member comes home.
- Family guide Coming home after discharge What families can expect in the first weeks after a psychiatric hospital stay, and how to help the follow-up plan hold.
Understanding the diagnosis
Each guide follows the same seven steps, from what the words mean to what to ask at the next appointment.
- Condition guide First-episode psychosis and schizophrenia What a first episode of psychosis or a schizophrenia diagnosis means, what families notice at home, and how to support treatment without taking over.
- Condition guide Bipolar disorder What bipolar disorder means, what mania and depression look like at home, and how families can support treatment without taking over.
- Condition guide Major depression What a diagnosis of major depression means, what families often notice at home, how treatment usually works, and how to help without taking over.
- Condition guide Substance use disorder What it means when a family member is diagnosed with a substance use disorder, and how families can support treatment without blame or burnout.
- Condition guide Anxiety disorders, including OCD What anxiety disorders and OCD are, what families tend to notice, how treatment works, and how to help without joining in the worry.
- Condition guide ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) What an ADHD diagnosis means for a child, teen, or adult, and how families can support treatment at home and at school.
Beyond the diagnosis
- For families What families believe about mental illness, and why it matters Why shame, fear, and blame are so common after a diagnosis, and how faith, family duty, and medical care can stand together.
- For families Finding care: how to look for a clinician Who the different mental health clinicians are, where families can look for one, and how to tell whether the care is a good fit.
- For families Glossary Words you will hear in appointments, explained plainly.
- For families About Kinlantern Who made this, how it was checked, and what it is not.
How to use this site
- Read the guide for the diagnosis your family member was given. Each one takes about ten minutes.
- Write down the questions from the guide that matter to your family, and bring them to the next appointment.
- Check the numbered links if you want to read what the original organization published.
What this site will not do
- It will not diagnose anyone, or tell you what your family member has. Only a clinician who examines them can do that.
- It will not recommend a medicine or a dose. That belongs to your family member and their psychiatrist.
- It will not stand in for their treatment team. Every guide ends by sending questions back to them.
- It will not collect any information about you or your family. No accounts, no forms, no tracking.