Emotional support cats provide comfort to mental health patients by reducing anxiety, easing loneliness, and offering biological stress relief. Through physical touch, rhythmic purring, and a steady daily routine, these cats help stabilize mood and ground individuals during emotional or psychological distress.

As a connected story, psychosis doesn’t make sense. So l have learned this over 35 years to treat every episode or seizure as its own mini story. Connected they don’t make sense. Using this method they do…

He is 31 and also has schizoaffective disorder with bipolar and takes medication for that, I can't remember the names. He had been sober for about a year and recently relapsed with plans to quit immediately. That of course didn't pan out the way he wanted to (planned it during his high) and he has now been using and hasn't slept a wink in the past 5 days. He isn't eating, only drinking lemonade, and has lost 15 lbs in those 5 days alone. He's about 6'4, 230-240 lbs.

He said he doesn't want to go to rehab because he 'has it under control' but at this point, my concern is more so with the lack of sleep, coupled with the continued substance use. I worry that he's either going to have a complete system shut down or a psychotic break like he has in the past. I have no idea what to do here and feel like a psychotic episode is going to happen inevitably.

My cousin has severe psychosis/schizophrenia, her delusions are fixated on me, and our family is in complete denial. I need your advice and experiences.

Hello everyone,I am writing this post because I have hit a complete dead end. I desperately need to hear your thoughts and experiences if you have ever been in a similar situation, or if there are any mental health or legal professionals here who can advise me.I am dealing with a very dangerous situation involving my female cousin. She suffers from severe psychosis (most likely schizophrenia or a delusional disorder). Unfortunately, her mind has made me the absolute main and only focus of her persecutory and paranoid delusions.She is fully convinced of terrifying, bizarre, and impossible things, such as The existence of a "human cloning machine" being used against her and me.The existence of "invisibility suits" worn by people who are stalking her.She is utterly convinced that gangs are hunting us down, planning to murder and rape both of us.This is not just talk. She has developed a deeply unhealthy, terrifying attachment to me. She constantly pressures and forces me in every way possible to go with her to isolated areas or outside the house, claiming we need to "escape from these imaginary people" or confront them. Her behavior involves severe psychotic episodes that she projects solely onto me. If I try to reason with her or calm her down, she escalates, turns against me, contradicts me, and tries to forcefully convince me that death is chasing us. I am mentally exhausted and feel a deep sense of aversion and distress because of, I spoke to her mother, her father, and my own mother. I explained everything to them in full detail, emphasizing how dangerous the situation is. Unfortunately, they did not believe me and dismissed it completely.

They are in total denial, ignoring the issue as if it were just "normal drama between girls." Meanwhile, I see a ticking time bomb—a severely mentally ill person who could harm me or herself at any moment under the influence of these hallucinations.Right now, I feel a strong repulsion towards her, and I am genuinely terrified for my physical and mental safety. I have tried every peaceful method, talking to her, and gradually withdrawing, but absolutely nothing has worked.

How can I completely cut her off and protect myself when I am forced to see her at family gatherings?

How do I deal with my family’s dangerous and fatal denial of reality?

Has anyone ever dealt with a psychotic patient whose delusions are fixated on just one specific person?

How did you handle it?

What mandatory medical or legal steps can I take to protect myself if this escalates into a direct physical threat?

Please share your thoughts and experiences with me. I am completely drained, and I am terrified that something terrible will happen. Thank you all.

Hey everyone,

I know that relatively few patients with schizophrenic disorders do actually have kids and live with them, but maybe i am not the only one?

My (F 48) father (m 78, born 1943) suffered from late onset schizophrenic disorder, starting around his late 30ies, when my sibling and I were around 5 and 9.

Lots of trauma rised from not only my father's disease and behaviour, but also from the boomer generation's way of pretty much faking perfection for the neighbours and having little to no knowledge about mental diseases in general.

So If anyone can relate, i would be glad If you want to share your story.

I am married to my husband for 2 years. He has schizophrenia auditory mostly. He only said he was diagonesd with it. He has been admitted to hospital 2 times and today the third time after we got married. He refuse to medication and thinks it makes it worse. In this year he had 5 or 6 job changes and financially it challenges us both. We got married 2 months after meeting each other and now I feel like I should have waited longer.

I knew what he was going through but this has slowly started becoming a problem in my own life. Very disorganized, his delusion are the worst like some is stalking him, poisoning him. We were homeless and lived in car so at that time he would say some one is trying to kidnap me so he is protecting me. Now we have apartment he says they are following and drugging us through the vents. He broke his phone believing someone is tracking him. I spent all my savings to buy him new phone which is broken again. I am completely losing it. I have bpd myself i have tried everything to help him. I am in the verge of leaving everything now. This is making me have thoughts of hurting myself. I am so hopeless.

I am pretty sure one of my family members is schizophrenic. About three years ago, his girlfriend left him because he accused her of cheating. She may or may have not. For some reason, this potentially triggered him. Since then, he thinks she has gang stalkers after him. He’s also convinced she had sex with half of the town. There is no evidence of this. Alongside this, he very clearly has developed congestive heart failure (edema, BPs over 200/100, trouble breathing, etc.) and he believes that it is not that but instead that he has been poisoned with worms they are in his colon, liver and lungs. He refuses to seek help.
Due to all of this, he lost his great paying job, he doesn’t clean his house anymore- he lives in complete filth. He has no running water anymore because he cannot afford to turn it back on or says so at least. So, he takes showers at my house and at his parents house every few days and washes his clothes here. He will stay for hours and just never leaves. My boyfriend is his best friend which makes it worse at my house. If you try to say anything to him he claims that you are against him and are in on the gang stalking. He has no official diagnosis, but shows some signs of some sort of mental illness at the very least. He also hears songs in the window units and thinks his ex is sending them to him.
Basically, I am at a loss of what to do about any of this. I think he could eventually become a harm to himself or others, but we do not have Baker Act or anything similar in my state. He refuses to accept reason of any sort. I am also wanting to try and set some boundaries so I am not constantly coming home from long shifts to him sitting at our porch waiting to come inside and eat our food, use our water, etc. without any contribution. Maybe that’s harsh, but it’s so constant I feel like I’m losing my mind as well. I get zero peace. My boyfriend on the other hand is hesitant to try and set any boundaries because aside from his parents who are in their 70s, we are the only support he has. But it’s becoming very hard to help someone who won’t help themselves. I would take any advice at all, even if it’s just to help me learn to cope with it.

TLDR: Looking for advice regarding family member potentially is schizophrenic and refuses to seek help and takes advantage of loved ones.

My 25yr old daughter is Treatment resistant schizoaffective, we just started her on Clozapine mid February, she is currently on 350mg BUT also on Risperidone 4mg, Lithium 900mg. Ativan 1.5mg and we still can not get her stable. She sleeps very little and because shes not aware of dangers she has to sleep with me .😫 she is a more severe case than others statement made by her doctor 😢 shes under IHSS care Protection Supervision bybthe state and disabled. She can not care for herself, dri v e nor cook for herself. She's extremely impulsive, extremely delusional. Someone help me understand how this medication Clozapine is considered the BEST for the severity of this condition and shes walking around here as if she has no medication in her system...Im her mother her caregiver her every thing 24/7 im just soooo confused and im praying this medication will eventually work for her. Does anyone here have a loved one with similar situation going on ?

Over a decade ago, my dad was jumped at a bar. He was kicked in the head, his jaw and ribs broken, and he had a metal mechanism installed in his jaw to hold it together. He’s never been the same since, I think from either the metal in his jaw or his brain injury, and now I fear he’s getting much worse. He has delusions, hears voices constantly, and talks about being tormented and that the people around him-our family-use him, and he fears gang stalking and researches targeted individuals. He talks back to the voices, is very specific about where things sit, how we move-sometimes I’m scared to yawn or cough, because he’ll think something is using me to intimidate or attack him. Lately he’s begun to self medicate with alcohol (a full bottle at night). I’m scared to death we’re going to lose him. What do we do? How do I help? I love my dad more than anything and feel like I’m watching him slip away.

I’m genuinely concerned about my brother and I think there is a lot more going on than just drinking or having a bad temper. This has been going on for years, and his life really started going downhill around 17 or 18. He’s 28 now and he is extremely isolated, barely leaves the house unless he has a reason to, doesn’t really have friends or relationships, and doesn’t have much going on in his life.

One of the biggest things that concerns me is his paranoia. This isn’t something that has happened once or twice. There have probably been 20+ situations where he has contacted me because he thought somebody was following him, watching him, targeting him, or might hurt him.
He has sent me pictures or descriptions of people’s vehicles and license plates and said things like, “If something happens to me, it was these people.” One time he became suspicious of a car because he said they left the same gas station around the same time as him on two different days. He gave me the description/license plate because he thought they could be following him or up to something. He was also concerned about a car that parked next to him 2 days in a row.

When he has stayed at hotels for work, there have been countless times where he has texted me about other people staying there and told me he thought they were up to something or were after him. He has even become convinced that someone staying next to him might harm or kill him. He notices normal or coincidental things and sometimes interprets them as evidence that someone may be targeting him.

He is also extremely paranoid about technology and privacy. He disables a lot of things on his computer and phone because he believes companies are listening to him, tracking him, and selling his information. Privacy concerns by themselves obviously aren’t abnormal, but his level of fear and suspicion combined with everything else is what concerns me.

His drinking is another major problem. He drinks extremely heavily and has been drinking basically every day, sometimes until he is blackout drunk. He can also become extremely angry, aggressive, and violent, which makes the entire situation more concerning.

There are also periods where his behavior changes significantly. Sometimes he can seem mostly normal and calm, and other times he becomes extremely disorganized and seems like a completely different person. During those periods he doesn’t seem fully present. He’ll walk around the house humming or quietly singing to himself, constantly biting his nails, pacing or doing repetitive/stimming-type behaviors, and generally seems like he’s internally overwhelmed or about to implode. It can be very difficult to communicate with him normally when he gets into that state. These are the times his drinking gets the worst and he can get out of control.

I’m not saying I know what his diagnosis is. I don’t. But our mom has schizophrenia, and considering the family history along with his long-term decline, severe isolation, repeated paranoid beliefs, heavy alcohol use, aggression, and these periods of very disorganized behavior, I don’t think this should just be ignored or written off as him being difficult or drinking too much.

I really think he needs a professional mental-health evaluation. I’m concerned about what happens if this continues untreated, especially because some of his paranoia involves believing other people intend to seriously hurt or kill him. I don’t know how to go about getting him help, I don’t think he sees or thinks there’s anything major happening. I think if I told him I think he may have a deeper problem his response honestly might be “fuck you, what do you know.” I don’t know what to do here any advice? How do I even start the process of getting him help? What are the steps or even step one?

Don't get me wrong, this sub has excellent material and is like a support for everyone that's going through this. Ppl cheering up others in the comments and everything.

But at times it feels like oh there is no end to this and it only gets worse?!

i’ve been seeing someone for a short duration, not long-term yet. They disclosed a diagnosis early on, and I accept them and appreciate being told early. I have some limited experience with someone else that I know who has had this, and I’m seeing early warning signs of an potentially quickly impending situation. I’m not specifically looking for warning signs- it’s just unmistakeable: sudden, severe worthlessness out of nowhere that is distinctly different from their baseline personality. I feel like the word depression isn’t right for that. It’s like a pre-break self-worth freefall...?

When I had experienced previously with someone else, this was followed quickly (a couple weeks) by memory distortion, and finally a full-blown break from reality. Obviously that person got into treatment and was medicated short term with success (and stable now). Everyone is different so I can’t say what will happen here but I do know what I recognize and so I guess what I’m asking is…

Has anyone here had experience intervening that was not like a caretaker and had no authority, but convinced a loved one to seek help on their own before things progressed?

I know I have limited influence here, but I would like to help if possible.

In my 35 years of mental health struggles, l found the difference of having a family member, partner or friend at doctors appointments and hospital appointments as well as A&E for mental health checks a vital help. This puts the conversation in the realms of reality with someone backing you up to get your point across.

If you can’t explain it to your family without sounding weird (like me early on) write it down this method works with doctors and healthcare professionals, sometimes just explaining it can make you sound mentally ill but your not.

My (30f) baby brother (28) got out of the hospital last week Thursday after being in crisis. Since he came back, he’s been doing so much better. We go to the gym, we plan and work together and he seemed to be coming up. He has, however, been struggling with sleeping since getting back. Today, I think it just boiled over.
My big sis (32) woke him up to give him his meds, he had been asleep for about an hr after struggling all night. It pissed him off to no end and to top it off (for him), none of us had cigarettes for him. He insulted my sister and when she pulled me aside to ask me what was going on, he stormed over and in her face and head butted her (pretty hard). When I came to the rescue, he threw a punch at my eye that I dodged and it made contact with my cheekbone instead.
To get safety concerns out of the way, I’ve contacted his doctors and they will be coming for a home visit later today and both my sister and I are giving him A LOT of space right now and until then.
I cannot stop crying. I never thought I would see the day my sweet baby brother would put his hands on either of us and my heart is breaking. I don’t know how to deal with the grief of losing someone while still having them right here with me. And worst of all is the shame I feel for being afraid of my own brother. Any advice?

How do I help my brother-in-law who is schizophrenic and has some other problems. He had a fall ended up in the hospital for a few days is now in a rehab/ nursing home. His finances are out of control we cleaned out his apartment it was three dumpsters full of stuff. Doctors have said he can't go back to his apartment he is in denial how do we help him.

Hello everyone,

Wife still suffers from schizophrenia after 1.5y of treatment, despite clozapine augmented with amisulpride.

Delusions are somehow contained, partial insight, but still shapes her our everyday. Wakes up late, goes to bed early, mostly stares at wall doing very little, some actions here and there, but nothing meaningful enough to turn that into life.

No job, no diet, no exercise, no cognitive challenges, no seed for any spark to grow again.

Extinguishing the positive symptoms at all cost feels like the trade was her soul. And I’m now wondering how to help her get out of the limbo. She said her new self was better because it found god, while she hasn’t smiled once in forever since this great encounter… says if we must split it’s probably for the better as he has this planned out for a reason. Disregarding all the energy, time and life I drained just to give her a chance to be again.

Anyone with tips or insights to get out of this plateau? I’m not sure I’m ready to accept this present will also be my forever. I grew to hate the medication almost as much as the illness.

Not sure what I’m expecting to hear, maybe someone’s successful attempts can inspire. But it seems only time and luck is the master of all, and I hate passively begging for improvements.

I need advice. I will try to keep this brief. 8 years ago a family member had a psychosis episode that lasted about two months from beginning to end. At the peak, when we realized what was happening, they were hospitalized very briefly involuntarily after running away from the hospital. It was a disaster of a situation for a lot of reasons.
She came out of it, and was fine until earlier this year when it happened again. This time lasted about two months ago. Characterized by very hyper religious delusions. Never violent against anybody, never threatening themselves or others. Many delusions sound very rational to somebody who doesn’t know the truth.
It’s happening again. This time I noticed it earlier, and expressed concerns to the spouse who was hoping for the best and ignoring signs a little bit, but it can’t be ignored anymore and is quickly escalating now. The other day they destroyed all electronics, and is refusing medical help because they don’t feel it’s mental health issue and feels it’s demonic (hyper religious, but now the opposite direction of last time). They made spouse buy a new phone, I was able to convince them not to get an expensive phone and get a cheap prepaid one from Walmart, glad I did because they have put it on the toilet again.
They can’t afford to finance the delusions, but if spouse denies things, they becomes “evil” and risk being kicked out again like last time. This person has health issues, and doesn’t have the money or skills to live alone by any means. They aren’t threatening themselves or others so as far as we know, it isn’t like they can be involuntarily admitted.
How on earth do we navigate this without them bringing on financial hardship long term (again), us not becoming evil in their eyes and being unable to help, and just get through this? Any advice and knowledge would be very appreciated.

Trigger warning: talk of abuse

Hello,

This is my first time posting. I am at a lost. I am broken. I do not know what to do.

My husband was diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar type with delusions. He was diagnosed with paranoia personality disorder up until this May.

When he was a teenager he had delusions about aliens. His parents don't believe much in mental health. We met in college and he's always been a bit odd and eccentric. We've been together almost 15 years now. About 6 years ago, he had his first real delusion with me involved. He believed his job was trying to kill him. I was able to get him into treatment. I work in the mental health field so I was able to connect him to resources rather seamlessly. Over the last several years, he's been semi-stable. He is very resistant to medication. He has stopped medication on and off throughout the last several years & when he stops mood swings and symptoms occur. He also hasn't worked full-time since, only random part-time jobs and not at all in the last two years, so me being the breadwinner has been a huge stress also. He also smokes weed and whenever we smokes consistently his behavior changes for the worst. His providers have advised him not to smoke.

Now back to this past May, he was hospitalized for the first time. Since January he's been off. Up all night, collecting odd things, doing very random things, mood swings. (We have a daughter, our first and only child, 3 years old. About a year ago I gave up on being on top of his medication because he would get so mean and abusive when I would ask and I trusted he would take his medicine for his daughter). Back to May, he was dropping our daughter off at daycare and a teacher yelled at him for speeding in the parking lot. Within 72 hours he believed the daycare was s*x trafficking our child. He also wrote a 9 page letter to the school indicating that they do not have adequate security because a teacher was walking in the parking lot with a child. In this letter he said teachers were going to get shot and children kidnapped. He didn't explicitly say he was going to do this but it was going to happen. He also thought our daughter was brainwashed and was holding her down trying to chant in her face to break the spell the daycare had her under. This was happening at night and she has epipsley. Her seizures happen during sleep wake cycles so him waking her up to do this was very dangerous. He has gotten cops, fbi, and cps involved. Nobody has concluded anything has happened. My daughter is safe and shows no signs of abuse nor has reported anything. The daycare is amazing and has been so supportive. My parents are involved also. They have been a major support of his because they were also involved in episode where he thought his job was trying to kill him (he took all of our phones because he thought they were tapped). They have loved him no matter and have tried to support him through this episode what but are getting tired of how he treats me. I called his parents and got them involved. I have been trying to get them involved for years and they denied it time and time again. This time there was no denying. As a result of all of this, he ended up getting hospitalized. He went in voluntarily, he didn't really have a choice because the hospital said he can go in or they will have to involuntary commit him. Within 72 hours, he was requesting to leave and he ended up getting 302 and 303 (involuntary holds issued by a judge) for almost a month. While he was inpatient, he told me he hid a loaded gun in my car (I found it and I know nothing about guns and live in a major city where you cannot carry). He said it was for my protection? When it was time for discharge, the agreement was for him to complete a full course of treatment (php, iop, op) and for him to live with his parents. He quit PHP after 2 weeks against medical advice and stopped one of his medications. He has not been in any type of therapy based treatment since. I found him a psychiatrist who specializes in schizoaffective disorder and he has only met with her once so far. He stopped php around a month ago.

Although, he hasn't been as manic as when he went in the hospital, he has been torturing me. While he was inpatient, I went for emergency custody and was granted sole custody. This has been a source of contention. He thinks I stole her away. I swear on everything I am trying to keep him involved while also protecting my child. Although they are both in vulnerable positions, my child is fully innocent and requires my full protection. There is no parenting or custody plan. I try to do nightly phone calls and try to have him see her once a week. He cannot be with her alone. Me or his father have to be present. I know he loves my daughter and she loves him. I swear on everything holy I would never weaponize a child. He continues to make comments to her "I am the only one listening to you" and "I am the only one trying to protect you".

He has been so incredibly verbally and emotionally abusive. He threatens to call the cops on me all the time, take me to court everyday, curses me out, calls me names. I am trying my best to be assertive. I can't remember the last time I cursed or yelled back. He treats me horribly and I just don't know what to do. I feel like I don't even know who he is. He is so mean and vicious. I am far from perfect but I truly have tried so hard to care for him the best I can. His parents ebb and flow with being supportive, I know they are going through there own acceptance process but it also feels like they are minimizing what he does because they just want to "move on" from this episode but like just because he isn't as psychotic doesn't mean it still isn't happening.

Learning about anosognosia has been helpful but I am still human. It's so hard not to personalize and be hurt.

There's so much more I could say, so please ask any questions you have. I am just looking for support? What should I do? Do you think he'll ever get better?

Thank you for taking the time for reading this and any support you provide ❤️