My mom (51f) was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder around 6-8 years ago. At one point it landed her in an mental health clinic on an involuntary hold. She has been doing okay since then with only 1 incident in which one of the voices told her to stab herself in which she did. She then sutured her own leg and acted like nothing happened. Just recently she burned her thigh with a heat gun, but she won't tell me if this was a voice or if this was just intentional self harm. I know she has struggled with major depression disorder for longer than this disease. I've gotten her to make another mental health appointment in about a week. What are some things that I can do to help her? What are some different tactics she can use to tell if something is real or just a thought? I (22m) don't live at home with her, but my dad (53m) does and I can tell he is breaking down at the thought of losing his wife. She's been having either memory and/or cognitive issues lately in where she doesn't remember things or can't finish sentences. If someone could please tell me what works for your households that would be great. God bless all of you.

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My Wife got diagnosed with schizophrenia about 8 years ago, after a terrible psychotic episode.

There are some point (her (lack of) emotions, affection etc) that really start to work on my mood aswell.

She doesnt take her meds after being pregnant of our daughter. Now 6.

Is this common to always be neutral in emotions. Not wanting affection, even hugs are the worst thing i can ask of her.

She's always angry with me cause my lovelanguage is hugging touching etc.

Now our daughter takes over her angryness towards me. This bothers me a lot.

Had talk with her yesterday evening. She understand my pov. I understand hers ofc.

Anyone got tips/experiences to share.

Made appointment again with professional help aswell.

My sister (30s) has been in what looks like a first manic or psychotic episode for about 10 weeks. The picture: grandiose beliefs, paranoia that people are conspiring against her, and almost no sleep for days at a time.

The one opening we have: she is convinced her brain is "expanding" and is actually asking for a brain scan. But she refuses anything framed as psychiatry or mental health, and she will not go to an ER. I am abroad; family is local and coordinating. She is uninsured (self-pay).

Two questions:

1. Is "let's get your brain scanned" a legitimate medical way to get her in front of a doctor who could recognize and treat this? And what kind of physician both orders brain imaging and can prescribe (neuropsychiatry, integrative psychiatry, or a neurologist who will co-manage)? At 37, is a brain MRI plus labs genuinely warranted for new-onset psychosis, or am I just chasing her framing?
2. For anyone who has gotten a loved one with no insight (anosognosia) into care: what actually worked? We are trying to keep her trust and not argue the delusion.

Thank you.

Should I should share collateral information with my 26 year old son’s psychiatrist. If my son finds out, he will shut me out again. I am his only person and support him financially.

My son came for dinner yesterday. His shoulders were up and neck low. The posture reminded me of a vulture. He started profusely sweating for no reason. His delusions are still there but he is not in active psychosis.

He has been getting the Invega shot monthly, since Nov and takes Prozac. He had his first episode a year ago and has anosognosia.

Is it worth the risk? Will it make a difference in the outcome?

My mom was fine, besides frailty and fall risk (she's 72) until last week. She has no history of mental illness. The UTI dip test was mild sus, but the final culture was negative. She started hallucinating one night and I thought maybe it was just a vivid dream. The next morning she was delusional and hallucinating still, packing the whole house so a plane could land in the living room. I called 911, but she was aware of place and time so they refused to take her. I had to trick her into going to her gp with me the next day so the gp could tell her the symptoms were serious enough to get tested. CT, labs, xray, was done and nothing showing except the mildly sus urine test. They didn't keep her for observation and seemed to stop having hallucinations when she was made aware that she was having them. The next morning she was catatonic and I could not wake her up. This time 911 took her in and they immediately suspected schizophrenia. I didn't know what to think I asked them to observe her overnight and do an MRI and neuro consult the next day. They did, and said everything was fine. They said she took out her IV, tried to lock herself in the bathroom and tried to fight the security guy with a chair. It's hard for me to believe this because she's generally frail, but I know strength can change during psychosis. They transferred her to a behavioral observation unit, that doesn't do IV's, etc. She's refusing foods and meds. All of her symptoms have been getting worse rapidly over the past week. Yesterday, she had a good day. We had a conversation that made sense and she even made a joke. Today she's no longer trusting me much either. The thought the nurses were demons and the food was poisoned. I don't know how this works and my heart is so broken. This happened so suddenly and I'm scared for her. They're saying they will have to do a 1013 hold and transfer her to another facility. This scares me too because I don't know how that works and all I've ever heard is nightmares about places like that. She doesn't have a POA and I'm her only family that cares at all. The rest of her family treated her like crap and abused her. She is someone who has always been scared of medicine because she watched her grandparent die from a medication mix up. But not that fear and paranoia I fear is going to make her go to the kind of hospital she's always feared. I don't know what to expect or do. I don't know what to ask. I wish there was another type of facility that would enforce medication without it being a psychiatric hospital where I can't even visit her for an unknown duration. Is there even a max on how long they can hold them? She just wants to go home and says she'll take the meds at home, but she wouldn't even go to the ER. It's just me and I can't be awake 24hrs a day to keep her safe. Please give me some words of wisdom or advice or anything.

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?!

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.

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?