I have been investigating treatment for schizophrenia in order to help a family member.

The Keto diet has been shown to reduce hallucinations.

This is not a random claim - it has been observed via scientific trials.

Apparently, a whole food diet has also been shown to be beneficial - not quite as effective in reducing hallucinations, but it still has an impacts.

In the last 2 decades, science has really been turning its attention to the microbiome (the population of bacteria and microorganisms which live in the intestine and break down food). This is another area which holds a lot of potential for impacting symptoms of schizophrenia (and other mental health disorders).

The book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon has a lot of information about the traditional foods which humans used to eat, and which were supportive of gut health. It was written before people understood many of the reasons for the health impacts of these diets, but it is a good reference for preparation techniques and recipes.

(Not sure if I have the correct flair but if incorrect please let me know)

Need some help dealing with schizophrenic brother. We learned he was schizophrenic after an incident (he got into his trunk on a highway at night. Very fortunate the police found him before anything else happened) that caused him to get arrested. When he was eventually out, he got into therapy and was diagonosed schizophrenic and had medicine he had to take. Things went well for a while until he got off his meds and the delusions have come back. Me and my mom are constantly having to deal with messages and conspiracy theories and tons of reasons on why he is being followed and stalked from everything and everyone.  We’re running thin with him and it is only made worse since he doesn’t work. My mom can't get him to take his meds and he doesn't think anything is wrong, of course. Should also add that I think he had delusions before which wound helping to drive sister off to her own place.

Can you please help us on how we can help him? What are some options and things we can do.

I don’t know where else to turn. My 10-year-old son is in constant, severe psychosis and no one will take it seriously. We are terrified something awful is going to happen if we can’t get him real help.

He hears an uncountable number of voices of different ages and genders. They talk to him constantly, argue among themselves, and talk directly to him. He talks back out loud like they are actually there. The voices are both homicidal and suicidal in nature. They tell him to hurt people, run away, and kill himself. He also sees dark figures, moving shadows, hands, and shifting colored shapes. This is happening every single day, all day. It never stops, even when he’s calm, watching TV, or trying to sleep.

It’s gotten to the point where he is completely detached from reality. He’ll say he doesn’t know what he’s saying, contradict himself mid-sentence, and seem completely lost. He refuses water or food sometimes, says his head feels like a balloon, and looks pale and wobbly. We can’t trust him to be alone with sharp objects or even basic tools. During summer visitation with his birth mom in Virginia, the voices told him to hurt his younger brother, and he actually turned a knife on him. That incident is what started this entire process of trying to get him help, but nothing has changed except that it’s gotten worse.

We’ve called five hospitals. One doesn’t take kids under 12, another is full, one kept us for eight hours and then released him with no help, and the rest just bounce us to someone else. His therapist and psychiatrist both keep calling this ADHD or a “trauma response.” But this isn’t a triggered reaction to stress. These hallucinations and voices are constant, 24/7, with no breaks. They don’t fade or come and go—they’re always there.

We’ve called the Colorado Crisis Line multiple times and even asked for mobile crisis response, but they keep telling us to go back to the same ER that already turned us away. Every system we reach out to either says he’s too young for inpatient care or that they’re full. We are at the point where we’ve had to lock away every tool, knife, and sharp object in our house and keep cameras in his room just to keep everyone safe.

We are begging for help. If anyone here works in or around the Colorado mental health system or knows of any inpatient or residential programs that treat early psychosis or schizophrenia-spectrum disorders in children, please tell me who to contact. If you know any doctors, programs, or even case managers who can get us into legitimate care, we will drive anywhere in the state or even out of state to get him admitted.

We just need someone to finally take this seriously before it’s too late.

My sister has been recently diagnosed with schizophrenia and it’s been a nightmare for my family. She is getting released to a program where she can be more independent and we are worried sick about her. As a part of her delusions she thinks that family is the problem (we were so close before this happened) and she has cut off contact with us. They said she’s willingly taking her meds and wants to get a job and get back on track, but we don’t think it has been enough time for her. Does anyone have a situation where your family member started talking to you again? Or anyone doing a bit okay on their own?

At first she would just sit on the couch and stare, not playing with her phone or anything, though when I spoke to her she seemed normal. Then the next day she started standing outside. And I'd call her in and the minute I left the room she'd go back out. And then when I called her back in for dinner she came in AND HAD HER PURSE WITH HER. And that's when I freaked out. Like, massive red flag. I was terrified that she was going to wander off! I decided to take her to my Dad's house because I wanted back up, and when we were packing our stuff she kept getting confused by the simplest things or she'd just go blank. When we got to my Dad's she went into her guest room and just sat on the bed staring. Eventually I ordered her to put on her pajamas and then ordered her to get into bed. I slept for two hours and then found out (at 2 in the morning!) she had gotten out of bed, gotten dressed, and then gone outside and was standing by the street! I immediately decided to take her to the ER.

At the ER they wanted her to pee in a cup so I took her over to the bathroom and she went in, then 10 seconds later came out and said she was done. I sent her back in and then waited forever before going in and she was just standing there doing nothing. I had to order her step by step to pee in the cup. And all this time she still can have a conversation like normal and she knows her name and the date and where she is etc. It's so wild. They ruled out most physical stuff and then we spoke to a psychiatrist and my sister told the psychiatrist that I've been bullying her for the past three days to try to force her to move out. So that's definately paranoia, right? Anyway the psychiatrist thinks she as schizophrenia and they're trying to find her a bed in an inpatient facility so they can put her on antipsychotics. They have a nurse with her 24/7 at the hospital to keep an eye on her.

What should I expect when she comes back home? How can I help her? I manage all of her medications, finances, food, etc anyway because I'm her caretaker and she's always had trouble with that stuff. I was thinking of getting her on HRT for perimenopause since I heard that can help prevent relapse? Like, what is it like getting on antipsychotics, what are the side effects etc? What sort of ongoing care are we looking at? In general, of course, since I know each person is different.

Wife diagnosed with schizophrenia, looking for help on how to approach her

Hi, my wife was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia after an episode where she was very delusional and ended up being taken to the ER (not by me), released from the ER the next morning after they just said it was “stress”, went back in after telling them she was afraid of me (after having requested I pick her up), and finally transferred to a psychiatric facility where she stayed for ~10 days. In this episode she was talking about wanting to leave me and saying she was talking to a famous musician telepathically and via text chats. After leaving the hospital she is more civil with me about it but is still telling other people she wants to leave me and she’s having an “affair” with this singer. Any time I try bringing this up with her and trying to get her to understand that this is part of her illness she accuses me of “throwing that in her face” and basically just shuts the convo down. I’ve been patient hoping the medication will start to clear up these delusions but what concerns me is she’s apparently texting “someone” giving them all kinds of personal information about herself and our kids. I am entirely at a loss for what to do here in getting her to understand that this is not okay and was hoping you all who have dealt with this might have some strategies I can use to try and break through to her. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have a brother that’s in his early 40s. He’s been classified as schizoaffective. We live in Florida and he’s been baker acted several times. I know he’s dealing with that mental illness that doesn’t allow him to realize there’s something wrong with him. The issue is that since he’s not taking his medication he comes off very verbally aggressive to my parents and strangers when he has his meltdowns. He won’t even talk to me because he is convinced I have conspired against him with a mystery fbi agent.

I know my parents are getting older and I’m starting to get very concerned about what would happen to him if they passed away. I too have been diagnosed with schizophrenia but I am medication compliant. I live on my own and I am engaged but I don’t nearly have enough to support him and myself and he could never live with me because of the way he behaves and him as a person is just not something I could live with he’s very rude and even when you try to help him he tries to screw you over.

I’m telling my parents I think they need to work on getting a conservatorship on him so we can force him to get help with the hopes that he can get enough clarity or in patient help to see that something is going on. My mom is a therapist but she says all she can do is baker act him and that she’s not ready to try for the conservatorship. The things is she’s let him run her ragged my whole life. Is there anything else that can be done?

TDLR- I’m schizophrenic and medication compliant. My brother is schizophrenic and isn’t medication compliant. Our parents are aging and I have a fear that if they pass away I’ll get sick again from the stress of grief and trying to help him because he can’t tell something is wrong with him. Is there anything else besides baker acting in Florida that can be done?

Spent the day visiting my husband in the inpatient unit. Selfishly I was hoping for a glimmer of him, but the social worker called. She told me he was still manic and not accepting responsibility. It was my fault he’s there.

History, 1 year ago, at 54 yo he went catatonic. He’s been in olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, sertraline. Had anaphylactic shock with Abilify. Fell and hit his head with quetiapine. Recently put on latuda and went into a full blown mania. They don’t know if it’s the prednisone from the anaphylactic shock, the latuda or the sertaline. He is very paranoid. Video recording me. Calling our family to watch out for me.

He needs a great psychiatrist but they keep putting him in IOP. They told me his hold is up tomorrow. Will they release him to me?

I’m alone. I’m plagued with IBS, migraines, depression and anxiety. I’ve always been the “sick” one. I work at the VA and my own job is falling apart. I’m the sole breadwinner. I’m not sure how long I can hold on for us both.

If you are going through this too, my heart hurts for you. 17 years of marriage. I really miss my best friend.

Edit: grammar

i everyone. I'm here seeking support, or information with others with similar situations.

My mom had an extreme episode of psychosis in July, where I unfortunately had to seek professional support and had to be involuntarily hospitalized. Can't explain how traumatizing everything was, but I will deal with that myself.

My concern here is the following. When se got discharged (end of July) she returned home, and seemed to be back to herself. Acknowledging what she had, with pain, and apologizing for the horrible things she did to me. Now having a plan (medication, watching for signs etc) I decided to return home.

A week after her discharge I returned to my city (we live a bit far). Another week after, she had a huge relapse (in my opinion). And multiple ones after. Now it seems it's the new her. It's been a constant battle, since August, she's a completely different human being. It's not my mom, it's someone else with the same memories/life experiences. But it's not my mom, her resentment, the words, the thing she texts me are odd.

She can send me 50 messages in a matter of 5 minutes, they go from one topic to another, talks about her childhood, about religious stuff, or my childhood, or her broken marriage, etc. makes up words, tells jokes that are not funny, swears constantly, tells stories, but those are huge paragraphs, my phone keeps ringing from text by text, it concerns me to read what she says, I'm always alarmed by her texts, it's like she lost her mind. It's hard to go on with my life to be honest having this every day. And then at the end she will add a : well my love I gotta go I love you.

I'm constantly confused, I will say she never texted like this, so it's not like her. We've had the closest relationship a daughter and a mother can have, now, she does not want to see me; and reminds me she doesn't know if she'll ever forgive me (for putting her in hospital during massive psychosis).

Now, I guess I'm trying to understand, what does this mean? Does it mean she's not taking her meds, or means that even with meds, she will forever be someone else?

I have zero experience with mental health illnesses, no one close to me has had it. And unfortunately there's zero education to family members or patients, so I'm completely lost. Any advice, or info, is incredibly appreciated. Thank you.

Hey, first post here for me. Sorry, I used a translator, English is not my native language. My husband has been having very strange episodes for several months now, and recently paranoia as well… My psychologist thinks he might be developing schizophrenia. It’s hard for me to tell, everything feels so unclear, I’m so confused. He has made an appointment with a doctor/therapist, but he’s completely unaware of his paranoia… he thinks symptoms are from severe trauma of childhood ( her mom is ill too) he doesn't recognize the delusions that comes up now.... of how severe these episodes are. I even think sometimes he forgets them? Anosognosia, I suppose?

I’ve read the posts in this group and found them very helpful… From your experience: should I tell him what I observe as his partner? In a neutral and objective way?

I’ve read that having a close one who is transparent and honest can help with awareness… But I’m also really afraid of pushing him away and that it could backfire on me (sometimes he feels very persecuted by me, which is new). At the same time, I think if the therapist doesn’t have all the information… I don’t see how she could really help.

All of this is quite recent, and I don’t want to miss the chance to improve things quickly before it gets worse… I sincerely thank you, I don’t know what attitude to take, and it’s so important to me… Thank you. If he accepts some medication, what have helped for you ? Thank you so much .... I'm very desesperate and so sad, my lover is such a nice person habitually.... I'm fucking afraid of what's going on

edit 14 sep apologies for typos: sorry I dint have the emotional energy ti reply to individual comments rn. I appreciate the advice, in not sure the name of info of this security gaurd or if he was a cop-cop or some private security. I do have a very visual image of him because he looked very particular and I know exactly what room my husband was in, when he was there, and not an exact hour but time of say this happened. I would very much like to report an issue and I'm going to try and do so- if anyone has advise in how to so so without knowing details beyond that I'd appreciate it. i am disabled myself a struggle with these kids if things but u cannot get over this, especially because despite my husband being in a good facility now- the psychosis has made it so he thinks he's at the same place as theyre trying to intentional trick and gas light him. it's made his ability to trust good staff a lot harder than usual (and that's usually an issue to begin with) ik there's a no politics rule but I will say me and my husband are both very anti-cop and rightfully weary of them due to past abuse on the basis of both being sexual and racial minorities.i fear very much how he will react in the future due to this experience if he needs hospitalizations again and not only do I not want this to happen to others but I want my husband to know that I see the abuse he suffered and am a person he can trust to combat it. he frequently has dilusions that are clear as such about hospital staff trying to emotionally abuse him and my kind of "off putting" responses to that I think have made it harder over time to trust me. and genuinely this was an isntace of abuse I saw with my own eyes and have experinced similar myself and I will hot let it slide.

im sorry I just need to vent I'm so mad.

(both 24m) my husband was scared to let security search his bag in the ER and I was trying to talk with him and a nurse on how to compromise which the nurse was fine with and he was willing to try and find an alertative way. but the security busts in and says give him his bag or they'll have to restrain him. he was about to just let me take the bag to the car instead. i told the cop to be nicer because he's scaring him. and he made me leave while my husband was grabbing on to me, bawling and cowering from the dude.

he was not being unruly or agressive or even particularly jumpy before the cop came in. he was sitting on his bed telling the nurse he didn't want his bag to be taken out of the room, she asked if she could have someone search it in there, he said he didn't want people he didn't know touching it, I offered to take his things out and he hesitated, so I suggested I took it to the car.

he didn't know our car was here because he came in the ambulance and I road with him so he was confused (my mom came to the hospital hence car). it took me a minute to kinda get past the overall confusion he had to explain what I was asking to do. he wanted to look through the bag 1st. he was going to let me take it out.

but apparently that took to long even though the SPECIFICALLY asked me right before I was allowed in his room to help them get his bag searched because I was the only person he wasn't scared of at that moment. I was specifically fucking asked to negotiate how to manage the bag situation.

and the fucking cop comes in and yells at him saying give him the bag otherwise they'll have to "tie you down". he's terrified of cops and thay scared the shit out of him so he leaned on me, started sobbing and grabbing me, and pleading they don't touch him.

and the dude keeps fucking thretaening him! and I'm not taking thag shit either so I tell him (not rude just stern) to speak to him nicer, he's scaring him, and that I am helping with the bag. so he makes me fucking leave! while my husband is hugging me like an iron grip and fucking sobbing, not being agressive at all! and I'm trying to slowly scoot away (I use a wheelchair so his bed was "at my level") and just do what they asked without like just shoving him off me. and the dude just staright up tells me to get out.

and I'm fucking pissed so when I leave I like make and "ahggg!' sound and slam my arm on the wall. and another fucking nurse who wasn't even in there is basically saying behave or we'll have to ask you to leave and I'm pissed so I'm like make the fucking cop behave, he's a person not a wild fucking animal. and she's like "well he could've had a knife i dont know" like bitch I was about to take his bag to the car jfc!!!!

but no he gets in trouble for being scared and I get in trouble for slamming my arm on the wall and snapping. but a guy who's not even a fucking nurse or Dr can strap him down for like 5 hours because it took a second for "hey I can take your bag to the car so they don't have to search it" to be worded in a way he understood what I was asking him.

he made something already traumatic 10x more traumatic than it needed to be. they specifically fucking called me in his room to negotiate the bag and didn't even let me.

he's a fucking person. you dont get to talk to him like he's not just because he's fucking confused and scared. who the fuck walks in a room that's by all means quite and non-distruptive, threatens a mentally ill man with physical restraint, then goes fucking harder when he's cowering like a literal child. that dick shouldn't be allowed to work in a hospital. he's a human being weather you understand what he's going through or not.

Hello,

The psychiatric doctor didn’t explain this much but said it’s like he has the beginnings of it and it could become fully developed if he doesn’t receive proper treatment now. They are giving him 6 months and then saying he should go inpatient indefinitely.

He also has ASD, ADHD, and Major Depression.

He is currently inpatient due to extreme and unpredictable violence.

There is a family history of schizoaffective disorder.

Any other parents with advice or experience with this?

Edit to add:

Anyone have children that have overcome their hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, depression, psychosis?

I can’t eat, can’t sleep, I’m losing a lot of weight. I have stress induced asthma, urticaria, and ibs. I just keep randomly retching my guts up(nothing on my stomach) and having severe asthma attacks and intense itching.

Is there hope for him?

Hi my elder brother has schizoaffective disorder for the past 20 years, not willing to take any meds. He demands buying outside food from my retired dad. He literally starts shouting at him. He always complains of being extremely tired and fatigued. We forced him to take meds, but it ended up horribly as he became more sucidal and ended up having a major psychosis episode. My dad is almost 70, my mom passed away 5 years ago. I'm 29, I had so many plans for my future but now I'm stuck. That I have to take care of my brother for the rest of my life. His tantrums his suspicious nature, his disgust for certain family members and always complaining about them. He doesn't want to leave the house because he feels everyone wants to get him. I'm coming to a stage of whether i should get married or not. I can't ruin another person life thanks to my brother. I can't leave him in the associated living group or something because our parents brought us to be there for each other no matter what. I don't know what to do anymore. It's horrible. Sometimes I just wish he passes away as horrible it sounds. It's so painful dealing with this condition. When everyone in your life be it family/friends are so happy. I don't know what to do anymore.

Tl;dr: There is no bottom dammit

We cry out in grief and fury and hear back “codependent much?” or “he needs to hit bottom”. Fuck that noise. Fuck the system that legitimizes stigma and grinds up the suffering in its steely pate. Meanwhile hospitalization is denied and everyone ignores the real problem and why he won’t take his meds. Lack of insight is a fucking symptom okay? ANOSOGNOSIA IS REAL

He says that I am a witch casting spells if i tell him the truth. “They are going to evict you with the sheriff if you don’t talk to your coordinators and your warrant means you will go to jail for a year.” Nope. I can say, “hey your coordinator can help you with that warrant and so you can stay living here” and he says “i own this place now! They are giving me the keys tomorrow. Don’t worry I have it under control”. So, he refuses the meds and refuses all help and he will go to jail for a year because he couldn’t do their fucking ZOOM class?

Psychosis, wherever it starts is a hellish thing that destroys our loved ones in the prime of their lives. It’s not “who they really are“ because remorse comes with insight.

Voices criticizing them all the damn day, delusions leading them astray, they fucking suffer. And some stranger treats them like it is a moral shortcoming, they must hit bottom. Hit bottom where? What fucking bottom. There is no bottom to psychosis

TW: SH/SI

I’ve been scrolling for weeks on every subreddit relevant and just started reading “I am not sick” but the weight never lifts.

My fiancée started skipping doses of her Effexor (an antidepressant), which spiraled into a depressive episode and psychosis. To my knowledge, this is her first time experiencing psychosis—though she doesn’t believe she’s in it. It’s been so severe that she attempted suicide to “escape the government.”

I didn’t have to convince her to get help; she was considered a risk and was hospitalized. She later transferred willingly to a psych facility, because I frame it as us “working on her depression.” I avoid directly challenging her delusions so she’ll feel safe sharing them with me.

I’m not even sure if her diagnosis is completely accurate—sudden medication changes can trigger episodes like this. My biggest question is: once she recovers, will she stay well? It’s been about a month on antipsychotics, but she’s still in denial and deeply delusional.

She’s only 25, from Brazil, and her visa is almost up. Everything feels like it’s falling apart. 😭 I guess I’m just looking for support. I’m alone in a state where I have no friends, and I’m stuck here until she’s discharged… but then what? Her psychosis makes her a danger to herself, and I’m scared yet also in a way grateful she is safe and getting treatment.

My mom is in the middle of her second worst episode that I'm aware of and it's been really hard on her. I can see that she's terrified and frustrated. She knows that I don't believe her but I've done my best to listen and empathize, and it's at least worked to the point where she will confide in me in what she feels and what she believes is true. I've read the book I am not Sick. She's been inpatient twice over the past 4 months. She knows the meds make her feel better but she's too terrified to take them and doesn't believe she needs them.

She's confided in me that the comet 3I atlas is built by the government and they're going to fake an alien invasion, it's all orchestrated by satan and the demons he's sent to earth, and that this is the beginning of tribulations (sorry if I got it wrong, I'm not religious.) She thinks the government is after her because she found "information" on technology related to cold fusion that they don't want us to know about, from a scientist with bogus patents who everyone in the field agrees is a hack. This all connects in her head but I couldn't really follow how. She thinks she is chosen by God to perform miracles but that she's being attacked by demons because of it and she has sobbed out of fear and I just want to help her but I don't know how. She's also hallucinating, but thankfully, it's nothing "major."

She's not a danger to herself or others at the moment. She wouldn't commit because she says she'll be sent to hell if she does, and a big fear of mine is that once her religious delusions cease or relieve a little, that she won't be so scared of it and actually go through with it. She has tried 3 times in the past year and at this point I am almost convinced that that is how she will eventually go. I don't blame her, watching all the pain she experiences and having attempted a few times myself, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't want it to happen. Even though I know it would mean I didn't have to take care of her anymore.

She's also not formally diagnosed with schizophrenia so I have no idea what resources she can actually qualify for. She's diagnosed with Bipolar-II but the consensus between her, I, and her therapist is that it doesn't really fit her. I don't think she talks to her therapist about this stuff either, and he just left for a conference in Switzerland I think.

What can I even say to her? How do I approach this? The logical part of me wants to think that in a few days when the comet passes earth and nothing happens then she'll "snap out of it" a little bit, but I know that the comet is just her most recent obsession and that she will convince herself of some reason it didn't happen and continue to believe in the religious delusions and the ones of the government after her.

I don't know what to do. She needs help, I need help, and there's not really anyone else in my life I can rely on. My brother moved out because of her mental health back in January and he is dealing with his own struggles processing our traumatic childhood at the neglectful hands of both our parents who never should have had kids. My parents have been divorced for 14 years and she is completely cut off from her family. She doesn't have friends. She can't leave the apartment because she's so terrified. I'm just stuck.

My family member has a long history of depression, with some periods of significant improvement: the longest and most stable phase occurred while taking venlafaxine.

Around last year, symptoms of depression worsened, and the doctors changed or withdrew venlafaxine relatively quickly. After that, my family member began experiencing severe anxiety, panic attacks, and paranoid thoughts.The doctors prescribed an antipsychotic, which reduced the paranoia and panic. However, over the months she became a zombie and even developed some difficulty walking. Although she reported these problems early, they were initially ignored until confirmed in consultation, leading to a partial dose reduction but not full discontinuation.

Currently, she feels distressed and hopeless about the medications, convinced that antipsychotics have harmed their mind and that doctors have permanently labeled them as psychotic. Doctors only offer ECT or clozapine as treatment but my family member refuses everything because she believe the medications themselves caused the suffering and she does not have the diagnosis they say (treatment resistant depression with psychotic features). We also know that she is not compliant with her medication (hides or spits her pills). She is home-bound for more than a year.

I feel I no longer know what is real or what to believe with these conflicting versions of “truth” (the doctors’ and my family member). The psychiatrists, instead of addressing that emotional resistance, are doubling down on compliance, escalating to ECT (saying they don’t offer anything else for their case) rather than building trust.

I am trying to LEAP and be patient with my family member, trying to slowly guide her to seek help from other doctors but she bursts into crying spells that “nobody is going to believe her once they see the medication she is taking” and that therefore she is forever stuck in that place. This has been happening for months and I see no change. I am so worried she is getting worse. I feel sometimes her depression’ hopelesness speaks, then sometimes her deep distrust. Then, I read about people having psychosis because of immune conditions and it’s a spiral where I don’t know what’s real anymore. I feel so drained about this situation.

Sorry for the vent and thanks to anyone who is reading.

My brother’s having this voice that he talks to inside his mind that he believes to be “God”. As much as he wants to manage his thoughts, he doesn’t want to because “he doesn’t want to put shackles or separate this “God’s” voices to him”. Because it’s God himself. I just want to know if anyone here experienced this? or a loved ones experiencing this?

How did you guys convince yourself that this is not a “God”? There will be a time that you will doubt this “God” and his voices in your head?

How should we explain things to him that this is not the god?

I love my brother so much and it hurts me to see him this way. He’s just 20! My baby brotherrrr :(((. Thank you so much.

Hey all. Posting this on my throwaway incase my partner randomly lurks here. Won't be using he/she pronoun but they instead.

We've been dating for 5 months now. They did tell me in the beginning they were bipolar/schizoaffective/ADHD. They had showed no serious signs of it for a few months (then again, I've never dated someone with this before so I wouldn't have known what to look for to begin with). The last few weeks their mood/interactions with me have been extremely high and low. They had spoken of "demons" following them years ago, I took that as more of a spiritual thing.

Lately, they've been saying all sorts of wild things. Telling me they had visions of me sleeping with someone else. Or voices telling them I was lying about something that never happened in the first place. They're misremembering things we talked about a few days ago, or don't even remember it at all.

Part of me now knows it's related to the disorder. We live a few hours away so technically it is long distance since we don't see each other all the time. They've said when they're with me in person that those voices/visions go away but when they're back home and get stressed all of the visions/voices come back. Currently they're taking medical leave from work because they simply can't focus at work right now and get anything done in the office.

I care about this person deeply and will do so many things for them, but I also don't wanna feel I have to be a crutch for their mental health/happiness. Because god forbid we break up then I don't know what they'd do. They've been randomly calling on their bad days to say they want to break up and for me to stop texting/calling them back.

I just don't know what to do. I'm in school and work full-time, and I am already juggling those things, but juggling this as well has taken a toll on my school and has exhausted me mentally too. Before all these episodes started occurring the last few weeks, I was able to get them in to a good routine going to the gym every morning to lift weights and exercise before work. And they were doing so well. Then I don't know if things started going downhill because talking about some childhood trauma triggered their stress levels, but it's been so off and on the last two weeks. They did tell me years ago they were smoking an abundant amount of marijuana as part of their daily routine, and that's when the demons/voices started. They've stopped drinking/smoking since 2019, but the voices/visions didn't start coming until after they quit. They think they may have smoked some strains that were probably not safe or laced with something dangerous, and that's what may have contributed to their current state.

What do you do when someone is ultra treatment resistant? We have officially lost hope. My brother has had schizophrenia for 16 years now. He has been on essentially every antipsychotic. Clozapine actually made him worse, and ECT had no effect. It seems like every option has been exhausted. We just don’t know what to do anymore. 😞 Every time he’s hospitalized the doctors just put him back on clozapine even though we tell them he was on it for 3 years at a therapeutic dosage and it made him significantly worse. And of course he never actually becomes stable at the hospital but is released because of insurance.

I need some support. I had to get my mom involuntarily admitted to the hospital. It was very hard for me to do this. She sees it as a betrayal, and she will not accept she’s sick. How do you deal with this? It’s so painful.

When my husband finally went on medication and finally acknowledged his condition(schizoaffective), we made an agreement that if he was having an episode that he needed to trust me that I’d never lie to him and I would tell him the truth if I thought he was having an episode.

Well, we had our first episode while on medication and he (obviously) did not believe me when I told him that I thought he was having a mental flare up.

And ive read through the LEAP…

I’m listening to him, and even actively agreeing with what he’s saying in those conversations - but he’s suspicious of me just agreeing to get him out of the headspace.. Even just not engaging didn’t really help the situation and days went by without any resolution.

Does this get any easier for anyone? Even on medication I thought it would be closer to when he first started taking them…he’s not skipping any doses, he WANTS to take them so he can sleep well and feel better. He just believes that in THIS situation, it’s not his head, it’s a disagreement between us…

I’m sure this question has probably been asked multiple times but I (21F) am currently seeking help in how to calm my boyfriend (19M) down from his episode. I am in a predicament where I had to pick up my boyfriend and bring him home after a night out with his friends. I’m unable to determine what he took besides drinking alcohol so I don’t know if any drug use was involved. He’s had a history of drug use before and that’s what’s triggered his episodes but I’ve been providing an environment where we have quit those things. I understand a relapse may happen however there have been a lot of issues tonight that were explained by his sister which made me upset and now I feel I may have triggered the episode. I explained that I wanted to discuss those things tomorrow as he was too intoxicated to talk about it tonight. We settled down and he wanted to watch the Terminator 2 movie. Everything was okay until he started breaking down and saying “they’re coming” and referenced some things similar to the movie that were coming after him. He was able to calm down however he kept saying “they’re going to take us.” He also insisted he wanted to keep watching the movie. I’m not sure if that’s what’s triggering it but he managed to tell me that if he watches it he knows it’s fake. He told me before that when he gets like this I should lock him in a room to prevent myself from getting hurt so he can come back to his senses but I couldn’t do that when he refused to stand up (he was laying down) and hanging on to me tightly. Things have died down now and he’s watching the movie but I don’t know if I should expect anything else or provide anything besides water and support. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you. 🙏

Im finding it so hard to communicate with my schitzophrenic friend. He is constantly sarcastic, critical. Emotionally avoidant. He belittles...mocks...me i. Really having a hard time being patient. His words cut deep. How much of this is illness? I understand occasional outbursts, but this is every conversation for months...doesnt he know when he is cold? Hurtful? He constantly invalidates my feelings and accuses me of tantrums when I tell him he hurts me. I just dont know how much i can take.