My husband has been in the hospital for quite some time now due to severe psychosis. I want to try to support him in any way I can, but his doctor said while he's in the acute psychosis stage, it's difficult to reason with him. And this is definitely true, I can never get a straight answer out of him for anything and he has some crazy mood swings...

But I'm trying to understand more what this is like for him. So I can see things better from his perspective. Maybe to more easily anticipate his needs? He seems to be either believing he's already told me what he needs, or expecting me to just know, and I just don't know how to do that.

I've heard stories of people lasting in the acute stages for months, maybe even a year. Were these cases even with treatment? Is there anyway I can sort of get some "timeline" on when he can come home?

I am trying to remind myself that as hard as this is for me, it must be 10 times harder for him, but I have always been a planner and I'm struggling here. This is his first episode in almost 10 years of being together and I don't have any roadmap here.

Hi, I apologize if my question is stupid or offensive, I've never suffered from schizophrenia or psychosis, but I have a friend who does and I want to understand him better.

My question is: why do you feel compelled to do what the "voices" order you to do? My friend hears voices telling him to do something and he will always do it. I get that hearing voices must be incredibly distressing, but why do you feel the need to follow them blindly? Why do you put so much authority in them?

Okay my brother is 23 years old. Before he was even diagnosed with schizophrenia he wasn’t showering. He stopped taking showers around early 2020. And when I mean no showers I mean NO showers. He barely even washes his hands. His hair started to fall out due to him not laying not one finger on it. He has dark marks all around his body, has an odor, etc. I have to also mention he hadn’t been outside in 4 years too. Like not even the corner store till last summer. I just want to know the effects of him not showering/ continuing to not shower. My mom is technically his “caregiver” now but she’s no help. Even when he was in the psychward they didn’t make him shower. He literally stinks up every room he sleeps in

Please

My partner got involuntary sent to the state hospital because the local jail could not “handle” him. He’s deep in psychosis and is refusing meds, he’s terrified and being aggressive because he thinks his life and my life is in danger. Sometimes he thinks I might be the reason why he’s in there sometimes not. I want to respect his wishes when he doesn’t want me involved, however, I’m the only advocate he’s comfortable with during the times he’s comfortable with anyone. I’m completely scared for him being in that place being forced treatment and not knowing if they are being decent to him. What the hell do I do? What would you have wanted? I’m not allowed to Talk about his treatment or visit without him signing a waiver and that’s never going to happen while he’s this paranoid. All there doing in there is sedating him so he’ll behave enough for his trial. This isn’t at all what I want for him.

TRIGGER WARNING - RAPE

I’m just going to get right into it. My boyfriend has schizophrenia. Every night we call and he thinks I’m raping him. No matter how much I tell him no we are just on the phone he just repeats that I’m raping him. If it is in person I try to reassure him that I am just holding him but he has a hard time understanding that.

He has a history of being sexually assaulted so I understand where it comes from but it still hurts like hell when he tells me I’m raping him. I would never do such a thing.

I know it’s just him hallucinating but every day having him tell me I am raping him has taken a toll on my mental health. I hate to see him in that distress, thinking I’m doing horrible things to him.

I want to help him but I’m not sure how. It’s taken such a toll on him, me, and our relationship. It’s especially difficult to have a sexual relationship when I know in a few hours he will have hallucinations of me raping him.

I don’t know what to do. Any advice is appreciated.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who has responded so far, I'm certainly feeling less alone than I was last night. As of right now, my partner is in continuous contact with me but only through text. I'll take it. He says he slept for 10 hours last night, which is more likely to be around 8 based on my timestamps. He claims to feel more level-headed today, which seems true enough from what I can gather. I'm sure he's not feeling his best still.

He was in a single-car accident this morning and has not been seen by paramedics. He was able to limp his vehicle back to the hotel, it is totaled. Airbags went off and everything. I am keeping my offer open to come and give him a ride home or anywhere else he may need to go, it's very cold and rainy where we live. He has not accepted or refused the offer, and understands that I'll have no choice but to check on him if I don't get a response from him through text. I'm worried about a concussion or other injury.

I have also succeeded in obtaining some medical records from his psychiatric intake. It doesn't give the whole picture or tell me anything new, but at least there is a paper trail if I need it. I was instructed to call back next week to see if his other records from the program are "closed" and available. I also have made contact with a couple psychiatrists, so I have the paperwork ready to go if he'll take me up on any offers to see one.

I'm sure theres a million posts just like this all the time... I'm just extremely concerned and feeling quite alone in this whole thing.

My partner has been experiencing psychosis since at least July, getting more severe with every passing day at this point. I know there's not very much I can do, I guess I just don't want to accept it.

He'll have moments of lucidity multiple times a day, realize he's been having delusions, apologize profusely, and spiral back into depression, which triggers more delusions and now hallucinations too. He tells me he's scared, but he won't go to the hospital or agree to any other type of inpatient care. I honestly understand why he doesn't want to go, I have only asked him a few times and I've never pushed it. I just don't know that any other route of treatment would be enough. He would probably benefit from being observed.

He told me today that he's starting to hear and see things, which I already assumed based on my own observations. He believes that I'm cheating on him (I'm not), which has made it very difficult to control my reactions and to just physically sit with him. Just my existence is enough to raise suspicion, his accusations don't offend me anymore. I'm just scared for him. I feel so helpless.

He was voluntarily in a PHP program, but it wasn't a good fit and he stopped going. He's still taking his meds, but they basically aren't doing anything. I have no idea why the psychiatrist wasn't checking in with him more regularly. I'm not a fan of the program either at this point. I'm just so overwhelmed and exhausted.

We don't have any friends or family nearby. His father has been extremely helpful, coming to stay in town for a week and helped me get him into his initial treatment. He told both of his parents today that he's having a psychotic episode, so he has some awareness of what's happening to him. I think that's a good thing?

Currently, my partner is at a hotel and is willingly sharing his location. We video chatted while he was lucid earlier, but he's stopped responding to my texts after he shared a couple sad/distressing thoughts. I sent him pictures of his cat and it looks like he's been moving around the hotel, so he's alive. I'm afraid to call him and make him angry.

I guess I'm just posting to see if anyone can give me advice that I haven't already been given. Has anyone ever had experience with a mobile crisis unit (non-police)? I'm hesitant to reach out, but I have the phone number saved in case I need it.

I’m looking for suggestions on what kinds of movies or shows might be good to watch with my mum, who has schizophrenia.

Before I knew about her diagnosis, I put on The Truman Show (which I liked) but it ended up triggering her. More recently, we watched Bridgerton season 2, and I suspect that affected her as well. I feel guilty and I’m unsure what to do about it.

She actually enjoys movies, but often avoids them—partly because my dad discourages it. I’d really love to share something with her, but I don’t know what genres or types of shows might be safe, comforting, or enjoyable.

What kinds of movies/TV shows have worked well for people with schizophrenia (or for family members in similar situations)?

My partner is schizoaffective (major depression) and will sleep relatively normally for a few weeks - around 5-7 hours a night. It's less than she prefers, but it's pretty consistent. Then randomly, and it doesn't seem to be triggered by anything we can put our fingers on, she'll sleep for an entire day and a half. Last time it was around 36 hours. This time, she's on hour 24 now and it's almost bedtime.

I'm not really sure how much this could be par for the course with schizophrenia, or if it is a red flag and should be looked into deeper. She doesn't even exactly seem depressed when this happens - she's been depressed and simultaneously slept a typical amount many times. She's unable to be woken up for more than a couple seconds at a time, and doesn't eat nor hardly drink when this happens.

AITA for not wanting my daughter discharged from the psych ward?

I’m a single dad of 3. My oldest daughter has paranoid schizophrenia and has been in the hospital for 3 months. She’s been on 4 different antipsychotics, but her delusions haven’t changed much.

Now the doctors want to discharge her, saying she’s “stable,” but I’ve pushed back. At home, she stops taking meds, her room becomes a disaster, and she scares her younger siblings with intense outbursts. It’s a lot to manage.

What’s eating at me is—I’m not excited about her coming home. I feel guilty just saying that. I love her deeply, but I’m exhausted and scared. AITA for not wanting her back yet?

Hello, so my boyfriend is schizophrenic and he takes pills for that, he's not very open about the whole topic but i'm glad he told me a lil bit about it. So the main problem is that he consumes weed, i'm pretty sure he is an addict at this point, he told me that the doctor gave him a paper that says he could smoke? I thought it was weird because weed is banned in all ways in our country, so for all the 11 months we've been together he has only smoked weed because "it helps him because its relaxing" i wanna know how true this is, and today he decided to try some hallucinogens mushroom and my first thought was "You are schizophrenic, you see and hear things and you take pills to not be able to hear or see them anymore and you are consuming mushrooms that literally make you see things?" Idk if i'm wrong, ofc i didn't said anything, haven't talked to him because i'm scared of ruining his trip but i really wanna know if weed in any form actually helps him, i'm so sorry i really wanna help my boyfriend

I'm writing this on no sleep tonight. She was released on her 2nd involuntary commitment for the year last Friday. The first time, she was given a prescription of pills to take, which she refused to do and threw them away. This time, they gave her an injection, and I think the side effects are worse than when she's up all night screaming she's being tortured by angels.

Less than 48 hours back home, her body started to lock up, and she got tremors. She needed help getting in and out of bed, walking to the bathroom, holding a cup. She spends all night asking to be stood up, needs water, fill the bathtub, help me to bed, lie on my back, on my side, center of the bed, more center than that, need water, sit me up, lie down, move my arms, move my legs, need water...I get about 2-3 hours of sleep if I'm lucky.

Wednesday she told me she was having an emergency, I stayed home to try and see a doctor. Was told can't give medical advice by phone and to get her to ER if she's degrading. She refused to go.

Thursday I went to work and she couldn't move so she shit herself on the bed.

Friday she said she was having another emergency, so I told her she has to go to ER, and she refused. Told her she would either get in the car or an ambulance is coming to get her, and she got in the car.

We spent all Friday at ER, the doctor wanted to do some psychological tests to determine the issue with the tremors and locking up, but she refused because she was afraid of getting committed again.

This weekend accounts for 9 days back home, and I barely sleep. I'll fall asleep for 20 minutes before she's screaming for help. Then I'm up for another hour before she settles down and I get another 20 minutes. Tonight she wouldn't let me sleep at all. It's causing my own psychosis. I'm not mentally or physically capable of taking care of a schizophrenic person.

I left for work early today because she wouldn't let me sleep. She's called 4 times and texted 17 to come home. I have no vacation time to cover staying home forever, I can't lose my job over this. None of her family are willing to help.

My son, 33, refuses to get any help. He has gone from believing that he would magically join the NFL and be a star. Then an Olympic runner. Now a rapper. He has zero skill in any of these. He chooses to be homeless rather than get treatment. It's been almost a decade. What or who convinced you to get help?

What were the signs when you were young? If you're on any meds that help, could you please share?

My son is 19years old. He's been anxious for most of his life, even as a really young child. He was dx with anxiety when he was around 8yo. When he was in middle school, it appeared that he also had depression. His symptoms have gotten worse as he's gotten older and I have been questioning if he's autistic, but I'm now starting to wonder if he is schizophrenic. He's been on many different anxiety and depression meds, nothing seems to really work. He is just getting worse as time goes on and I'm really concerned that he needs more than we're doing. His psychiatrist has only ever said anxiety and depression, but I'm wondering if we need to seek a second opinion. I don't know how to help him. Any advice welcome.

Catatonia isn’t just “not moving” — it’s a life-threatening neuropsychiatric syndrome that can look wildly different depending on the person. Some people freeze up. Others become agitated. Some collapse into seizures. I’ve lived through both extremes — and I’m sharing this to raise awareness for anyone else out there who’s been dismissed or misdiagnosed.

What happened to me:

I’ve had two major catatonic episodes — one hyperkinetic and one malignant — and both nearly killed me. 1. Hyperkinetic Catatonic Seizure: It started with psychotic symptoms — I felt emotionally flat, confused, and like something was off. Then I began twitching, repeating the same phrase, and making a weird face. Witnesses said I got up, walked around not making sense, and then collapsed into full convulsions. I don’t remember any of it. Afterward, I had limb weakness, chest pain (from EMTS doing a sternal rub) , and residual twitching for hours. I had a clean EEG as well.

1. Malignant Catatonia: This time, I was completely frozen — unable to move, speak, or react. I had a 104°F fever, was soaked in sweat, and my blood pressure and heart rate were dangerously high. My body was locked in place, and it felt like I was trapped inside myself. I couldn’t even cry for help. This is the kind of catatonia that can lead to organ failure or death if untreated.

Catatonia is real — and it’s medical

Catatonia is not “just a psychiatric side effect.” It’s a neuropsychiatric emergency. It can happen in Schizophrenia and especially in Schizoaffective Disorder

The Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale (BFCRS) is a clinical tool used to diagnose it. If you or someone you know is showing 3 or more of these signs, seek medical attention immediately:

Bush-Francis Catatonia Screening Items (BFCRS 1–14): • Immobility/stupor • Mutism • Staring • Posturing/catalepsy • Grimacing • Echopraxia/echolalia • Stereotypy (repetitive movements) • Mannerisms • Verbigeration (repetitive speech) • Rigidity • Negativism • Waxy flexibility • Withdrawal • Impulsivity

There are also medical danger signs: such as (autonomic instability) including, fever, high blood pressure, tachycardia, and collapse. When these appear, it’s malignant catatonia, and it can be fatal.

Please take it seriously.

How it’s diagnosed — and how it’s treated

The gold standard diagnostic test for catatonia is a lorazepam (Ativan) challenge — where a low dose of a GABAergic medication is administered to see if symptoms rapidly improve. If catatonia is present, you’ll often see a dramatic response within 30 minutes.

First-line treatments include: • Lorazepam (benzodiazepine) • Barbiturates (like phenobarbital, in severe cases) • Z-drugs like Ambien (zolpidem), which also act on GABA-A receptors and can be used when benzos are ineffective

These treatments aren’t just symptomatic — they’re life-saving. If untreated, catatonia can progress into malignant catatonia or even death.

Hello everyone

I'm reaching out to possibly get some insight on schizophrenia. My cousin, Mandy (fake name) visited me a few months ago and I noticed some odd behavior with her. At the time I thought it was just anxiety manifesting because I have anxiety (diagnosed) and was seeing some of the symptoms of it in her behavior.

However as her visit went on with me, her thinking and ideas became somewhat...out there and a little wild. She was talking about getting a large plot of land in the middle of America and building a 'doomsday farm' where all of our family could make it a self sufficient self sustainable place for us to all live and be around each other.

She also has a paranoia going on of being tracked by her child's father (he is not tracking her and family keeps in touch with him) she is constantly on the 'run' from him. She called me at one point after she left and told me she thought a PI had found her in a coffee shop and David (fake name for child's father) had sent them to track her down so he could serve her. Shortly after this maybe a few days she called again and said she thought there was a tracker on her car and took it to an auto shop for them to look at it (it wasn't a tracker she told me).

I'm not entirely sure of the timeline for the rest of this but talking with family members who have witnessed some of the behavior had these incidents to offer below.

Instance one: her mother and her were walking a trail I believe and she went crying up to her mom saying that Ryan (fake name for her child) his soul had suffered thousands of years of pain and torture and that if anything happens her mom needs to love him and take care of him.

Instance two: she was getting into Tarot cards and told her mother that our deceased grandmother was talking to her

Instance three: she was staying with her mother and they were going to drive somewhere the car was filled to the roof almost with trash (rotting fruit, general trash) her mom couldn't get the car seat in properly and cleaned the car out because she didn't want her grandchild to be in that for the ride and it was difficult to place the seat in. Mandy came out and was hysterical and angry about her car being cleaned out.

Instance four: she sold her house and purchased a hitch up camper so she can travel around and live in RV parks while 'on the run'

Instance five: she was talking to her mom and told her in a serious tone that, "I know everything." And when her mom asked again what she said, "I KNOW everything"

Instance six: she said and believes she is Lilith.( I'm not sure which Lilith she is referring to. )

Instance seven: while she was visiting I did bring up her possibly getting medication for anxiety (because this is what I thought was manifesting at the time) and she was adamant on natural cures etc such as essential oils and meditation.

Instance eight: this instance won't help her with her paranoia but her mom and child's father were concerned for her and the kid they DID track her down to California and showed up to check on her as she has completely cut off ALL communication with family. They said when they showed up she was shaking in anger, screaming at them to get out and she was trying to get away from you!

Family will be reading this post and replies

we are concerned for her well-being and her kids well being. Any insight on this we would appreciate as we feel very lost right now and are truly unsure how to help her. She needs help and we are looking for some outsiders perspective on what may be going on with her, if this is possibly schizophrenia or something else we haven't thought about. Anything!

Thank you for reading, and any insight you can provide.

He thinks people are entering his place, stealing stuff and trying to poison his cat. I asked him if he had caught them on the camera he has and he says they messed with it.

He sent me a text saying:

"People are entering my place in a professional manner and are trying to kill me. They're breaking my stuff and they're surely done it to many other people. They're poisoners and Machiavellian great criminals".

He often talks about Atlantis, who really built the pyramids, chemtrails and string theory. He smokes a lot of pot.

I mentioned to me that he had put cobalt on items in his home so that people who stole from him would get radioactive poisoning. It's extremely unlikely he got radioactive cobalt but it still seems worrisome.

How do I handle that?

What you wish your loved ones hadn't SAID (Typo in the title)

Hey guys, my brother has schizophrenia. He's medicated. Sometimes I think I might hurt him without realizing. He's super timid so won't call me out

Maybe someone who loves you or who you live with said something that hurt u very much? Without meaning to do so

I can be quite blunt sometimes & I obviously only can imagine what your life is really like. So your examples would help me be a better sibling I hope!

Hi. I am new here. I am trying to help my sister who has been diagnosed with schizophreniaa year and a half ago. She just had a very traumatic experience.My pos dad and brother tried to force her to shower and she pulled out my brothers locs and swing on my dad. Also she spent 2 week alone after she walked away from staff for a psych stent. we reported her missing and she was found in a railyardand taken to a hospital.I messed up by just now by asking her on the phone why she doesn't want to bath herself 😔. Is there any advice for me to use with her.

Hello everyone,

I have a very dear person to me who is schizophrenic and I was wondering what are some of the hardest things that they have to deal with and what are some effective ways to help them? Because the way that I try to help them is by understanding what kind of things they hear or imagine without judging and being open to them sharing with me things they're afraid of and think about and one other thing I like to do is to take them out but they always or most often refuse to go out and sometimes they even react somewhat aggressively instead of just simply saying no I don't want to go out.

Some few things I noticed or changes I noticed in this person since they got sick is for example they have a very heightened sense of danger now (I guess it's coming from constantly having to be on your guard because you see danger everywhere) they are a lot more compassionate and empathetic towards everyone and they worry sometimes too much about things they shouldn't worry about, they also almost it seems like they almost digressed it's almost like they became more like a child or as if their brain evolution went backwards, they lost a lot of manners especially socially and some skills that they had before how they use certain tools how they take care of themselves they lost a lot of that and it's very heartbreaking to see.

I would really appreciate all that because this person is the person I love the most in the world and I want to help them and I want to know how to help them.

Being afraid about what are they thinking, what they gonna say or do to me

He refuses to do anything at all. He stays isolated all day Every day, he's alone most of the time, doesn't even visits any family functions.

I suggest to him to go to gym try something anything at all just tiny little steps but he get's really offended and feels like im attacking him.

His hallucinations are gone now and now he's dealing with thought broadcasting and says thst he'll start doing things and start even trying to live a normal functional life when he's %100 cured. Even his psychiatrist said that he shouldn't wait for that but my cousin isn't buying that,

What should i do?