r/SchizoFamilies

Schizophrenia is a spectrum. Everyone is different. I know

I just want to know if there are things you would want your partner to be mindful of.

For example I've had an interest in psychedelics and like every other psychonaut, I tend to bring up this topic in a conversation.

I think I shouldnt talk about these things to someone with schizophrenia

What are other things like this I should be mindful of? How would you feel safe around someone

For context, I (30F) moved in with a friend (50M) when my lease was up in order to pay cheaper rent but then I lost my job a couple of months ago and am now unemployed.

There’s some concerning behavior I don’t think I noticed when I first moved in because I was still working and wasn’t around enough to witness:

- yelling/screaming late at night or at random points during the day seemingly without cause
- slurred speech and heavy stuttering (this person doesn’t have a speech impediment as far as I’m aware) sometimes when conversing
-most concerningly, an episode in which this person grabbed cutlery and told me someone was telling them to hurt my pet, and another episode in which this person said they were being told to expose themselves to me

Oddly enough, he seems stable most of the time and is able to hold a job and maintain friendships from what I’ve seen.

It’s gotten to a point however, where if I hear certain triggers I lock myself and my pet in my room or take my pet outside for a bit to see if he calms down. I don’t understand what’s happening to him and don’t have any other place to move to, so while I’m concerned for him I’m also concerned for my safety and that of my pet.

TLDR: my roommate is extremely unwell and I’m scared, but I don’t have any funds or resources to leave

Any recommendations?

To start this off I want to make a couple things clear.

I don’t know if anyone will find this, or even read it all. I’m begging anyone who sees this to please read, I know it’s a lot but I am genuinely so confused, lost and scared.

One- I do not fully trust my current psychiatrist, she does not seem like she genuinely cares whatsoever. I haven’t had any problems until this specific psychiatrist and I’m not a confrontational person unfortunately so I haven’t yet said anything or tried to get a new one.

Two- Schizophrenia runs in my family, on my dad’s side. My dad’s mom, and his brother (my uncle) both have schizophrenia. I watched my uncle lose himself to this disease when I was around 5-6 years old.

Three- I have met with 4 different psychiatrists at the place I go to now, the 4th one being the one I do not fully trust/believe in. The first 3 psychiatrists, and everyone in the ER, thought that I had schizophrenia.

The psychiatrist I have now, flat out said “I do not think you have schizophrenia” the first time we met, after talking to me for 5 minutes.
This bothers me deeply, because it runs in my family and the experiences I’ve had that led me and my loved ones to believe I have schizophrenia. It’s very coincidental to me that I have experienced all the symptoms of schizophrenia, and it running my family, just to be told “I don’t have it”.

They started me on Abilify 5mg at first, it worked okay the first 2 weeks or so, and then it stopped working. I wasn’t able to sleep after a week or two of taking Abilify, I went 4 days straight with little to no sleep. So I was practically right back where I started when I checked myself into the emergency room. Hallucinating everyday, not sleeping, not eating, etc.

I went back to the psychiatrist and they told me to stop taking Abilify, they put me on one 50mg Seroquel every night for bed. I have been on Seroquel for about two months now.

I sleep much better now, but they only prescribed the Seroquel 50mg so I could sleep. So why haven’t they prescribed me something for my schizophrenic symptoms? The Seroquel feels like it’s getting weaker, I assume because I’m building a tolerance.

I still hallucinate, but nowhere near as much as I was. Sometimes I hear voices, or see things, but it’s much more manageable now than it was before I was taking any medication. The paranoia is still very strong though, especially at night. I have stopped leaving my room at night for a snack or the bathroom because the paranoia feels so real and debilitating. I get the feeling that I’m being watched, constantly turning around thinking someone or something is behind me, I hold my bladder until the morning because i’m genuinely terrified of the dark, I can’t look at my tv unless it’s turned on because I’m scared of seeing a demon or something in the reflection of a blank tv, etc.

I’m extremely confused. After a year + a handful of months, my other brother seems completely aware he’s in a delusional state of mind.

He has health-based ocd, and uses chat-gpt to “diagnose” him with certain disorders (I’ve told him to not do that since it’s like webMD and will tell you you’ll die if you have a headache, but he says it’s reasonable because he doesn’t have a doctor. I’ve tried so hard but he really won’t stop doing it)

he even was convinced he has DID (dissociative identity disorder; and I’m not sure if he’s still on that since he hasn’t mentioned it in a while), autism, and now believes he has bipolar disorder. I won’t completely dispute the claims of BP as you can develop it a little later in life, and he’s in his mid 20’s, but from what I’ve observed (and I’m the only person he hasn’t cut off), he doesn’t display any symptoms. He said to me today,

“schizophrenia makes more sense actually, but more like the symptoms of schizophrenia, which actually are also a component of being bipolar”

To be honest, I’m feeling conflicted. I was convinced that his OCD had something to do with his sudden stomach issues and aversion to food (which it did), but is this possible with psychosis too?

After tending to him for so long, being his only support, and donating so much of my own mental energy to him, I can’t help but feel almost a little betrayed.

Both of our parents are diagnosed with BPD, as well as me, and i’ve tried to bring it up as a suggestion of his outbursts in interpersonal relationships but he won’t consider that either.

Is it possible he could be lying to me about this kind of self-awareness? I feel like this kind of logic is confusing for a disorder that isn’t at all logic-based. I’m concerned with the possibility he’s started to distrust me, and might have suddenly thought I don’t believe him, so he’s come up with some elaborate excuse to have the upper-hand.

I guess we can’t know for sure since we can’t see inside of his brain, but has anyone else gone through this or can offer some insight/opinions?

My boyfriend got recently diagnosed with schizophrenia and I don't know what to do. I'm trying to be for him and trying to help him as much as I can, but since he's most of the time at work and doesn't respond to me because of that so I dont know how he's doing and when we talk and I ask him how he's been then he tells me that he's been feeling depressed and he had very bad schizophrenia episodes then all I can say is "oh I'm sorry that you feel this way":( and I've been telling him that if he wants i can give him suicide hotline number so he can talk with professionals about these kind of stuff, and all he's been saying is either maybe, another time or I dont want.

Since I've been calling to suicide hotline several times, I got so much help there, but I feel like he doesn't want to receive that help:( I seriously love him so much, but I just dont know what to do. I also wanna be there for him because I love him dearly:(

I'm also sorry if my English isn't good, but I hope someone understands me and can help me

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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.

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.

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?

Hello everybody, I’m not entirely sure how Reddit goes but I will explain my situation

I a 22 year old female have a 23 year old male partner who’s been struggling with mental health issues for a bit now. Yesterday he told me he was having a psychiatry appointment, while he was down stairs at my house, before this he’s been having a lot of anxiety and we’ve been having issues because of this anxiety as its new for him, back to yesterday I get a call from his mother during what I thought was his psychiatry appointment telling me that he had run away and called the ambulance putting himself into a psychiatric hold at the hospital and he wanted to make sure I knew, so I wasn’t worried. I run downstairs frantically and he’s gone, that prompts me to drive to the hospital I believed they were holding him and get a visitors pass while talking to his mom, his mother gets there, gets in, asks if he wants to talk to me, he says no, I talk to him a bit on speaker, the whole time he is inconsolably crying after telling her that he’s sorry he did this to me and that he’s a bad person towards me. I’m very worried about him, I love this person so much and want them to be okay.

He‘s still being held at the hospital for 72 hour psych evaluation, but his mom will only give me very limited information, has asked for his keys telling me she’ll be driving his car to their homewtown, as he won’t be be coming back, he’ll be staying with them from now on, and when I ask if theres visitors, she says just herself, when I asked when I would be able to talk to him or at all she said he would reach out when he was ready and wont tell me much more.

what should I do? Do you guys think he‘ll eve talk to me again, or if this is a breakup, I concerned about him but am really hurting by how the situation was handled and could really use some advice

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.

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.

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?!

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…

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.

I really need advice. As I feel I am not getting supported by mental health services and I don’t know which way to turn anymore! I will give context as it’s quite long!
My daughter is 21, she was diagnosed with autism/adhd/ Tourette’s as a child. Life was tough, as she had so many struggles, but we got through it and I fought so hard to get her the help and things she needed. It always felt like a battle, getting diagnosed. Help in school, ECHP, SEN, the correct school etc. but every battle we over came.
As she left school i began to notice the impulsive behaviours intensified, intrusive thoughts, I put it down to the lack of routine, she struggle with college. Even with support, which led to her being bullied etc.
over the last couple of years if I’m honest, she is completely unrecognisable, not just physically, but mentally. She’s out of control, angry, violent, manipulative, aggressive. She’s hits me if she can’t get her own way. The voices in her mind have intensified. She’s threatened me with knives. She’s hidden kitchen knives in her room. ( which are now locked away) She talks about stabbing people, she is obsessed with death. She’s even angry with people outside of the home. Like neighbours if they are in their garden, or passers by. She will have meltdowns as they are disturbing ‘her time’ she is lightly self harming. She’s been saying voices are telling her to do these things. Telling her to kick off and make my life a misery and they tell her repeatedly to do so. They even want her to drown herself when in the bath. I’ve been deeply worried about her, and the thought of her harming herself or someone else terrifies me. She has been taking antipsychotics, which do not make a blind bit of difference, and I’m begging and pleading for help to no avail. I’m convinced she is displaying symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. She is manic, paranoid all day every day, delusional, taking to people who aren’t there, saying we are poisoning the dogs mind against her. She is Angry with the whole world. It’s breaking me heart to watch her go through this, yet it’s so difficult to live with at the same time. The violence, the meltdowns, the anger. I feel ill everyday with stress and worry. And no one is listening. I don’t know what to do next or for the best. She needs psychiatric help and it’s completely unmanageable at home, I feel bad for even saying that old loud, as I feel like I am giving up on my daughter. But I now recognise it’s not as simple as giving up. I now see she needs more help than I can give her now. I’m getting absolutely no where with mental Health services. Try this medication and on your way. And I’m telling them she is a danger to her self and others, she’s even telling them her self!!! I do not know what to do next for the best. I’m scared and terrified for what’s to come.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Her care co ordinator has apparently already sent a referral for an assessment of needs through county. This was months ago. And as per she never returns a call or lets me know what is going on. Feeling let down and not listened too. And as a mother I think we know our kids, call it mother’s instinct, whatever, but we see all day every day and how life impacts them.
Any advice would be much appreciated, as I am really scared for the future.

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.

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.

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.

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?