What treatmant has been successful?

Our mother suffers from delusional disorder. It has manifested itself over a period of 5 or 6 years. She is pretty much normal in every other way. We finally convinced her to see a psychiatrist in January. We were able to do this by convincing her that at least the doctor could give her something to manage the stress she was experiencing from her tormenters. Her delusions are persecutory. The doctor started her on a low dose of Abilify but then her delusional characters took her medicine. When she was able to get it refilled, she started taking it again but then
she said it started making her sick. I am wondering if any of the members of this forum have had success with any particular medication. I am also curious if psychotherapy has produced any noticeable improvement. I know her doctor at this time is just trying to achieve trust with her. We as family just try to get her mind off of the delusions. Another doctor advised me not to reinforce her delusions by
adding more locks to her home etc. How has this worked for other family members with delusional disorder?

My father never responded to drugs, which i think is pretty typical for DD unfortunatly. BUT I was taught during my psych degree that there is actually an OCD drug that is showing some promise. This may have to do with the fact that some professionals speculate delusions are on the obsessive spectrum. I cannot remember the name of the drug right now but will try to find it.

Hi,
I have some strategies that work for me.
1. reality checking. I use my relationships with the people around me to confirm if what I think is happening is in fact real. I only tell my most trusted friends and family things.
2. I try to take my medication every day. I always relapse when I forget for more than a week.
3. I managed to form a language of my own to interpret "messages" that I get. It is a language of love and that has limited characteristics in it. It works for me, but I'm an erotomaniac, so it kinda turns me on and may in some ways make me more vibrant.
4. build your support network of people you can call and talk to. Having social bonds makes it so much better when you need to figure out what is going on. Even if you don't want to share about your symptoms, just talking with someone else can be theraputic.
5. do something you enjoy doing. it will help you stay positive, and it will take you outside of your internal battle. Sometimes distraction is a good medicine (if you have gotten to the point where you can master the "messages" coming at you).
6. Did I mention to set reminders to take the medication? I'm never sick when I remember the medication regularly.
7. It took me several medications before I found one that fit my chemistry.
Good luck.
Sunny

I too have read that DD is hard to treat with medication. That's why I am looking for specific medication names that have improved this condition.

Compute, if I rememer correctly the name of the OCD drug is clomipramine. There isn't much information about it on google - only a few case studies. Something to ask a doctor about. I wish it was something I could have my father try.

Also look into the company TrueHope http://www.truehope.com/ . They manufacture supplements that have been proven in many studies (the studies are available on their website) to cure bipolar in some cases. It is extremely well studied. There have been reports of people with schizophrenia being "cured" (tricky word to use) by using their supplements. The products are expensive and patient would have to stay on them for a long time. But it's worth looking into. They have a number to call. I have called them before and they are very helpful.

This type of treatment might go over better with your DD if he/she knows the are only being given supplements, not drugs (especially for persecutory types who have had their delusions reinforced by hospitalization).

Hello All,

I have been living with this problem since I was 17 I am now 45.

When I had my first outbreak I did not beleive anyone who told me, my thoughts were not true. But after a few years I started to learn how to deal with this problem.

I thought my friends mother was out to kill me and I was sure of it. There are little things I see that put 2 + 2 together for my delusions to get bigger. I realize I even make up things so everything makes sense in my head.

What I try to do is pick out the things that dont fit. That makes me calm down. For example someone rang my door bell and I was in the height of an episode, I thought he was there to kill me and my family. He said he was a salesman. So I thought to myself If he really is a sales man he will be going to other doors too. So I followed him to make sure he was going door to door. Once I saw that I calmed down a bit.

It seems the older I get the more frequent I get these episodes. Sometimes it goes for a year sometimes a month without fear. When I do get them they seem to last for at least 2 months. I think that is because nothing I think is actually happening so I give up on the theory. But they never entirely go away.

I started to take the drug fluanxol it is an injection that I get every 2 weeks. I have not taken the drug for about 4 months now and I am again in the hight of an episode. I did not want to take the drug because it makes me feel like jumping out of my skin. They give me side effect medication but It makes me into a zombie(Cant think straght). I will have to endure the side effects because I realize I must take this drug.

I am also an alcoholic I drink at least 8 beer a day. This is to stop the feelings and thoughts I have. I still have the thoughts when drinking but I am much calmer and I start not to care what will happen.

Well thats my situation. If any one has any questions post them here I will come back to see.

Read more: Schizophrenia Forum - Persecutory Delusional Disorder http://ehealthforum.com/health/topic109 ... z1vdIqFd5O

Oxytocin research is promising. Here are some resources about it.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012 ... oving?lite

http://www.schres-journal.com/article/S ... 4/abstract (Source:)

Consistent with previous findings in acutely ill patients, our results suggest that clinical symptoms vary across the menstrual cycle in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Similar to recent findings regarding benefits of intranasal oxytocin, these new findings indicate that high levels of endogenous oxytocin might improve positive symptom severity and general psychopathology in women and social behaviors in both sexes.

http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjour ... bq015.full

http://clinicaltrialsfeeds.org/clinical ... CT01028677

Current Psychiatry Reviews,
2012 573-4005/12 $58.00+.00 © 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Are We There Yet? The Clinical Potential of Intranasal Oxytocin in Psychiatry

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 61638.html

A series of studies at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y., gave oxytocin to people with autism and related disorders. Both intravenous and intranasal administration of the hormone appeared to reduce repetitive behaviors, which is characteristic of people with autism, said Eric Hollander, director of the autism and obsessive-compulsive spectrum program. Oxytocin also reduced the patients' irritability and increased their overall ability to function.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01568528 is a trial that will be coming up on Oxytocin as Adjunctive Treatment of Schizophrenia

Apparently success has been acheived with aripiprazole with little or no side effects

@GaryCooper,
Works for me.
Sunny