Can Anyone Advise Please ....

A friend of ours is displaying signs of schizophrenia and I'd like to help him, but am finding it really difficult to know how to go about it.

About 6 months ago our friend was at our house and told me that his neighbours had been giving him some trouble. He was doing some minor building works on his house and they didn't like it and they had broken into his house and rifled through his possessions - nothing was taken and when I asked he said they had used a key to get in. I asked how they had got the key and he said he didn't know. He said he had changed the locks and was looking at security measures - I thought it odd, but left it at that. When my partner came into the room he quickly changed the subject and nothing more was said.

A month or so later he was at our house again, and he started to tell me again of strange happenings, this time his work colleagues were involved as well as the neighbours and the people in his local pub. Apparently personal photos has been stolen from his home and placed on the work intranet. He told me he had complained to the personnel department and the pictures had been taken down. He also said that personal pictures had been posted on the internet. He told me that even though he had changed the locks people were still getting into his house. Again he said nothing to my partner, only to me.

This behaviour continued every time we saw him, the stories getting more and more bizzare and the explanations he gave got more complex each time.

Today while I was at work he called my partner (who was working from home) and arranged to visit during the day. He told my partner that people had beeing getting into his home, and all the other conspiracy stories he had previously told me plus we now have a another person in the conspiracy - he told my partner that his sister's boyfriend is also involved in some way.

He has now moved out of his own house and is lodging with a colleague (which is odd as he says his colleagues are all in on it). He was cagy with my partner about where the colleague lives - like he didn't trust him to say.

He is a very intelligent man, with a very good job - in fact he is very preoccupied with his work at the moment. He is single and lives on his own. He told my partner that he has told his parents what's been going on but they don't believe him - we don't know his family or how to contact them, so can't ask them to help him.

He's been drinking quite a lot more in the last year or so than he used to, but I don't believe he takes any illicit drugs.

I think he's really in trouble and needs help, we don't know his family (or even where he is living now), but we do have a mobile number for him.

I've done some research, and spoken to NHS Direct, but it would appear he has to ask for help himself, which I don't think he will, as he really belives all this is real.

Can anyone advise how I can help him to get some professional help?

Thanks

Concerned Friend

Having been through the mental heath system I do not recomend it. I have seen what psychiatrists can do to a person. The drugs that could be prescribed to your friend are horrific and have terrible side effects.

For many people being labeled SZ and then treated for SZ is a one way downward spiral into chronic mental and physical illness.

Unfortunately psychiatry has no lab test to identify any cause of any mental illness. They have no means to monitor or correct "chemical imbalances" (the hypothesis of all mental illness) in the brain.

If your friend is DX SZ he most likely will be given a coctail of drugs designed to give him the equivalent of a chemical lobotomy. His "symptoms" could quite likely get worse while being treated. All psych meds to is disable the higher functioning of the brain (with terrible side effects) they do not target any cause because no cause is known.

In poorer countries where psychiatry and drugs are not used, the World Health Organisation has found that people with SZ recover within 2 to 5 years. They WHO suggests this is because these poorer communities are much more supportive and tollerant and help the person get through and recover. This is oppossed to the West where the main treatment is harmful brain damaging drugs which locks the person into psychosis and can increase the risk of psychosis.

Try to talk it through the issues with your friend. It may take a long time and be trying but I hope you avoid sending your friend on the terrible path called professional help.

Good Luck.

Concerned friend,
I think it is probably very hard to be in your position. You obviously care about this person and I think reaching out to get advice is a very caring gesture.
The only advice I can give you is to direct your friend to websites like this so he can learn about schizophrenia. The hope is that eventually he will realize that he has a problem, not a sixth sense. And then from there he has to take measures to make sure his delusions don't affect his life so much which is hard to do.
Every case is different so its hard to say if he will ever make it out of his delusions I'm sad to say but many do and although its a struggle it is much more safe being aware that the mind creates these delusions and we have to sort of defend against them. It sounds like this is all new to him. It could take a long time until he gets to a point where he starts trying to take charge of his mind.

Maybe you can say something like, "there are others who have problems that you are having but most seem to realize it is a problem with their mind." and then go from there.

As far as psychiatric medicines, they seem to help some, but not others. I agree that they can be a detriment to recovery in some cases but I don't know the facts. In my case they did not help me and most psychiatrists I saw gave me no advice and were cold and seemed uncaring. For me it was a matter of changing my attitude towards voices and delusions to get better. It took me two years to get to that point and I believe I am lucky it only took me that long.

Anyone your friend sees will probably direct him to psychiatry which at least is a start if he wants to get help.

Best of luck to you and your friend.

Thank you both for your replies.

Having taken on board your comments, I think I will try to explain to him that his reality at the moment is not the same as ours, and see where we can go from there.

Up until now I've been a little worried about saying directly to him that I have a concern. I've just encouraged him to explain the why's and wherefore's of the actions he's described others taking, in the hope that when he hears himself explain them he might realise that it is not logical. This has not worked so far.

The last thing I want to do, is to alienate him, and for him to start to imagine we are involved in these conspiracies. He must be very frightened and feel very alone at the moment, and I suspect he needs his friends now more than ever.

When he left our house yesterday, he suggested to my partner that he may pop in and see us over the Christmas break, so when we see him I'll talk to him about it.

Thanks again for your advice.

Concerned Friend

Maybe you can say something like, "there are others who have problems that you are having but most seem to realize it is a problem with their mind." and then go from there.

It's really good you want to look out for yr mate, but ha already sounds really anxious and will spot an oblique approach like this and will run a mile. Do stay in touch listen to what he says. there may be some truth in what he says and he's just become hypervigilant about everything else. Has he ever offered to show you those pictures on the internet fo example? Let him tell you how he feels. You could perhaps offer him some ideas and places where he can get help with all the stress he feels at the moment. That way its his choice and a much gentler way in.

He sounds as if he's been bullied a bit at work. Sometimes other people will then jump on the banwagon as if they notice you're a bit down then you can feel that people are coming at you from all angles and you can get things out of proportion. It sounds as if something has iniyially happened to dent dent his sense of trust. Sometimes bullies act in ways that other people just don't believe. Is yr mate someone who gets bullied easily? It's just that you mention no sign that he sees or hears things that are'nt there or thinks its paranormal or that he's not looking after himsef properly.

Also let yr friend detatch and have own space if that's what he really needs. You'll build up trust by respecting his wishes.

All the best to you both