How do I help someone who thinks he is a paranoid schizophrenic?!
Question: One of my friends thinks he is a paranoid schizophrenic. Yet he is also very talented. How can this be so? And how can I help him?
Answers: One of my friends thinks he is a paranoid schizophrenic. Yet he is also very talented. How can this be so? And how can I help him?
1) paranoid schizophrenia is not incompatible with being very intelligent and talented. It is simply an illness, which happens to be a mental illness, not a physical one.
2) you can help him by persuading him to seek medical help, and by giving him your continued support as a friend, so showing him that no one is going to think worse of him for facing up to his problem and seeking help. Lots of people think that others will think worse of them if they are diagnosed as mentally ill. We need to help our friends by letting them know that we still love care and respect them as we did before.
3) He should start by seeing his GP, who will refer him to a psychiatrist if he needs one. (UK only)
take him to the docs and ask his advice
Many people who have a mental illness are unaware that they do until they are diagnosed.
Please encourage your friend to make an appointment to see a psychiatrist, so that if he actually does have a mental illness, he can be treated and/or medicated for it.
Good luck!
Don't think schizophrenia and talent have anything in common. Some of the brightest people around were probably suffering from mental illnesses (might have helped them) and I'm sure a number suffered from this. Composers and artists being two of the more common ones.
To help him - first off find out why he thinks this and then do a little hunting around for the symtoms. As with all mental illness there's always a slight difference between people, but generally people with this condition will believe the things that make them extremely paranoid.
Then again, just being paranoid is normal....and quite healthy IMO. Means you know they really are out to get you and all the rumours about this are simply reverse psychology to make you think you're mad... :)
Many people can be paranoid schizophrenic and be very talented (think of John Forbes Nash the Nobel Prize winner)
(for the purpose of this question, i assume you are in the UK) If he thinks he is mentally ill, then encourage him to seek help from his GP, who can make a referral to your friends local Community Mental Health Team. He could be given medication such as Risperdone which will reduce the symptoms. He could also be offered Psychosocial Interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. People with schizophrenia can lead very normal lives. It is a manageable chronic condition.
By the way, forget what some people have stated, he poses a bigger risk to himself, than to others
I think that the government is not spying on paranoid schizophrenics as much as they should.
They should be implanted with GPS tracking devices and have ear implants that whisper into their brain messages that tell them of invisible dangers, such as manholes that are entrances to torture dungeons.
This will be in their best interest and is required by social services as the best treatment for them.
Get your pal to see his GP as the first line of approach.
General rule of thumb... if someone thinks/knows they are crazy in the clinical sense, then they really are not mentally ill. Remember the book Catch 22... that wasn't BS
People who really have OCD, don't think that there is anything wrong with them.
I work in a facility with people who have problems such as being schitzoid. Your friend is not on that level, my clients need supervised care. One of my clients is paranoid schitzophrenic and I love her to this earths end. She is very pretty, as well as smart. She is able to make reasonable decisions in most areas of her life, and is very independant. She is humorus and is able to navigate, socialize and network with people. She enjoys movies, crafts,cards and talking alot. She is a good worker and is able to be attentive to her job. The main problem arises in the throws of being paranoid. Imagine if every day you came home only to find that once again I had been in your private room, your space, invading your privacey and snooping through all you stuff and to top it all off, I left what I had been into, a mess..............................Imagin... if every day I met you at the door as you were leaving and told you that well you smell funny..............Or worse, imagine everyday I snuck into your room and took your change that you try to save up.And then told you everyday that you tried to confront me on stealing your change that I wasn't doing that. If your friend has similiar issues, he can join the many that do. The best way to help a person who believes that they may be or are is to encourage them to see a counselor. Counselors are very glad to meet people and very interested in getting to know people. He could see a psychiatrist even....it doesn't matter depending on the state you are in. You want to select a person who knows what they are talking about, and can make a qualified determination as to if your friend really is schitzoid. I know some about it because I work with people who have.....but my work is behavior modification. If he really is schitzoid, theres good news and help....medications are a source of help for so many people. A counselor who is willing to get to know your friend will be very worthy of showing your friend coping tatctics for dealing with paranoia. Paranoia is very hard to deal with as I have pointed out, and can be the same as reality to the person. If your friend respects you and trusts you, then you are way ahead of the game already. Stay there, and be willing to point out to your friend hey this is a paranoia....or this is reality....what ever the case calls for. Reguardless asssure your friend.
They can still be a functioning member of society with talents. I suggest you watch a beautiful mind yourself. It's a great movie.That will help YOU. As for your friend offer to take him to a Dr. Or offer yourself as a shoulder to lean on. The best is to get him checked out.
If he is seeing things, hearing voices, or he thinks everybody is out to get him, then get him in.
Now remember, when he goes they may give him meds. Sometimes it is difficult to get P.S. to take their meds. for various reasons (Ex. They are going to poisen me, it has a tracking device in it so they alsways know where I am , etc.)
You need to be there for him throughout his treatment.
Lots of people suffer from simple sodium and vitamin imbalances that can affect their mental health. Some schizophrenics are actually bipolar, and with a sodium supplement provided by a psychiatrist they can become as healthy and as normal as anyone.
Some mental health problems are really a kind of hyperactivity. They cannot retain their water properly, and with the loss of water is the loss of essential B complex vitamins. An imbalance can compound feeling of stress and anxiety. Some drug addicts who became schizophrenic actually become normal after a regular supply of B vitamins and the condition subsides.
Few people diagnose themselves. Paranoia and schizophrenia are serious conditions. A doctor with a degree in medicine is qualified to diagnose it. Predictable patterns of behavior where we become accustomed to habit and our own limitations can contribute to attitudes where we find ourselves stumbling up against a veritable brick wall where none really exists. We can take attitudes about ourselves and our ability to overcome them. Self abuse and self criticism is not a cure. Resigning yourself to failure is not a solution to anything.
What is it that upsets him so much? Is he afraid or is he just seeking inappropriate ways of getting attention? Copping an attitude and disparaging yourself can make it worse. Knowledge is power. Many geniuses have some measure of mental illness. They must learn to manage with their gifts, take care of their health and adopt communication skills to relieve feelings of isolation and depression. Know thyself. Know when to say that's enough for today, tomorrow we can try again. With support and encouragement, he can learn to keep a level head and endure until the end. That's all any of us are asked to do.
You should tell your "FRIEND" to seek medical help immediately, just like you've been told all along. Once "he's" got that help you must ensure that "he" takes his medication as prescribed and leaves off the pot and the alcohol to which we already know "he's" quite partial and also that he knows that a lot of us on the UK side of the pond aren't as gullible as the Americans seem to think we are. We know when we keep seeing the same questions all the time that it's the same person posting them despite all the different names "he" uses together with the accusatory question, and it's odd that most of the 'helpful' answers are posted during the times when most of the USA is awake and that only those of us in the UK post when you're all in bed. It's almost as though there's a twelve hour time difference - Bit of a give-away don't you all think -^^^-
keep away from them!
Put him i a lunatic assylum, and stay as far away as possible, they can not be trusted by anybody but a man with a white coat and a big fat syringe ... x
Tell him you love him. No! Tell him you hate him. No! Tell him you love him ...