I have no idea what comes after this and I am terrified that it will lead to a even more devastating pain. My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his 22nd birthday. My family is from the island and this is the first time hearing of this. He was the class clown, most popular, outgoing and loved hanging with friends. He is now lost. We first noticed this because he stopped eating for about 2 weeks and was claiming my mother and others were poisoning his food. From there he was diagnosed. He was hospitalized for 4 months because he refused to eat and it was a constant battle to get him to take medication. He was eventually released because he was not doing harm to himself and taking his medicine but as soon he was discharged he stop taking his medicine. He keeps to himself and does not want to talk about it. Lately he’s been throwing he’s food away and ranting violently not harming anyone but he is pretty strong and big and fear things are gonna go south. I just don’t want him to hurt himself or anyone else. I have no idea what comes next…how long till he gets better…can he take medication and therapy mandatory…does it get worse?! Help please I need support thnks
if your scared of him you need to protect yourself that’s a priority i know you love him but your own life is important try and talk to him tell him that you love him and tell him to come on this forum people will help…he need to see a doctor
He does have a psychiatrist but does not want to talk about things. We try to talk to him but he will just say something out of the ordinary. He is above age so we can’t really know how everything is going because he doesn’t want he’s family involved to much. I think he is having a hard time accepting he’s diagnosis and that’s why he is acting in rage.
i had time in my life when i was really violent once my father entered my room for i don’t know what reason. i picked up a HUGE knife lol and told him yo get out of my room but still i never killed anyone and i will never do such thing. Better leave him some space but watch him closely and i hope your safe because sometime they go south lol
Welcome to the forum Arianny. Understandably you have a lot of questions. These links may help with some information on what you are dealing with.
http://www.leapinstitute.org/ - under resources are free videos on using LEAP
LEAP is a way of communicating to build trust. Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner.
http://dramador.com/ - Dr. Xavier Amador is a clinical psychologist whose brother had schizophrenia. He is the founder of the LEAP Institute. Wrote the book: I’m Not Sick I Don’t Need Help! Can buy from his website.
Search Xavier Amador and LEAP on youtube.com and you should find some long videos
Treatment Advocacy Center - under problems you will see anosognosia
Anosognosia looks like denial but is different.
Bayes for Schizophrenics: Reasoning in Delusional Disorders - LessWrong - helped my understand delusions
http://www.nami.org/ - National Alliance on Mental Illness.
http://www.schizophrenia.ca/ - Schizophrenia Society of Canada
Can also find some very useful information here:
Early Psychosis Treatment center information in these two links
http://www.raiseetp.org/sites/
Psychiatric Treatment Centers affiliated with Medical Schools in the USA
This link may help you find a psychiatrist in your area
If you can find an early intervention program in your idea I would recommend it.
For the most part taking medications and accepting treatment is your brother’s choice. By trying to use LEAP you may be able to convince him to try. Anosognosia or lack of insight is very real and can make accepting treatment difficult. You can try discussing his medications from a different angle. We discuss my son’s in terms of anxiety relief. We can both agree that he needs help with it. It seems one of the bigger obstacles you are facing right now is getting your brother to eat. Maybe suggesting that he help to prepare the food may help with his paranoia regarding this. It is probably paranoia, a symptom of schizophrenia that is causing him to react this way regarding his food.
Without treatment chances are it won’t get any better and could get worse. Just in case your family should do some research into crisis intervention teams in your area. They are better equipped to handle mental illness situation if you find yourself in a position where you need to call your emergency number.
During my onset, my brain was basically short circuiting. My senses were going haywire. Everything smelled odd and tasted odd and nothing tasted right anymore, it had a metallic flavor that I couldn’t explain. I also thought my food was being poisoned. I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t tell what was happening to me and why I was getting worse.
So the poisoning thing does happen to some of us. It’s part of the disease. For him, that might not be ALL paranoia. His senses are getting messed up.
Throwing food away and yelling isn’t too bad… but he’s probably feeling like everything is against him. If his head is acting up, things are going to be confusing for him. This illness messes with thinking, perceptions, memory. It’s a monster.
The thing is, he’s going to need his meds. I think all of us have gone through a time where we don’t trust the meds, we don’t want the meds, we have no insight so we never think we’re ill. So how long it takes him to heal depends on his insight, his level of help.
Sometime a good doc can get through to a person early and they can get on meds and start stabilizing soon. Others take a while. But I’m afraid it’s going to get a little harder before it gets easier.
I suggest you learn all you can about this illness. It will make it so much easier for you and your family if you know what this illness does and then you can see what will happen next.
Has a list of symptoms
General over view.
www.nami.org
is also a good resource.
The more you know, the more you will know what comes next and what it takes to help your brother heal.
Good luck, I’m rooting for you
@kidsister
You have some insight here. Have you seen this one?
I couldn’t convince my parents to eat the cookies I made 