Get them involved in the sz side of this forum. Sz is incredibly isolating and the sz forum is full of people who have gone thru the same things. They will encourage taking meds and try to reason with the med non compliant. They can discuss side effects, what drugs worked, what stress they are dealing with and so on. I’ve learned so much from it and they can too.
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What are your thoughts on this? Are you afraid they might see what you’re writing. No one looks here
Hi Moonwalker,
I’m surprised no one else has commented, so I’ll be the first.
In my husband’s case, he doesn’t believe he is ill and is resistant to taking medication.
As he has been institutionalized and imprisoned in the past, when he thinks of mentally ill people, those are the people who come to mind and he wants nothing to do with them. He also thinks he knows more than any of the psych doctors he’s worked with.
For some reason he goes to a lot of AA meetings and prefers to be around recovering alcoholics (who in his area are mostly lawyers and successful business people) even though his biggest addiction problem was/is marijuana.
I have looked at the sz side of the forum and I agree it would be encouraging and educational for my husband. How do I convince him to look at it, though?
My son also will avoid a site that mentions schizophrenia that I recommend. I think sometimes he realizes the diagnosis is right, but most of the time rejects that idea.
Most days I can come up with good ideas to suggest, but the issue of non compliance and avoiding the subject are not things I have delt with.
The people in the forum are self selected and represent a group that has interest in learning more about sz and are mostly med compliant.
I think that this issue of being in denial is extremely bad. I don’t understand it personally because I consider myself highly rational and sought out medical help early on.
Maybe offer a reward of some kind, some other reason for them to visit beside the fact it’s a good idea. I’d suggest anything without forcing it on then.
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I sincerely appreciate your posts, Moonwalker, and I am so happy for you and your family that you have wanted to be compliant.
Although medication is still far from perfect, there are ones that work (some after trial and error). I can only imagine that in my husband’s case, he feels more comfortable being in control than being at the mercy of doctors who don’t completely understand him and medication that isn’t working the way it should.
I hope that someday he will give it another chance. Right now, he is homeless and we are separated by thousands of miles. His life situation gets worse and worse each month, so maybe he will eventually accept hospitalization and treatment. I want to see him healthy and happy even if we aren’t able to live in the same place together again.
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My son’s paranoia causes problems with technology so he most likely would not use it.
There is always hope
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Yes there is…and thanks for reminding me. 