I recently moved back home as when I found out i was pregnant I wanted to be closer to my family (I was living abroad). I have a 23 years old brother with schizophrenia who lives with my parents. He was diagnosed about 4 years ago and is one of the reasons I moved away in the first place as at the time he was in the early diagnosis stage and certainly not willing/capable to understand he needed help and i felt i was contributing to the stress he and my parents were feeling.
He has now been on clozapine for almost 2 years and many of his symptoms are under control (or as close as i think we will get) and he has never been violent (the off hole punched into a wall in the early days but never towards himself or others). He goes to an outpatient clinic 2 days a week (they take them on walks/to the library…etc) but otherwise spends his time at home. He used to smoke a lot of weed (doctors believing this helped the illness appear/develop) and has recently started up again (as opposed to smoking occasionally I believed it is now a daily occurence). He has a disability allowance that my parents let him use as he wishes (£750/month). He is also diabetic and the only reason his blood sugar levels remain acceptable rather than dire is because people remind him/cook for him…etc
They believe that the reason he has not been hospitalised in the past couple of years and that he takes his medication (always upon demand not automatically) is because he is allowed to live in a stress free environment.
They have recently asked me to “leave him alone” ie stop nagging at him, usually entirely related to his diet (I know what long term sugar abuse can do to diabetics and worry for him when I see him binge eating) or about small things like putting his plate in the dishwasher/cleaning up after himself.
My mother does everything for him without ever asking him for anything (washing, cooking, cleaning…etc) and now i have come home has passed on a lot of these duties to me - which I don’t have a problem with but i feel not integrating him/reminding him of social norms does him no good either. I do not believe allowing him to live like this helps him or gives him any semblance of a normal setting.
I Worry about the day my parents are not around if he is not made to understand/live in a more normal way.
Am I being unreasonable? Sorry for the long thread I just need to hear from other people not directly involved but who understand the situation!