Hi, I’m new to these boards and schizophrenia and so apologies for so many questions.
It’s my dad’s 60th today. My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia a few months ago. He’s still in the early stages of medication, which is proving to be a battle.
He’s staying with a childhood friend at the moment, or so he says. Two days ago he’s blocked the whole family on his phone from WhatsApp. He’s never done this before. He directs his hostility towards his family. Do you think my dad’s 60th could be a trigger? My brother has always struggled socially. My dad has lots of friends and I wonder whether this could be a sore point.
I hope he unblocks us in the next day or two or else I’m going to drive to his friends to check he is ok.
Even simple family events can cause stress, my son will look forward to events and become so stressed before them that he ends up not attending the event.
You have said you are a close family and his diagnosis and meds are a recent family event. Do you think its possible that he sometimes wants to be where he feels less attention is being paid to him?
It is very, very common for the delusions to center on a family member. The strong beliefs that come with this illness are impossible to break with common sense. Medication is almost always a battle also, as the illness usually comes with lack of insight. That is called anosognosia.
Yes, a holiday or special occasion can be a trigger.
Isolating is also very, very common (and probably needed by the person struggling with so many factors crowding their brain).
Welcome to the board, ask as many questions as you like, continue to post on the thread until all of your questions are answered, and read, read, read. You have so much to learn. I wish I’d found this forum at the beginning of my daughter’s illness, it helped me soooooo much.