Hello,
My brother has always been a little off - even as a child. Full blown psychosis emerged about 20 years ago after the death of our father. Since then, my brother’s behavior has been erratic and even threatening. I have not been in touch with him. Once every few years, I’ll get a delusional text message, but won’t respond. As for my mom, when my brother is delusional, he has threatened her, called her terrible names, claims she has lots of money (she lives at the poverty line), claim she runs a drug ring, etc. etc. He has guns and has sent photos of the guns to relatives over the years when he’s been delusional.
About a month ago I got a text message from my brother that’s completely different from anything I’ve received over the past 20 years. At first, I didn’t even think it was him. It said he misses me and asked about my family.
I want to encourage this type of communication and have written back but have been very guarded. I haven’t included many details because, frankly, I’m scared of him when the delusions set in.
How do I proceed? I care about him and worry about him, but his reaching out has also felt like a tremendous burden – which sounds terrible. I just don’t know how to interact with him and, honestly, I don’t want to interact much with him. He’s caused so much damage over the past 20 years. I don’t think he understands that, and I know it’s a product of his illness. But I’m not comfortable with him.
Any suggestions for how to proceed?
G