My 30 year old son suddenly showed up at my house last night with his laptop,desktop,phone,backpack
and a six pack of beer. It looked like he was wearing the same clothes from two days ago but he said no.
He thinks one or more of his co-workers have hacked his computer and the “Crooked Cops” may be involved.He works for a defense lawyer.
He has been a conspiracy theorist for years but this looks worse.
I highly doubt that he is being investigated but can’t prove it.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
I doubt anyone here has the credentials to make a diagnosis.
Sorry your son is struggling and that you seem to have been blindsided by it!
This isn’t necessarily schizophrenia. That’s a super complicated diagnosis.
But, this is clearly a ton of stress and a very clear signal that your son feels unsafe. However chaotic his internal thoughts and feelings are, he seems to have come to you for help.
Try to provide a calm, stable, peaceful place for him. Try to be honest and trustworthy with him and assure him that you empathize with the way he feels.
But don’t entertain the delusional conspiracy theories. It’s enough to tell him you seriously doubt any of it is true, but you can see how he feels unsafe and persecuted.
Individuals who believe things that aren’t true are suffering from a delusion or several delusions in my non-professional opinion. Delusions can be of different types, and this sounds like paranoia to me. Delusions alone do not mean schizophrenia. Sz also has other symptoms. My daughter had paranoid delusions, hallucinations of hearing voices, and disorganized thinking/speech. Her doctor did not diagnose schizophrenia until she had several symptoms persistently for months.
I advise that you don’t challenge his delusions. You don’t have to agree with them either. I usually say to my daughter something like, “Well I’m sorry you feel that way” or “thank you for telling me about that, I’m not sure I can agree though, as I haven’t experienced that”.
When delusions or hallucinations happen, they can’t simply be stopped by pointing them out, usually.