Hello.
This post is about someone I care about. I will call them John. John is in his 40s and I believe he exhibits schizophrenic traits. He has always been a spiritual person, but it’s only recently that I realised that his ‘spiritualism’ is not entirely health.
John thinks he’s got special powers. That he has been put on earth to save humanity, and that some day – he will be able to do so. In the meanwhile, the demons and evil/negative forces, are trying to stop him. John sees these evil forces in the form of dust, wires and webs. He believed that he is coated in a web and needs to dust it off himself every few hours. He sees dust/powder around him that he believes is being put by the evil forces.
John also believes he communicates with a divine saint. There is a middle man (I think this man actually exists) who takes coded messages from John, and gives John the divine spirit’s reply (also in a code, which only John knows how to decipher). John has now come to believe that the messenger/middle man is out to kill him. If John is asked why he doesn’t stop communicating with the middle man, he says that the divine spirit has mandated that he must only communicate through him.
I fear that John’s episodes are getting more extreme by the day. Recently, for an entire six months, he did not leave the house. He said that the evil spirits got so extreme, that he couldn’t sleep, eat or sit down. He believed that the evil forces put wires in his feet that caused his feet to swell.
Now the problem is that John has never admitted any of this directly to me. When he is around me, and others, at gatherings and such – he acts perfectly normal (albeit we have always thought him to be a bit odd). He sometimes hints at the fact that he’s different/special, but has never said anything categorically.
I know all of the above because John recently began confiding in a common person, let’s call him Alex. John believes that Alex is special too. He feels that Alex and he were together in many past lives, and are destined to save humanity together. He feels Alex will bring him the messages that he needs to save the world.
Now the problem is that John seems to actually believe all this, and he knows how unbelievable it sounds to everyone else, which is why he doesn’t talk about it. Therefore, if I try saying, “John you have a problem” – he will expect that from me because he feels that the evil forces are controlling the rest of humanity.
How do I convince John to receive some help?
Thank you.
