Hi guys. Still have problem with this friend of mine who suffers from paranoid sz. He thinks people want to kill him… how can I reassure him? I try to talk to him, to tell him that nobody wants to harm him but I’m afraid he doesn’t trust me. He tooks his meds, he sees a psychiatrist… but I’d like to be more helpful. What should I do?
He probably trusts that you’re telling your honest opinion on the matter, but he probably doens’t trust that you have enough insight to know what you’re talking about. This is my experience as a sz. It always felt like people just didn’t understand and they just didn’t think enough. It would help if you meet him on his level of thought, deluded or not, and tell him your thoughts.
For example:
Me: "I feel that people are judging all my expressions, and if I make the wrong expression they will think the wrong thing"
Does NOT help: "This just isn’t true. You should just forget about it"
Helps: "People judge somewhat, but you should not worry about it. People think a lot of things."
Ultimately it helps to unmine the root of the issue if possible. This could take several conversations, and it could seem like he’s beating around the bush or not wanting to get better, but I can assure you that isn’t true.
Also, it would probably help for you to give him reality checks. Ask him about something in his life. Such as “what music do you listen to recently?” or maybe invite him for a coffee at a coffee shop. That will most likely jar his brain into remembering that he lives in reality … and simple reality-based things like coffee are worth looking forward to.
Best of luck.
Amen to that!
Just having a live body to talk to can help with the reality check.
Also, you can point out the fact that he is still alive, so they don’t really want to kill him.
I still think people are out to harm me in all these elaborate, sophisticated, high tech ways to monitor me (this could be a fact), but the truth is, I have done more harm to myself trying to avoid them than they have ever done to me.
But, maybe is a stupid question and I DON’T want to be offensive, I’ve got still many things to learn about sz, aren’t you able now to tell yourself that thoughts about people who wants to harm you aren’t real? I mean, it’s just your fear and you know it, right? Sorry I’m trying to understand better.
That’s a great question. In the depths of schizophrenia, most everything seems inseparable from reality. This varies some, but in my experience, it was impossible to tell the delusions apart from reality. They were thoughts just like any other thoughts, logical but not rational. In a more scientific perspective, the amount of thoughts and the type of thinking results in way way too many relations in the brain. Just because a known picture of a demon is red and redlights are red, aren’t red lights evil? This is a silly example, but many times logic with sz is like this. Logical, but simply not rational. But maybe rational to him, so that he cannot prove it wrong.
That’s where anti-psychotics come in handy. But many times it takes a couple med changes and time for the delusions to “weed” out of the brain.
In my case, I was on two different anti-psychotics. The last one, Saphris, worked very well(again, this differs from person to person). After about 4 months of taking it, I weaned off. I was also apparently difficient in B12 and other things(common among sz)… So after supplementing with that, Niacin(B3) and others, I gained what I would consider to be “rational thought”.
listen and accept…
take care
The problem with my SZ is it IS based in reality.
The reality that they say is caused by SZ was actually first, then the folks who brought me that reality, knew how to work the system (comes with the job) to make me look act and get the label=SZ.
That way, I’m discredited to ever be believed.
So, not every thing a SZ person says is untrue, many times it is based in facts and reality that most can’t imagine as being real.
Maybe your friend has good reason to think some one is out to do him harm.
Get to the bottom of the “delusion” and ask questions that will help unravel it to it’s origin.
Ask for facts and even proof to help him see the whole picture as to why it may, or may not be factual.
Thanks, your story has been helpful and clear. So, now with the right meds are you feeling good? I mean, do you still have sz symptomps?
BANG…right there… can I get an Amen.
Nicely explained.
When I believed things like that, I believed them entirely without any doubt
@darksith gives good advice. Be a good listener and allow him some breathing room, dont judge or go against the grain - acceptance is key
But I hope he will understand soon that nobody want to harm him for real…