So my story is a little long, but I’m so desperate and I really hope somebody will read all of this and be able to give me any sort of advice or steps of what to do next. Thank you to anyone that takes time to do that.
Anyway, so I kind of have to back track to when this started. About a year ago my mom joined this church. She was doing very well in this church, made friends, found healing in it, etc. However, she got very obsessive and began going almost everyday, praying for hours, and so on. We started to notice a lot of changes in her behavior and things she would talk about. I can’t really remember specifics thinking back, but I remember talking with my sister and close friends with my concern. That she was acting very abnormal and I felt uncomfortable around her. My mom and my dad were having marriage troubles as well.
About two months ago my mom was at church and apparently had a huge mental breakdown right in the middle of church. She collapsed and started going on about how my baby sister (who died 4 years ago) and her father (who died 3 years ago) were still alive, and I guess saying lots of things. She was brought to a hospital, my mom refused to get cat scans and the hospital just released her, no evaluation, nothing. While she was back home that evening is when she first started showing real signs that something was wrong. She kept saying people were talking in numbers and the next morning I heard her in her room talking about people trying to control her (I don’t know who she was talking to). I remember her crying all day and running around the house saying “no, no, no.” At this point, she went to pick up my brother from school and started talking to him about how she thinks her life is an experiment and a movie and speaking in jibberish about movies and her life.
Later that evening, she called a friend, told her there was a pain in her head and that friend called an ambulance for her. At this point, after this she was transferred to a mental hospital. She refused to take the medicine that was prescribed to her and really hated the place that she was in. She was never given a full evaluation there and was only “pre” diagnosed with schizophrenia. Whatever that really means. Anyway, she was released, had her car, and stayed in a hotel BY HERSELF, and the next morning was threatening suicide to a friend. This friend called my sister and my sister called the police. She was taken to a hospital, and again brought back to the SAME MENTAL INSTITUTION AS BEFORE involuntarily. This place has never given us any information, and when my sister and I would drop off clothes or visit, my mom would carry on about stories about this place, not sure what were true and what weren’t, but this place sounded horrible. It broke my heart seeing my mom in there and nobody was allowed to tell us what was even going on.
So anyway, after about a week of being in this place again, at around 7 pm one night, a cab pulled up to my house. In the cab was my mom, just being dropped off. And mind you, she doesn’t trust anyone anymore especially my dad. So she was SCREAMING, and I mean screaming her head off and refusing to get out of the cab and cussing at my dad. And meanwhile we are all just like what the hell when/why was she released? NOBODY told us she was released. Just dropped off at our door (a place she didn’t want to be). I tried calling the place trying to get in touch with anyone who could help or explain what was happening. Nobody helped me, they just repeated back all my questions. I ended up screaming and cussing at them for being the most unhelpful people on the planet.
So my mom really refused to come inside, and I sat with her outside trying to calm her down, and I got a hold of one of her friends. She agreed to let my mom stay with her. We tried to explain that my mom has been having a lot of delusions in the past, that she thinks her life is a made up movie (kind of like the movie The Truman Show). Her friend simply says, “your mother is just having a nervous breakdown, she just needs love and quiet.” Of course I agreed with this because all the hospitals and mental health places are scary, maybe she just needs to be calm and then we can figure out how to get her help.
The first couple days went by, “oh your mother is doing great she is so calm and herself!” Then after awhile is when things started to take a turn. My mom started talking about her delusions and her friend was finally like there is definitely something wrong, she needs help. My mom accused her of being brought to her house to relive her childhood. So, her friend said that she cannot help my mom and that she needed to be out of the house by today. (the 25th)
When I went to visit my mom on Wednesday is when my heart broke the most. She was so thin, and she proceeded to tell me that everyone in the whole town knows who she is. She would go on hours upon hours of long walks and say that everyone watches her. Every time I tried to tell her no mom that’s not true she would say “Just go off script for one second.” She thought I was an actor reading from a script. She kept saying, “I know that you’re behind this too, it’s okay.” She went on to say how she knows there are cameras in the house and how this whole thing is taking a toll on her. She thinks her life is a part of a “game” and she kept saying that she wants it to stop. She kept telling me how alone she felt and how she wanted it all to go away.
Yesterday she called me though. She left a voicemail saying for me to call her because she doesn’t trust texts. During the phone call she thought it was being recorded and about how she thinks money is involved and people are placing bets on her. There are so many things, even just little things that scared me what she thought. She had so many delusions I can’t even remember them all. She didn’t trust anyone but me or my brother and kind of my sister.
Today early in the morning she called saying that her friend asked her when she was leaving and my mom flipped out. She needed someone to pick her up. My sister had to go to work and I did not feel comfortable being alone and driving her. Also where was I supposed to take her? So my dad (who my mom trusts the least) went to the house. My mom freaked out and the cops were called and she hit the cop. She is currently waiting to meet with the commissioner to figure out what to do. I went down there and told them that my mom is very sick and that she needs to be transferred to a hospital to be properly evaluated and taken care of. But they don’t seem to take this seriously.
They could possibly just release her on the sidewalk and she would have no where to go. What should i do in this situation? On monday I am going to request a mental health evaluation but what if they refuse? Why is it so hard for my family to get my mom the help she needs? It’s so frustrating because shes so paranoid and doesn’t believe anything we say is real that she refuses any kind of help. It’s good that she got arrested so they can see that there is something wrong, but the commissioner told me that if my mom walks in and pretends to act okay, then there is nothing they can do? This is so out of my league here and I’m only 22 and my dad is in complete denial about the situation. I am not equipped to handle this and it’s so hard to get her in the hands of the people who can. Sorry this was so long I just wanted to explain the incompetence we have been dealing with in the past and how my mom’s illness has just been getting worse and worse with each passing day that she doesn’t receive help. Thank you so much to whoever reads this.