Hello,
My mom has Schizophrenia and has been sectioned and admitted to a mental health hospital 3 times over the last 8-10 years, and she has had many relapses.
She currently has been off her meds for the last year but slowly getting worse and worse again, (Talking to people who are not there, saying there are demons in me and other family members, not sleeping, will not leave the house or let anyone in to the house etc) I am very very worried about her and it seems to be a cycle now, where she will be on meds for a year or two, come off them, be okay for a bit and then get really bad again, and then she ends up back in hospital again.
At this point i’m really not sure what to do, she will not take meds, she will not see a doctor, she refuses help from anyone, will not talk to anyone and says life is not worth living among other things which i find very worrying.
I wanted to ask advice from other people in this position and what they do to help??
I also live abroad which makes it harder.
Schizophrenia seems to cycle by nature, what you are describing with your mom is a relatively common story. The sufferers can tell when their illness is going into a lighter cycle and that can cause them to cease meds. Also, scz can worsen which also causes many to cease meds.
As family members we are often stuck between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”. None of our choices are guaranteed success and none of them are obviously the correct choice.
Dr Amador’s LEAP program described in his book “I’m Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help” can help you have an idea of what sort of communications will work best with your mom.
Does your mom just have you? Are there other family members involved in her life? Some people are successful in forcing their loved one onto a medicated path. Others of us have to use methods like LEAP and let them walk their own journeys and be ready to intervene in case they become a threat to themselves or someone else.
Hello, If I were far away from an ill parent, I would keep a medical history as well as careful, written records of all incidents and strange or dangerous behaviors. When things get too unsafe, I would call the local Adult Protective Services and explain it all to them with a request to do a wellness check.
I would also be worried about the “life not worth living” statements; if she talks more directly about harming herself, there may be a local mental health crisis team that can assist. I would do the research to find that team before they are needed. Ours operates through the state’s regional Department of Health and Welfare.