My niece who is a triplet has schizophrenia at the age of 21 and she got married with and older man. Now she is in her 30’s and she has 2 daughters. My niece has had two episodes that with most recent one she just had three days ago. She was put in jail but was placed in hospital ward. My concern is WHY when she gets to the point of hearing things,seeing people we don’t see, talking to people not there, accusing people for things not done, the police that come to check on her when called will or do not see how much danger she is and will not do nothing to take her to a mental hospital. She will be taken her meds by injection and when she gets tired she request meds by mouth and at the MHMR knowing she will stop taking them then she gets out of hand. So what are the family close to her to do like her father ( my brother) that she lives with? Please if there is anyone or someone here in Texas that my brother can be able to talk to about how to deal with all of this situation let me know.
Hi Rosie~
I think the best thing to do is for her husband or father to take her to the ER when she gets symptomatic-or at least have one of then go with the police to make sure she gets taken to the right place.
Maybe her father can also make it a rule that she has to take injections if she wants to continue to stay there.
Check his area to see if there is a local NAMI support group. They are a great source of support for the whole family…
Welcome to the forum @Rosie
It’s not ideal to have police officers dealing with mental illness as they are not trained or equipped to understand what they are seeing or how to deal with it. I don’t know if it’s possible to do this however I have read advice that when a family members calls 911 (emergency) to ask for paramedics instead of the police when dealing with this type of situation. The police will come too but hopefully trained staff will be the first point of contact.
See if there is a crisis outreach team in your area as they are trained to deal with these situations.
http://www.hotrmhmr.org/mhmobile.html
http://www.adaptusa.com/emercrisisservices.php
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=ACT-TA_Center
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/get-help/know-the-laws-in-your-state