Our son, 32, lives with his dad and I, has paranoid delusions so is unable to be employed and is on AISH (government supplement). It is barely adaquate and he is preoccupied with the need to make money which motivates him to start all kinds of projects that he never actually finishes. He doesn’t read instructions and eventually things go wrong and he gives up. However, I love that he is motivated. It gets him off the couch and keeps him enthuised about life. I do worry though, that at some point the reality of not actually accomplishing anything will get him down. And then what?
My question is… how should we respond to his delusional thinking about someone wanting to harm him? I’ve listened to some of Dr. Amador’s talks about not presenting reality until you have built a trusting relationship, but as his mother I want to reassure him that he is safe. Often our conversations start something like this: “Mom you don’t understand. You should never associate with (friend/relative). When I was a kid he tried to kill me. You weren’t there so you didn’t know about it. He should be in jail…” I have learned not to defend the person he’s accusing because that turns him against me, but I want to reassure him that he’s safe with them. As it stands we’re not free to have these people to our home which causes misunderstanding if we exclude them from family get togethers etc.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.