Our grandson 18 diagnosied with OCD few years back has since last year refusing to use his hands and does not walk on his own saying it might touch or hurt someone, resulting in family spoon feeding him and gently supporting to promplt walking. He does not even brush the teeth anymore. Does anyone had similar experiences.
Hi, welcome to the forum. I am sorry that your grandson is having this problem, but am happy you came here to post. This is a compassionate community and we all understand a loved one with strong delusions.
If there are no physical reasons for him not to use his hands or to walk, in my unprofessional opinion solely as an educated caregiver to someone with schizophrenia for 3 years now, I would venture to say this is a very strong delusion. Personal care often degenerates with mental illness and delusions are one of the symptoms of schizophrenia. It is impossible to break a delusion with common sense advice. We all try to talk our loved ones out of their strange ideas, but that just doesn’t work. It often only generates bad emotions. The book by Dr Amador, “I’m not Sick, I don’t Need Help” is a fairly easy read and helped me to understand delusions and hallucinations (voices that told my daughter what to do or not do).
If he is incapable of self care, it is possible he needs to be involuntarily hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. I had to ensure this happened for my daughter 4 times. It broke my heart, but eventually it led to proper medicine and recovery from many symptoms. Only after much education about schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses did I understand that sometimes forced care is the only way.
Good luck to you, and bless you for trying to help.
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