My son 26 has 25 mg of abilify per day.
Some days he’s good, others not so,
He has just asked me there if I believed in torture and did I like to torture ?
I asked why would he say that, he replied because I torture him by putting drugs in his food today! And that everyone deserves “clean” food and his gran did it too and she didn’t deny it.
How do we respond to this ? Anyone .
He said if we don’t take heed then something bad is going to happen to him, as these people are vultures (mental health team )
He also asked on Sunday If I was a “sadist” what’s with these words .?
At times he will come and hug me and other times speak like this.
Medication and treatment are hard for schzoprenics to accept. Some days, their paranoia or delusions make it harder than others.
Trust is a very important thing. It seems like he might be voicing that he has a hard time trusting you and his medical team.
It might be helpful to take his comments regarding trust and suspicion as a request for clarification or reassurance. I know my SzA brother needs reassurance often when it comes to doctors and medication. An even temper and patient listening go a long way for him.
I’m certain you already know all this, but it is helpful to hear out his concerns and talk about them without letting emotions fall out of check. Often times, suspicion and doubt really aren’t personal. It’s a symptom of the disorder.
Hi Jane57, Is CBT available at all for your son? Cognitive Behavior Therapy has a good track record for helping our family members sort out reality from - otherwise. Do you think he would participate? hope
My sz ex hisband always thought that people were poisoning his food. Since I did half the cooking, I told him straight out that I would never do that and he was welcome to take over all the cooking if he didn’t trust me. For some reason that worked! He never accused me of poisoning his food. Other people, yes.
Maybe you could try something like that. Can he/will he cook for himself? Buy his own food? It’s a common delusion; try not to take it personally.
@Jane57 Yes, trust is important! Adding to what @Wreklus said about trust, using the LEAP methodology in the book “I Am Not Sick; I Don’t Need Help” is one that we have used to help build trust with our loved one. It helps our relationship AND our ability to get loved one to accept treatment. Can you let your son’s doctor know what you are observing? It might be that meds need to be adjusted.
Thanks hope , no he will not participate in anything like this is any shape or form, he has been offered services of a psychologist , he seen her for a few sessions 15 months ago then she relocated and he said he would see her replacement but he never did.
Thanks all, I have the book, I am guilty of just reading half , I will pick it up again.
It just gets tiring at times, I feel hemmed in and a large weight on my shoulders as he lives here in a small house with us and almost never goes out. Thanks and thinking of you all too.
I am so sorry all of this is happening. It seems like your son has been a few different medications. Maybe Abilify is not the best one for him? I honestly don’t have any advice because I have been where you are and the only things I could really do were try my best to eat healthy and sleep enough. I hope you can get out of the house a little bit for some time when the weight lifts a little bit.
Thank you Hereandthere !
Yes he’s been on two depots paliperidone then zuclopenthixol. The latter was not Nice at all for him.
Thanks for your support.
I’m glad things are better right now for you.
Jane57 -do you have those pages that were posted over a year ago about CBT? Usually its best to not try to be a therapist, but maybe you would like me to send you what I have so you could give it a look over?
That would be great Hope thank you , I didn’t see the pages .
Appreciate that .
It really takes years for us to process and try to understand this illness.
I really like this page - you might want to think about getting the text (not inexpensive) I could not find the thread that gave a source with a possible way to read for free. It will take some studying…
I see the thread…it is “How to Respond in a Helpful Manner to a Person with Disturbing Beliefs”. The SZAdmin posted! I copied and saved it as a pdf for my records and to share with people in my support group!
