My little sister has told me she has been hearing voices. She says they are telling her she is gonna die and today she says they told her to run into walls. She has not done any actual bodily harm currently. She has a history of abuse from our bio dad that was severe. She is also in an addiction of self injury and currently has not done that either i am very concerned about what would happen if i go to sleep.I know she wouldn’t hurt me. Anyone give me some advice please?
She has been diagnosed with ptsd and anxiety and panic disorder. And is 18 years old currently.
I recommend you contact one of the centers listed here (see links below) that is closest to you and (if there none really close to you) then ask them for a recommendation of another clinic like theirs closer to you.
These centers are specifically set up to help people like you as early as possible.
http://www.raiseetp.org/sites/
Here is another list of Early Psychosis Treatment centers - call them also if there is not one listed above that is close:
Its very important that you call them, tell them about your family history and how you were treated by your parents.
Thank you very much I emailed the closest one. We live in kansas city missouri area so hopefully umkc can help.
If you don’t hear from them quickly, I recommend you call them by phone.
There are lots of things that can happen with email - spam filters, etc… so on important matters like this I would rely on a phone call over email.
True but she is freaking out and watching me currently thinking I am gonna call someone like the voices say I will. Right now email is all I can do without making the situation more volatile than it already is. She is scared of cops due to a pending lawsuut against some officers who did delibrately hurt her even though she was doing what they told her and not resisting at all. So her ptsd has to do with authority figures hurting her. Man it’s all so complicated
Just in case you find yourself in a situation where you need immediate help, find out of there is a crisis outreach team in your area. I had to call them once for my son. They sent police officers but they also sent plain clothed workers as well. The plain clothed mostly communicated with my son. They were very understanding and gentle with him.
Welcome to the forum. Sorry it is under such circumstances.
Thank you alll currently we made it throught to the night and planning on trying to call her psychiatrist.
jLovins - I agree with BarbieBF’s comment here - but would add that you have to be very careful here. I know that BarbieBF lives in Canada and the police there are not so quick to use their guns as they are down in the USA.
Make sure you know a lot about the training of the crisis team (do your research in advance) before you call them and make sure they are well trained in how to interact with people with a mental illness.
Bad things can and do happen on a regular basis where the Police over-react. I would recommend you contact the local NAMI office (or schizophrenia society, in Canada) and talk to them (or attend their regular monthly meetings and talk to the other members) to ask about their experiences with the local crisis team. The type of story below is all too common:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/justice/north-carolina-teen-killed/
Think Twice about Asking Police to Deal with the Mentally Ill
I am also in the Kansas City area, and have first-hand experience with involving the police officers. Overall, our experiences have been fine, but I definitely recommend being very firm in requesting a CIT officer to respond to a call. They have always been much better in their approach. It is definitely intimidating to have the police come with all their bullet-proof vests, their guns, and other paraphernalia, with their walkie-talkies squawking, but with the right training, they can handle the situations without escalating to confrontation.
True… I forget that sometimes. I have never seen a police officer draw a gun.
I want to thank all of you so very much. This out pouring of help was so kind and helpful. God bless you and yours. Your help was a godsend!
Jenny
I have sent you a private message if you would like to contact me directly.
I don’t mean to sound like pessimistic, but 18 is the typical age of onset of schizophrenia. My onset began at age 18, I didnt tell anyone about it for a few months, then it got worse and I started talking about people following me and bugging my room with cameras, and my friends (smart kids, I went to an international high school) instantly knew I was in the onset of paranoid schizophrenia. I was in denial and thought everything was real at first. 9 months later I was formally evaluated and immediately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
She needs treatment. Nipping psychosis in the bud is ideal. If it manifests and she gets used to hearing the voices, she might even become attached to them, which is a serious problem for many people with schizophrenia, it makes them turn down medication.
Don’t call the police unless you specifically request a Crisis Intervention Team, whenever I got into situations requiring police, they sent these specially trained policemen and they have experience and knowledge about handling the mentally ill.
One of a coupe of examples; I got into a car accident at 1:30am and immediately told them “I have paranoid schizophrenia and my meds have me sedated” and what do you know, a cool-headed CIT officer pulled up ten minutes later and asked me what was going on, and I explained that I was very sedated and he had my parents come drive me back home, he knew about how meds can make you sedated and not fit to operate machinery unless you drink plenty of caffeine.
But unless she becomes parasuicidal (self harm) or suicidal or is a danger to others, the police wont be necessary. Keep her away from mental hospitals, they arent nice. They’re full of people who are seriously out of touch with reality. Treatment from psychologists and a psychiatrist is ideal here- they can diagnose her, evaluate her and prescribe her meds to treat her, you dont need to make the situation any more difficult and traumatic than is necessary by sending her off to a mental hospital.
Again, mental hospitals are not good places to be unless the patient is VERY symptomatic and behaving troublesomely (threatening to run out into traffic, running away from home, cutting themselves, ect.) If she is at that level, don’t be ashamed to send her to one, that’s why they exist!
But a psychologist can evaluate her and her psychiatrist can treat her. That’s how my case was handled- no hospitals, minimal drama, no nonsense. I am now 99% recovered, am making straight A’s in college and am an amateur powerlifter, I will be competing in the sport over the summer, right now I am still training. I have plenty of friends and I don’t find myself miserable and alone and hallucinating, I feel normal and every day is a dream come true for me. Just not hallucinating and being delusional makes my life so much more valuable to me, it’s miraculous how much a person with schizophrenia can achieve with effective medications and therapy. I used to think I was a lost cause, now I am driven and very highly functioning, I function more highly than 85% of my class according to my GPA.