If the police only want to take in criminals or those who are violent, then how can you call an ambulance for a sick person with schizophrenia. Aren’t hospitals supposed to be places for sick people to get better, not criminals to be punished?
I don’t understand these legal barriers.
She has been psychotic almost non-stop for about 8 years because of this. I wish she was better, it breaks me down to see her suffer from irrational fears and beliefs that make her sad and confused.
One more time:
Piles of research show that sz pts tend to get “better” when they…
Get a copy of this book and read it and have their families read it, as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Schizophrenia-6th-Edition-Family/dp/0062268856
Get properly diagnosed by a board-certified psychopharmacologist who specializes in the psychotic disorders. One can find them at…
Find Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Nurses - Psychology Today
Work with that “psychiatrist” (or “p-doc”) to develop a medication formula that stabilizes their symptoms sufficiently so that they can tackle the psychotherapy that will disentangle their thinking.
The best of the therapies for that currently include…
DBT – What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)? – Behavioral Tech
MBSR – http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php
MBCT - Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: theory and practice - PubMed
ACT – ACT | Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
10 StEP – Pair A Docks: The 10 StEPs of Emotion Processing
the even newer somatic psychotherapies like…
MBBT – An Introduction to Mind-Body Bridging & the I-System – New Harbinger Publications, Inc
SEPT – Somatic experiencing - Wikipedia
SMPT – Sensorimotor psychotherapy - Wikipedia
or standard CBTs, like…
REBT – Rational emotive behavior therapy - Wikipedia
Schematherapy – Schema therapy - Wikipedia
Learned Optimism – Learned optimism - Wikipedia
Standard CBT – http://www.beckinstitute.org/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/About-CBT/252/
If you/she/he needs a professional intervention, tell me where you live, and I will get back to you with leads to those services.
Look into the RAISE Project in your area, as well.
I am sorry to hear this. There is no book about being close to someone who is ill and untreated for a long period of time. I am just a couple years in and it’s like nothing else.
I hope the laws are in place because human rights should never be violated. But I believe treatment works this way also out of discrimination against people with mental illness.
When people who have chronic psychosis are not functioning on a basic level and are constantly sad and confused, it’s so hard knowing we cannot do anything.
I would love any actual input about this subject.
@notmoses I have read that book and at least 50 others. There is no way to help someone without insight who refuses treatment (not just psychiatric medicine, but all types of therapy and even sometimes basic medical care due to paranoia) beyond trying to make sure basic needs are met.
What scares me the most is losing insight. I might go back to the irrational fear of someone poisoning my food.
I wish I knew how to help you in this situation. The only thing I know is that you can get some medicines via injection, so you don’t have to worry about your loved one not taking their meds.
I also feel like my family will be on here someday talking about me. Don’t feel bad for me, because I have a plan. If meds work for me through a relationship to marriage to having kids I’ll be okay. I just read an article that says that loss of estrogen triggers psychosis in postmenopausal women. After having kids, I will have my uterus and ovaries taken out, so they can put me on estrogen therapy. My stepmom had that procedure and she is doing fine. (It was supposed to stop her debilitating migraines, but it doesn’t completely stop them.)
Have you read this book, then:
Because even though it was written for those who deal with those who have Alzheimer’s and other dementias, the concepts and techniques are pretty much applicable to those with treatment-resistant sz who cannot move out of the denial / pre-contempation stage into contemplation / consideration for whatever reasons.
I will read that too…