My wife has been in a pretty constant state of psychosis for a year now
She has been committed twice with basically a diagnosis a prescription and a best of luck push out the door.
Of course the meds start to work and we see flashes of her come back and then she stops won’t go to therapy and the cycle repeats itself.
My inlaws brought her to the hospital on feb 2 the hospital said she would be admitted and begin treatment soon as leave the facility the hospital releases her of sound mind and tells no one for nearly a month we assume she’s getting treatment.
Finally after not hearing from a social worker or no updates we discover the truth and file a missing persons report I get a text from her the night we are looking for her claiming her real name is Jackie Kennedy she’s married to an anime character and has 23 kids in California.
We find her the next day in a homeless shelter my mother in law has a protective order issued she’s picked up and brought to the hospital where once again we are being told she’s being placed in a facility to get treatment.
And once again she’s released without anyone being told of sound mind and she goes right back to the shelter.
She is very delusional and very out of touch she claims we all abuse her (not true) and her parents are poisoning her and sex trafficking her we have tried about everything outside of a medical power of attorney and it’s an astronomical cost does anyone have any advice on how I can try to get thru to her to get some help or at least come home where we know she is safe ? I’ve tried not arguing and just listening I’ve tried the leap method but I can’t get her to hardly even engage a conversation with me anymore everything is just the worse things you can say about a person thrown at me
So sorry you are going through this. I am in Iowa and I have called the police 3 times now and they all know that my daughter needs help. But that won’t happen because she is 34 and an adult if she doesn’t want to go they won’t make her. The only way they told me they would pick her up would be if a friend of the family and I go and sign papers at the court house to have a court appointed committal done. It does not cost anything. Only thing is you have to say she is a danger to herself or someone else. I believe then they do a evaluation then a court trial over phone which you can attend. If the courts decide she is required by law to take meds or they can be arrested or put back in hospital. This is not the exact thing that happens you would have to look it up for your state. They may not even have it.
It goes thru the coroner here and we tried it the coroner approved it for 72hrs and the hospital still released her soon as her mom left
At least your inlaws can see the truth. Mine just discard me when the wife does. They take her side and blame me. Its wrecked my life I can tell you.
It started that way until they seen it for themselves trust me I know how it feels
I’m so sorry this is happening to your wife and to you. I am lucky that there are three hospitals near us, so when one didn’t help, we hoped another would. Really, the only thing that saved us from my daughter’s psychosis which went on for over 3 years was repeated Baker Acts and court enforcement of her taking meds after her 2nd arrest. One of my friends initiated court ordered Baker Acts (7 of them?) until her son finally made the connection that meds were helping him. He is stably on meds now, and making steady improvements. But it took years, including two homeless stints for him. He lives with her now.
I wish you luck. It must be super hard to lose a spouse to psychosis.
This is absolutely frustrating and defeating. When our daughter was hospitalized the second time our older daughter hired a lawyer. He said that there are three aspects that need to be included: medication, hospitalization and the often missed third part is outpatient care.
It sounds like the hospital doesn’t feel responsible to let anyone know when she leaves. Do you have POA for mental health or durable POA for her?
My other thought is if they know you need to be contacted when she is released can this be part of her release plans? It’s important that there is follow up after the person leaves the hospital. Of course, you could hire a mental health lawyer but that can cost plenty. I’m so glad she has you and her parents to care and support her.
I’m so sorry you are going through this. It’s a horrible situation and we’re left feeling hopeless and no one really gets it if you’ve never dealt with this. I would seek to get a guardianship so that you or someone else can make decisions on her behalf. This story is repeated so many times, where these “mental health” facilities give them a few meds, discharge papers with a # for outpatient treatment and then discharge them. I had to fight with the last hospital that my sister was in to not release her until I got there. I wrote the CEO, the chief of staff and the state dept of health. They waited for me. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I was not playing with them. I was 5 states away. Anyway, you may want to consult an attorney to determine your state laws to help your wife. I wish you all the best and pray for healing and resolve for your family.
Sorry to hear about your situation. I am in a similar position. It’s been two and a half years of trying to convince my wife (psychosis) to get help. She will not go to a doctor, blames the medical establishment for past medical issues and is locked in her psychosis. We managed to get to a hospital only once. After a pre-meeting with the hospital, once we got there the whole situation was grossly mismanaged by the resident psychiatrist resulting in my wife losing near complete trust in us. I wish I had better news but we are struggling, too. The only positive in our situation is she is still in our home so we know she is safe. Good luck and strongly suggest you join a caregiver support group.
Well we got her committed finally. Here 15 days is the max amount of hold time on involuntary without a court order so Thursday or Friday if this week will be the cut off time (today is Monday)
We started pushing for a court order almost instantly because we’ve been thru this before
Friday her doctor actually called me (first time I’ve actually spoken with a doctor and not just a social worker)
He said he doesn’t like long term holds/facilities because he feels that they don’t do much to help. And that out patient was key.
I explained to him that she won’t follow outpatient treatment and right now she is refusing to come home or go to her parents house and she refuses to let anyone help her with any treatment.
He did admit her delusions are the biggest issue and she’s not really improved on the meds they’ve given her. He said he was giving her a 30 day Invega injection and would like to see how that would work before making a long term care decision.
I said all the meds in the world are not going to change her delusions until she has some kind of therapy to break them and she is still not going to allow us to help her.
He asked for more insight of her past and I told him I offered to have her journal at first he said the packet I had sent was sufficient and I told him of some of her stories and issues and after a few mins he said go ahead and get me that journal.
He asked if she was discharged where she would go? I said either her parents or at home with me but she’s not gonna do either right now.
He asked how long we were married and I said 20 years and he was like oh that’s a long time ok.
He said she is really stuck on this “imaginary” husband and family on the other side of the country but every phone number she’s given us is a not good. I said she has no family like that just us.
He said where would be the best place to discharge her our home or her parents and I said well I have the means to care for her and I would love to have her home. I can’t be there during the day due to work to supervise is my main issue. And I said as long as she stuck in this imaginary husband and abuse delusion she ain’t coming home.
I said her parents are able to supervise but they don’t have the means they are older and they already have a full house her sisters are back home with one sister having a toddler who runs all over making noise and there are ppl in and out all day. But that’s probably where she’s gonna wanna go.
He said do you want your wife back ?
I said absolutely I haven’t filed for divorce and I don’t plan on it I don’t want to divorce her even if she says that what she wants because I don’t want her living in regret the rest of her life once she gets thru this and he agreed and said probably 99.99% of patients that holler divorce and everything when they are in psychosis always regret it and it usually will make them worse off if the spouse gives up and they realize what they’ve done once clarity hits and it usually puts them in a tailspin. So that’s a good thing I’m still trying
He said after talking to you I’m upping her meds and directing the treatment team to start tacking these delusions. Get me that journal as quickly as possible plz.
I’m not sure what to think I don’t forsee them breaking those dellusions in a matter of days so I am continuing to push for long term and her family agrees we do not want to go thru another time period of her being on the street.
We found out since she was picked up the shelter informed us she refused to even get off the sidewalk in the rain and wind , she sat on the sidewalk and soiled herself instead of using the public bathroom and wouldn’t accept food or water most days.
We found a facility that will take her long term but we have to file a judicial commitment before they will take her.