Psychosis and ongoing paranoia

Hello,

I have paranoia as well and I feel like I should get time to sleep that is important and community always helps she can get into family and people that nurture the relationship with people.

I hope her all the best.

Thank you. That makes sense.

Hi @Jane241

I'm new to this chat group but can relate so well to yr story and I can feel yr hurt and pain.

My sons 26, he started drugs young, ended up on meth, has had 3 major psychotic episodes each one worse than the next. The last 5-6 yrs I've had to learn some real tough love and many a time I thought my son was going to die.

I had to put my foot down for my own mental health and the rest of the family, and he now knows never to ask to live with us or ask for money.

He hated me and he would beg me for help but I kept saying no. I cried myself to sleep many a night.

it was super hard watching him couch surf then living on the street but it had to be done bcause i was enabling him.

I thought I was loving him, helping him but I wasnt. Ijust gave him money to keep living that lifestyle and crap habits.

He has been in rehab 3 times and is currently clean. He's finally agreed to see a psychiatrist who I'm sure will diagnose him with schophrenia and then the newspaper begins.

Through all this, I have learnt I MUST come first and boundaries with my son are imperative. I also see a regular psychologist so i can talk about it.

Believe in yrself and you can do this 🙏🙏

Hi @Mumstheword1

Thank you for your advice and support. I haven't got to tough love yet but I am learning the need to set strong boundaries and protect myself.

There's so much backwards and forwards with any progress that I don't know what to do anymore. At the moment I've decided to stop trying to help and being the safety net for consequences of poor decisions.

I hope your son has made a turning point and that you can see some progress. It's a hard road.

I was at a funeral this week. A friend's mother who lived a long life with a strong Christian faith. Her adult son committed suicide (I don't know why), and her daughter, my friend, said in her eulogy that her mother's favourite bible chapter was Job. That really moved me as I thought she must have related to the trials of Job when she lost her son. So I came home and found my bible and have started reading that chapter. I know it's not everyone's thing, but I'm just trying to find strength and ways to get some perspective on this ordeal.

At the moment my daughter is psychotic but she thinks she's fine. She denies taking drugs any more, but says she is stressed as her ex boyfriend has threatened her. It's hard to separate fact from fiction, and I'm at a loss as she won't seek help and she really needs it.

Thank you for your encouragement. I will get through this!

@Jane241

Thank you, I'm not a religious person but will have a look at it.

Sadly drug addicts are experts at lying and you just can't trust them. My son always lied and even today still tells me what he thinks I want to hear, but I know when he lies. Especially when he was psychotic.

Hope yr daughter gets the helps she needs, take care and take a day at a time

@Jane241 Hi there. Not quite the same but my wife is suffering from psychosis and incredibly paranoid. She thinks she's being monitored and thinks everyone she talks to is secretly investigating her. It's been slow progress but you kind of have to agree with everything they say rather than convince them otherwise. Often it's about redirecting their attention to other activities. The main thing they need is time for their brain to recover and time for the medication to work. You have the added complication of bad drugs so again time for that to leave the system.

I think what you've done so far is great. Making sure things are checked for bugs and getting her a new phone. These are legitimate fears she has and it's good you're addressing them. The main thing not to do is stress her out.

Not sure whether this is helpful.

@Synthman thank you. Very wise words. I have found it very hard not to rationalise away the paranoid ideas. Eventually as my daughter has recovered the paranoia has disappeared, although there are some ideas that she holds on to. But these are not too problematic and she rationalises how she lets them impact her life.

It's a very difficult thing to live with, for all parties concerned. I hope you also get support.