My partner is acting strange

Hi @Janedoe369 . I've had psychosis before and your story sounds familiar, although there could be various other conditions causing his behaviour. It sounds like he may need therapy and prescribed meds - the sooner the better. In the meantime, if you feel he is becoming unsafe towards himself or others, then take him to the ER.

Psychosis is not a well understood condition, even by health carers, but if that is what he has then it is worthwhile having the therapist explain the condition to him. He won't believe it at first, but later on when he's better he'll be glad you told him.

Hi @Janedoe369

It must be really scary and confusing to see your partner behave in these ways that are difficult to understand, especially when they're doing potentially dangerous things like you described there with running an electrical appliance under water or talking about eating peanuts despite his allergy.

I noticed you mentioned that he is worried that you and family members are talking about his "condition", which makes me wonder if he has acknowledged that something is going on for him?

Do you know if he has ever experienced anything like this in past? Knowing this could help you to understand what helped then and what might help now.

Sometimes when we're talking to someone who might be experiencing psychosis it can be a natural response to try to reason with them to explain why what they're describing isn't real, but these things seem real to them, and their emotional responses to these things are very real, so a helpful approach can be to tap into this emotion instead. For example; "That sounds like it must be scary to not see other's souls?"

You might have already seen it but here's a helpful factsheet on psychosis here

If he is willing it would be a good idea to help to get him into the GP, though it can be very difficult to make an adult seek help when they don't want to or can't see a need for it. If he doesn't want to seek support now, the best thing you can do is to let them know that you'll be there to help them get support when they are ready. Having said that, if you believe that he is at serious risk of harming himself or others then it's important to seek emergency support, either by contacting your local mental health triage line, or by calling 000

Lastly, it's important to seek support yourself. Caring for loved ones can be very difficult and while we can't make others seek support, we can ensure that we're getting it ourselves. Do you have anyone who you've been able to lean on during this situation?

I also just wanted to welcome you to the forums, it can be hard to reach out so I'm glad that you found this space today

Thankyou for your response. I am trying at the moment to convince him to see a therapist but he’s very stubborn and really believes it won’t help.
he’s also having trouble speaking what’s on his mind, as in struggling to find the words which is why he feels like it won’t help..

hey @Janedoe369 welcome to the forums!! just saw your post about how your partner has trouble speaking his mind, finding words, etc. - there are webchat based supports available too (https://www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-text/), some psychologists may offer online sessions via Zoom which means he could use the chat/typing function to communicate as well. another option would be writing down before hand how he feels/what he's thinking. he can perhaps take a journal into therapy sessions and let the psych read about it, and communicate by writing until he feels more comfortable. i've also had a friend take in communication cards to her sessions (these are cards with pre-written responses and phrases, you can buy them online or make your own!)

at the start it can be hard to get reach out for help, sometimes we want help but getting that help scares us too. the important thing is that he knows you're there for him and that you care, and its so very clear to us that you truly care a lot. with supporting others, don't forget to look after yourself too!! i know you're working hard to help your partner, and you must be feeling quite overwhelmed from this - but don't forget to take care of yourself, have a break, do your self-care routine, etc. you're important too 💗

(also a little tip - if you'd like to respond to someone, you can tag them by using @ and typing their username like this @Janedoe369 - this way they'll be notified of your reply)

Yeah, of course it's not comfortable feeling like we're hiding things from loved ones @Janedoe369, though this decision sounds like it's borne out of care for him and the frame of mind he's in currently.

I hope that these results from the GP bring some kind of answers for both of you, do keep us posted.

We're here for you, and I'm glad that you're able to use this as an outlet during this time