My mate has delusional disorder, persecutory type. She adamantly believes that all of our surrounding neighbors are engaged in some criminal conspiracy. We're under constant surveillance, and our landscaping is being slowly poisoned to improve their sight lines. They signal our movements to one another via the street lights. They are beaming ultrasonic and laser beams at us. There are people creeping through our woods at night. Her former employer (who she accused of poisoning her, resulting in an OSHA investigation) may be collaborating with the conspirators. They're surreptitiously moving the surrounding phone poles, fences, etc., but she is the only one astute enough to notice. Ultimately, they're going to kill her, because she "knows too much." She finds these delusions to be distressing, to say the least. My distress at being coronavirus-locked-down for nine months with someone who at times is oscillating between being rageful and distraught; frenetically spewing this crazy from the moment she awakes to the moment she collapses out of sheer emotional exhaustion, is pretty high as well. With a new doctor she's a bit better, but if anyone has any suggestions for how I might help her, I'd be deeply grateful.
Yes, finally. Her MD is involved, too. Cymbalta is a wonder drug, works like a light switch; ON: it manifests my Beloved. OFF: it manifests Linda Blair.
You can use gps to point the location of fixed objects. Most modern phones have them so essentially it’s free? Assuming you have a smart phone! Or maybe you could borrow? That could help. Wild shot in the dark! I don’t understand how the brain functions in that respect but CBT can usually help find the source of some issues. Willsjane usually has some smart stuff to say! Hopefully he/she they? Can offer some insight.
@Piobaire , I wonder if her therapist has some advice on how to handle things When you are dealing with someone who had genuine paranoia, my guess is that the advice of a professional is invaluable.
I'm in agreement with the others. I don't think your friends issue can be solved without some professional help. Help her by booking her appointments, helping her stick to them and following any advice the doctors recommend. Good luck.
Professional advice to date is as follows: Don't agree with her delusions. It will only reinforce them. Don't deny her delusions. It will only retrench her resistance. She'll see me as an enemy when she needs a trusted ally. Instead, address the underlying emotions and psychological stressors which give rise to the delusions (direct parallels to Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings on dependent origination and the "nurtriments" of suffering.) Easier said than done. Delusional disorders are generally deep seated and intractable, with limited treatment options. If she doesn't get better, it's not my fault. Her delusional disorder predates our relationship. It's not my fault. If she attempts suicide, in their opinion it is unlikely that it will be some half-assed gesture or proverbial "cry for attention." It will probably be in absolute earnest, well thought out, and as lethal as she can possibly make it; possibly without warning. That also is not my fault. Do my best to get her to take her meds. Do whatever I can to conserve the last tattered remnants of my own mental health. Good luck.
If you are already at the limits of what conventional medical treatment and therapy can do, there's not much else left to consider except alternative medicine. I think in principle, acupuncture and traditional Chinese herbal medicine could do a lot for her (and for you). There are also some self-treatment methods worth trying. These links have some information Alternative Treatments for Physical and Mental Illness Self-Treatment Methods for Physical and Mental Health
Thanks. At her insistence, we started off with alternative medicine after a bad MVA; mostly acupuncture, supplements, and CDB oil. I was opposed; she clearly had a concussive TBI that needed real treatment; not bullshit and snake oil. It cost us valuable time and money for little or no benefit. No offense intended.
? If you follow the links I posted, there are sub-links to research on acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. It's not bullshit, there's evidence that it can work quite well. That said, it's not necessarily going to work well for every condition, and there's no treatment that works well for everyone. Some providers charge a lot of money, but teaching clinics and community-style clinics are affordable.
I guess you could try asking for some clarification about how to put the professional advice into practice. There may also be some experimental studies on treatments for TBI, but that's not without risk.
Sadly almost all drugs have dangerous side affects. Worse still is that you can soon end up returning to your original condition with them and hence far worse without them. The only REAL cure for paranoia is to address the cause and resolve it. Often easier said than done.
on the kind of side note that invariably occurs to me; it is of course possible to move trees. this is however a process that involves a number of stout lads with picks and shovels and pry bars, and at least two piece of heavy equipment. one of them extremely specialized for the task, the other to dig the hole to relocate the tree into. it also takes many hours, a day and a half or longer is not unusual, and every hour it takes, a great deal of noise in generated, enough to be impossible to be ignored by any neighbor living within five miles or so. and yes of course there are a number of problems with psych meds, prolonged use of them, i'm talking about many years or decades, can cause poisons to accumulate in the body that eventually prove deadly. these were also one of the several factors involved in my own wife's demise. not the only one however, tobacco consumption was also one, and who knows what other excesses from her younger life before we met. it is of course, not saying they should never be used. to the contrary, doctors who perscribe them generally know what they are doing. they simply do need however, to keep track of how much their side effects accumulate. as for psych advice, it is beyond me to be able to do, to stay between the emotional lines, required for a companion person to be how would be best to be. so i'm not someone to give any.
Paranoid delusions, whether drug induced or by way of a mental health diagnosis/issue.. yeah, it can certainly be tricky. Often you'll be either trying to talk some semblance of sense into them.. thinking that logic will eventually break through, or.. you just kinda stay neutral and don't really feed them any extra stimulation (humouring them, admitting it COULD be possible.. whatever it is). Both can work. But I honestly find that it's a real coin flip whether you're helping or fanning the flames. I definitely think you need to prioritize the safety of yourself, first and foremost, but the sufferer definitely needs help as well. Calm, aware, non-provoking manner. Hopefully you are calling his family along with an ambulance. I've seen delusional ppl go from "oh, damn.. that poor sod.." to "@#£& he's now coming at me!". I have empathy and compassion for them. I suffered psychosis many, many times as a meth addict. I will get them help in whatever form makes sense. If I get even a small vibe it could become more.. (finding out history, or understanding the dose of whatever they took plus if they've slept at all) ..I'll immediately use caution and summon professional help.
Have you looked into seeing if she has any chemical sensitivities? It could be that something in her environment is causing her mental distress.
She certainly believes it's environmental. She thinks it's: Electricity. Malevolent entities infiltrating the house by piggy-backing on the electricity coming in from the electrical main. WiFi. EMF's. The neighboring satellite dishes are absorbing electricity from the power lines, and beaming some sort of energy ray at the house (they're also articulated and swiveling; tracking her every movement). The neighbors are secretly bombarding the house with microwave weapons. The neighbors are secretly bombarding the house with ultrasonic weapons. The neighbors are secretly shooting at her with top-secret energy weapons provided by Mexican drug cartels with the collusion of the local community college, because they know that she knows about their secret tunnels. Last summer, having been shot in the head by such a ray gun, she took scissors and cut off all her hair to better visualize the invisible wound. She also believes that I'm an utterly horrible, hateful person because I don't prima facie believe anything she says.
I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to live with someone like that. I also can't imagine how difficult it must be for her to live with this as well. Please keep an open mind and read this article. MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) is a real illness that has had trouble being recognized in the medical community but it has begun to find traction with more and more cases and has been recognized by many government agencies. I believe that people that are chemically sensitive are like the canary in the coal mine showing us just how bad our environment has become. Think about it like this, what have you got to lose by trying to make a "safe" space for your mate, free of chemicals and other contributing factors. If it helps, it could make your life and theirs a lot more bearable. "High levels of depression, anxiety, and mental distress have been noted in MCS samples, including alterations in cognitive and emotional processing" National Library of Medicine This is a list of assessment tools being used in studying MCS at Harvard medical school the last link on the page can be used as a self assessment you can get your partner to fill out. While she may be paranoid and over the top with her delusions of what is happening to her and by whom, she may not be completely off base. If I am correct about it being MCS, then she is, in a sense, being "attacked," just not the way she thinks she is. I hope that you can both find relief.
