I think my Dad is/becoming mentally ill

My dad is 50 years old. Hes never been a very important person in my life... I see him roughly 2-3 times a year for things like birthdays and christmas. The past few years (I'd say around 4) hes been acting increasingly odd and straight up delusional. On my most recent visit he tried to convince me he has psychic/magical powers and that a famous magician reached out to him to help him hone said powers. He carries a pendant attached to a chain which he claims helps him focus his energy to help him do an array of things; heal himself/others, find lost items, get answer to question, communicate with the earth etc. and many other delusions of grandeur. Hes got a wicked temper that can be triggered by the smallest things. Hes always had a bad temper but its gotten worse and worse over the years. He can go from calm to a screaming rage in an instant.

Hes had substance abuse problems his whole life... smoking weed and cigarettes since he was 13. Dabbled in harder stuff in his 30's, and got into a serious cocaine addiction in his late 40's. As a kid I always thought he had a chronic cold but later pieced together it was his non-stop cocaine use that caused the runny nose. From 45-48 his cocaine abuse was so bad that he weighed 130 lbs and lost most his teeth. He had some sort of psychotic episode which resulted in his mother kicking him out of her house and calling the police, resulting in his arrest. Now he's drug free for the most part... aside from weed and tobacco of course.

Up until now hes always seemed pretty normal. Sure he had his "quirks" but I never thought he was crazy, unstable, whatever you want to call it. Maybe it's because that's all I really knew growing up... but hes changed now. I think he needs help and I have no idea how I can get him some. Mentioning this to him in any way would be a bad idea.

 

It's possible to have a family member committed for psychiatric evaluation, not sure you are looking for such extreme measures but sometimes with loved ones you get to last resorts..

Good luck mang

 

Involuntary commitment may be necessary. Sounds as if that may be the way to go. Or just stay away from him.

 

sorry to hear that this is going on. there may not be too much that you can do though.

have you talked to other family members about this?

it might help to talk to a mental health professional about the situation.

the delusions themselves are not necessarily a problem, the question is does he start doing destructive/ self-destructive things based on them

there might be a way to persuade him to see a psychiatrist within his delusional mindset.

maybe something like he must take the psych meds as a test of his psychic powers

 

I wouldn't put him in the farm, cause he will direct any inner pain onto you. I think some idea of magic is okay, it's good to have tools to direct mental forces, real non magical mental forces. Perhaps he spends to much time alone, moving mental energy into a bad focus?

Imust say that to much of one type of drug is bad. If your going to expand, ya gotta retract. If it was my Dad, I would try to channel his energies into a more helpful manner. Maybe say that some antipsychotic isgood for magical practices. They can be, it talkes a sober mind to find magical emotions. To much searching leads to bad memories. Nobody likes work and searching is hard work, its exhausting.