i think my friend is schizophrenic?

Oh my, it is a difficult one hun.

My niece acted strangely for a long while and it took over two years for us to get a diagnosis and she is paranoid schizophrenic sadly. She needs permanent medication though and I honestly don;t know what the future holds for her.

She says that people come out of walls and tell her to do things when she is at her worse and that some men had come out of the plug socket to kill her, it is heartbreaksing as she is a beautiful 20 year old girl.

I worry that she could harm herself and I think that you should try and encourage your friend to go and see a doctor just so that he can get the right treatment.

If you are scared though maybe you could speak to a member of his family or friend?

Good luck hun x

Schizophrenia is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Trouble begins when the neurotransmitters in the brain are not functioning properly. Results vary from hallucinations and delusions to lack of emotion, energy and motivation.

Some can not tell the difference between real and unreal experiences. Others can not think logically and still others do not have normal emotional responses and can not behave normally in social situations.

Many become agitated, purposeless, feel persecuted and plotted against, have grandiose delusions, auditory hallucinations and are tense and suspicious.

There have been many studies done trying to link violent behavior with this disease but none have been totally success full. They have also tied multiple personalities to it. As well as alcohol dependence, unemployment and homelessness

Your friend obviously has some of these symptoms. He is sick and needs psychiatric intervention. If there is any way you can talk him into seeing someone it would be the best thing any friend could do.

Are you safe with him? Who knows? All that are diagnosed must stay on a medical regiment for the rest of their life. Many do not once they feel better and the disease takes over again. Others do not like the way the medication makes them feel so those stop also.

If you are the least bit afraid then listen to your own 6th sense maybe there are subtleties that you are not aware of but you feel. Then it is time to distance yourself from him. You could also call a hot line and speak to them about the disease and then you would have a better understanding of it and him. Then you could make a more educated decision.

I wish you luck and hope that things work out for him and you

He needs to see a mental health doctor because the longer schizophrenia goes untreated the worse it gets. Each physcotic episode escalates prior to the previous one. My brother has schizophrenia and he is on medication for it. He wouldn't harm a fly. But when he does get voices they are telling him to kill himself. Your friend does not need you to avoid him, he needs your support. Offer to take him to the doctor and just act like you always did with him in the past or he will take it the wrong way. Schizophrenics usually make irrational assumptions, like for example if you stop talking to him he might think you hate him or are plotting against him somehow. The important thing is to treat him how you always treated him before. Hope this helps. I want to make this clear as well........A common misconception is that schizophrenics are dangerous. They are not, please don't be scared of him. He needs your support more than ever.

The first thing to say is that the vast vast majority of people with schizophrenia or any other mental illness are not a danger to anyone else and are far more likely to be a danger to themselves if anyone. Schizophrenia is not a split personality. It is made up from positive and negative symptoms - positive being hallucinations and negative symptoms being social withdrawl etc. I think you need to ask him if he feels he needs to see a doctor. If not does your friend have any family you know of or other friends you could speak to on his behalf? All the best

you don't want to avoid a friend just beacuse they're schizophrenic. it's a disease of the mind just like asthma is a disease of the lungs. if you feel you have to keep a watchful eye on him, but try to understand his quirks. leaving him or avoiding him might make him worse-you're probably one of the few things going for him that's any good; and it's maybe therapeutic for him to visit you. some of the greatest friends have more benefits for this kind of person than any shrink. the voices in his head are caused by a chemical imbalance-i myself don't have voices but, just as worse, have the same revolving thoughts that won't go away, i've been suffering this for10 years now. i turned to drugs trying to rid the thoughts and the guilt for having them-the drugs made my situation worse and now i live everyday in a total dream state. if i had a friend like you i would probably be a better person today.

I know what you're saying. If you've seen the movie "A Beautiful Mind" you'd get a clearer picture what being schizophrenic is like. I think your friend has a mild case of schizophrenia and he should get himself treatment ASAP, before the voices in his head gets worse. As for the dangerous factor, i doubt he'd do you any harm because such a case is unheard of.

I know this because I have a cousin who's suffering from a serious case of schizophrenia. He talks to himself and has imaginary friends. He actually "sees" this non-existent "people". Maybe you should ask your friend to go for a check-up or something?

He probably isn't a danger to you, but he does need help, for his own sake. The best thing is to encourage him to see his GP, or to contact his local Mental Health Team (via social services). The mental health charity Mind are also really helpful, here's their website, loads of info on different mental health issues. Click on 'Mind in Your Area' to find out what's available locally.

http://www.mind.org.uk/

if he's admitted hearing voices to you then it sounds like he's reaching out to you for support....i once had a friend for many years who suffered from schizophrenic symptoms i was completely ignorant of this and just carried on as normal tho she was in pain... i learnt a painful lesson and its really difficult but if you want this person to still be in your life then let him know that you are there for him...educate yourself on the condition and make sure you have support yourself its hard for the person living with schizophrenia but even harder for those who care for those who have it...dont be scared of him just let him know you care and give a **** about him and also have people close to you know that you need them....really hard work but worth it if they mean something to you

I know someone like that. She is D.I.D., dissasociative identity disorder, otherwise known as multiple personality disorder.

Does your friend ever have periods of time that are blank or missing?

Why would you avoid him? There is no evidence to suggest that he is dangerous or will attack you, correct? No aggressive behaviour in the past?

If this person is truly your friend, then be a friend and don't turn on him just because he opened up to you.

Do, however, encourage him to seek treatment.

it doesn't mater he was probably watching bad stuff itl come off my sis had the same thing i looked in her diary i asked her if she was hearing something she said yes but it came of in a few days don't worry hope it helps