Personal stuff that I don't want attached to my main account. TW for sexual abuse, abusive brain-meats and all the awful. Okay so: my best friend is in the hospital following a psychotic break. He's bipolar and periodically tries to ditch his medication and control it with the power of positive thinking, which I disapprove of pretty hard but I don't rule his life. This latest one was pretty bad - he came to me while my parents were on vacation, I tried to take care of him by myself for a week until it got so bad he had me take him to another friend who had more people around - specifically, adult people who weren't college students. That night was awful, he was babbling about people plotting to kill him and other sundries, and the next night he took his backpack and walked out into the coldest night on record. I thought he was dead. A day after that it turned out that he made it all the way to the city and had a moment of lucidity near a cop, who took him to the hospital and checked him in. He's been there since. He spent some time experiencing awful psychosomatic symptoms like spasms and his throat locking up. He claims that he's remembering sexual abuse from his childhood that he's repressed for years. He's not talking about people out to kill him any more, but he's still convinced that he and his "powerful friends" are going to personally save the world from racism and rape culture. I visited him today and his mom - who is kind of unstable - had a breakdown in the middle of the ward, shrieking and pounding the wall because she was, in his account, complicit in the sexual abuse. I'm not sure how much of it is being accurately recounted and how much has been exaggerated or mixed up with his paranoia, but questioning it or his memory triggers him so I'm operating under the "nod and hug" protocol. He gets out tomorrow. He's staying with my family, which is probably a good thing because my brother's got a more moderate case of bipolar and they have experience with special needs stuff, but I'm experiencing some stress over the whole thing and I guess I just need reassurance that his current state of mind won't last forever. I've gone from thinking he was dead to seeing him barely able to move to watching his mom almost get kicked out by security and it's all awful and I want my friend back. Does anyone have any advice/reassurance for me? Edit: should this be in Brainbent? I really have no clue.
I didn't know that bipolar involved such a degree of delusions; this sounds very like my housemate's schizophrenic break in some respects. It won't last forever; these things rise and fall like tides, but a little less predictably than that.
Sadly not a whole lot of advice, because this is definitely something that professionals need to take care of. About the only thing you could do for him is be there for him. If more bad things happen while you are with him, call someone. You are not in a position to stop him from being dangerous. Beyond that, keep yourself safe. It is scary, I've been through similar. I have similar feelings as @Morven because this reminds me of my brother who may be schizophrenic. He was doing bathsalts at one time, and he was convinced of all of the following: there were snipers in the trees. There were bombs in his parents' home. His girlfriend was an undercover cop, but couldn't tell him and she was in danger. He has lost his car(like had no clue where he last saw it) on a number of occasions and just walked the streets. He doesn't trust anyone and is extremely paranoid. He is currently in jail for seperate reasons. So, it can be pretty bad. Do not put yourself at risk. Stay safe. Stay strong.
Yes; you can be there for him, but you can't make someone take care of themselves who can't. Take care of yourself first, even though it hurts. Be there when he can accept the help.
You can get psychotic symptoms from bipolar, especially if you've not been sleeping. If delusions/paranoia/hallucinations persist outside of a manic episode, then they might say you're probably dealing with a psychotic disorder in addition to the mood disorder. The diagnostic criteria have changed recently around there... schizoaffective, for instance, is no longer A Thing, it's now diagnosed as schizophrenia plus bipolar. Unless it isn't. Comorbidity's a bitch. I hope your friend gets better.
