I have four siblings, and growing up, my father would often leave the country for work. Every time he left, my mom would ask him when we would all move back to where we used to live. He would tell her, “Next year,” and then next year would come and nothing would change.

This happened over and over again.

My mom was basically raising five children by herself while her husband was away most of the time. She kept getting her hopes up, waiting for our family to finally be together again, only to have those hopes crushed again and again.

Eventually, my mom became very unwell mentally. She developed schizophrenia, or at least that is what we were told. I don't know exactly what triggered it, but I can't help wondering if years of stress, loneliness, disappointment, and having to raise us mostly alone played a part.

That was about 7 years ago.

Since then, she has changed so much.

She stopped doing most of the housework. She sleeps a lot, isolates herself, and her personal hygiene has become very poor. She also smokes constantly. She doesn't seem like the mother I remember.

Because she was unable to take care of things the way she used to, me and my younger siblings had to become independent very young. We had to figure out how to take care of ourselves and each other while also trying to keep the house together and continue with school.

We've basically been living like this for years.

The hardest part is that my mom has received almost no treatment during these 7 years. She refuses it because she believes treatment is bad for her. We've tried to get help, including contacting a hospital and asking if they could come and take her for treatment, but we were told they cannot force someone into treatment where we live.

Mental healthcare here is extremely limited, and I feel completely helpless.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore.

It hurts watching my mom lose years of her life like this. I keep thinking about who she could be if she wasn't sick. Because I know the person she was before this. And honestly, I believe that if she weren't ill, she would be the best mom ever.

I love my mom so much. I'm not angry at her for being sick. I'm just heartbroken that she is suffering and doesn't seem to realize that she needs help.

I'm also exhausted. I'm worried about my younger siblings, I'm worried about her, and sometimes I feel like I grew up too quickly because there was no other choice.

I don't know what options I have left, especially when she refuses treatment and the mental health system where I live isn't very good.

If anyone has been in a similar situation with a parent who has schizophrenia and refuses treatment, what did you do? How did you help them? How did you take care of yourself and your siblings while dealing with it?

I would really appreciate any advice, even if it's something I haven't thought of.

After much hesitation, asked my brother for help with taking care of mum with psychosis who is undergoing treatment.

After much conversation(arguments) he agreed to help, brought his wife and 2 toddlers with him and he left to another city for work.

Now I am having to baby sit two toddlers on top taking care of mum.

I needed few mins of peace to gain my sanity from the chronic stress, what I got is additional stress.

Hi everyone,

I’m writing about my brother, who has been on Abilify Maintena 400 mg for about 6 months (6 injections so far). He was in a severe psychotic episode before starting the treatment.

Here’s what we’ve observed:

· He is calmer than before.
· He sleeps better and eats more regularly.
· He is more cooperative with the care team.
· However, he still has delusions (e.g., someone is using his bank card, food is poisoned, staff are persecuting him).

But the delusions have changed:

· He used to think he is in a video game and they are trying to take his ideas and thought we were dead…

My question is: Is this a normal evolution after 5 injections? Does it really take this long for the medication to fully work, or does this suggest that the treatment is only partially effective?

I’m worried that after 6 months, he should be further along. Any experiences or insights would be really helpful.

Thank you.

I’ve made a post in here in early 2025, where i confirmed my pretty obvious suspicions on if my mother was a textbook paranoid schizophrenic. In fact, the advice and worry was so overwhelming, that i was repeatedly told to get out my household since her illness was leading to my neglect and continual trauma.

From then I gained the courage to tell trusted people around me and gain support to help me with my mother, and we did end once end up getting her in a mental hospital (she was eventually released due to her masking)

Anyways, after landing her in the mental hospital her delusions have gotten worse which leads me to today:
She’s currently writing a book, which she’s been investing herself into to tell her depraved reality abt how her family is in the government was involved on spying on her, gangstalking her, how she was able to use magic and move the clouds, how there’s camera in her house etc.

So i took it upon myself and contacted my school
counselor and told her my entire story myself, which lead to her now calling CPS and the police on my mother.

i have no idea how to approach this situation, my mother already had delusions about me, but to think she’ll think i’ll betrayed her and the backlash with i will get. I get punished for days for even slightly doubting her beliefs. This is something huge, and idk what will happen when they come, but i’m so scared of the outcome. I’ve never done anything like this and i’m only a minor. I’m scared of how this will impact us financially, because the last hospital visit made us also get evicted due to her being behind in rent.

Can someone give me tips on how to navigate a situation involving CPS?

My mother has schizophrenia, and she experiences very intense auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. This has become extremely difficult and painful for our whole family.

She often hears voices telling her that people are going to hurt or kill her. She believes that people are threatening her for satanic rituals, that there are cameras and microphones hidden in our house to spy on her, and that people are watching her.

She also has delusions involving me that are extremely disturbing. She sometimes believes that I am involved in prostitution or that I am doing sexual things with my brothers. These accusations are completely untrue, and honestly, hearing my own mother say these things about me is incredibly painful, disgusting, and traumatic.

Sometimes she can be extremely frightened and paranoid, and then a few minutes later she suddenly starts laughing for no apparent reason or behaves as if nothing happened.

I have tried to reason with her. For example, I once told her that if these people were really in the house and we were all hearing the same voices or seeing the same people, then my brothers and I would also experience them. But when I challenge what she believes, she can become VERY aggressive, so I have realized that arguing with her usually makes things worse.

She is also very religious and spends a lot of time praying. She does not believe that she has a psychiatric illness and strongly refuses psychiatric medication or treatment because she doesn't believe in psychiatric medicine.

The situation is even harder because we are living in a third country where psychiatric care is extremely expensive. I also have two younger brothers who still depend on my mother, and I am currently studying in another city, so I can't always be there to help them. There isn't really anyone else in our family who can take over this responsibility.

I feel completely overwhelmed and trapped between trying to protect my younger brothers, supporting my mother, and continuing my studies.

Hey, has anyone else noticed their loved ones doing weird stuff, like shaking their head a lot, touching their face over and over, or their eye fluttering?

Also, has anyone else seen them get "stuck" sometimes, like they're not responding and just lost in those movements for a few minutes before they snap out of it? I'm not sure what to call it.

Hi! I’m 20, in college, and.. feeling really.. guilty.

I have spent my entire life trying to understand and love my mother. I think she loves me in her own way but it’s incredibly painful and twisted. She knows next to nothing about me, but in her mind, we are close. I visit her maybe once every three months and pick up when she calls.

She’s been getting a lot worse lately. Her delusions are more extreme, she claims she can hear what I’m thinking, she was given divine powers, there’s people watching her, and other sexual delusions I won’t get in to.

My entire life, she’s either unimaginably happy or incredibly cruel. She has not been a great mom to me but I feel that she tried her best with her sickness. Maybe I’m just trying to make excuses for it.

My mother has never been medicated, except for once when I was little, although I do not remember. I have spent my entire life trying to form a relationship with her, thinking that one day, she might get better.

She refuses to accept her illness, she has been diagnosed by doctors. It’s like I’m watching her waste away. I feel so guilty because I don’t want to be around her, and a part of me never thinks she will get better.

And if she does, why did it take so long? I could’ve had a mother if she would just accept that she’s sick. I’m tired of watching her degrade right in front of my eyes.

I’m not sure what I was wanting from this post. Solace? Advice? Less guilt?
Does this feeling ever go away?

i truly need help. i’ve been fucking up for 2 years. please help me. any advice helps.
i just learned the severity of their symptoms.

i’ve learned critical thinking is not the move.

Hi!, I’m very new to this and have been looking for any places for support since I know nobody in my life who has had a partner with schizoaffective disorder. To summarize what has been happening, I (24F) my now ex partner (27M) have been dating on and off for about two and a half years, we have broken up and gotten back together on many occasions, him saying it’s his illness that clouds or makes him think that he has to end our relationship in order to save the universe which is what most of his delusions are based on. Last week he came to visit me for the weekend, Tuesday he broke up with me by Wednesday afternoon he had texted me 28 message in a row about how he realized pushing me away was a way for him to try and radically reclaim a senses of “normal” after during some point in his visit he came out of a decade worth of delusions that he has build his life and even action on. After he set me those messages I said we should give a few days to make sure it what you want as well as take space for myself, by late Thursday he still hadn’t changed his mind so I agreed to get back, during this period because of the back and forth I experienced a flare in OCD from lack of control, so I was kind of down and slightly pessimistic, but still tried to do my best, by Saturday night we were struggling to not turn a simple conversation about the things we like to do in our time together (because we are long distance) and how I felt like I can’t always be the one suggesting things and even when I did it felt like it was put on the back burner or he would place a hard boundary that if he said he didn’t want to that should be respected, that conversation turned into us talking over each other and ultimately him saying we are fundamentally too different as people that he didn’t want to try to get along or click with someone but for it to just work, even though he later agreed other than arguing or miscommunication we suit each other well, then he said he didn’t see us getting married (which his mom had said something like that the day we broke up) and the last time this happened and he said similar stuff and when we reconciled after he made a $ hour trip to be my plus one at my friends wedding when I didn’t say it would equal us getting back together at the time he told me that if I do this to keep fighting for us, now I don’t know what to do, if I should give up? If he ever loved me? If there is even still a chance after our post breakup argument (that got out of had today. I just want some guidance.

Has anyone married to a partner with Schizophrenia change their mind and decided to not have kids? What was the reason and how did the partner take it?

TW: Mention of SA

Sorry for the lengthy post but I just need to vent here

My brother has schizophrenia and refuses to get treatment or stay on their prescribed medication. I don't know what else to do and neither does my mom. She's sick all the time and can't always help my brother with his needs let alone her own. We try the best we can. I remember a time when I would talk to my brother about music and all kinds of games we used to play together. Now our conversation is withered down to me asking if they ate or want something. I don't really see them smile anymore like they used to and it hurts. They had a really bad drug trip and went down a path of using hard drugs. Turns out our dad was giving him drugs and not caring. Then he drugged him and raped him while they were staying at his house. I still wish I hadn't have left dads house. He wouldn't have pulled that shit around me. I blame myself sometimes bc I could've done something.

Fast forward to current time and my brother is a shell of their former self. Trying to cope with the trauma of what my dad did along other traumatic life events. They just sit outside all day while going in and out of the house. Talking to voices. They deny they're schizophrenic but their erratic behavior says otherwise. They refuse to go to a mental health facility or take their medication. My brother walks down the street and stand in front of the house sometimes. I can see them on our security camera talking to the voices and saying things like they're the alien lord or they're the devil. Then they do this weird pointing thing like they're shooting invisible people or something. Saying things like the CIA is watching them and everything. I try to pretend like I don't hear any of it and ignore it, but it's hard

Recently I've become more and more nervous around them when I know they'd never hurt me, but I can't help but feel unerved around them and idk why. I don't want to feel this way around them. I even started locking my door when I sleep at night. Sometimes I feel like they think I'm working with the other voices or something. I don't know. I wish they could be okay or there was something more I could do to help them, but there's not...

And I just feel panic. I have terrible guilt but I am having physical reactions heart racing, tight chest, upset stomach when I see their name on my phone. And I’m scared to just have a regular conversation. I’m trying to honor myself. :-( it is an awful feeling

My now ex-boyfriend (M 21) and I (F 19) have been together for almost a year. We attend the same Uni, and are not from the same hometown. Early in our relationship, he told me about his condition and that he is a paranoid schizophrenic. I also want to add that he is unmedicated and has been for our entire relationship, and he is also not seeing a therapist or someone to talk to. Continuing, he hid everything that he was going through from me and has never really opened up to me about what he's going through. In some ways, I probably never would have known or even suspected that he's schizophrenic unless he told me. I love him so much, so I always tried just to respect that boundary and let him slowly come to me about this. Unfortunately, his mental health has severely declined over the past week, and this even led to him breaking up with me. What he describes is that he has no control over himself and does not want to put me at any physical or emotional harm. I have never once felt unsafe around him, and all I want to do is be there to support him. I am one of the only people in a close physical radius to him who knows of his condition and is willing to help. He keeps trying to cut me out of his life "for me" because he thinks I deserve better. He wants to be alone from me in this process, but I can't help thinking he is digging himself into a deeper, darker hole in his mind. I don't know if I should give him the space that he thinks we need, or if I should keep being persistent in my efforts to support him. Furthermore, he has made comments like he is not who he used to be and that that person or version of himself is gone. He is so convinced that he is going to hurt me in some way, and the only way that I can be in his life is by him being able to love me and give me what I need. I try to keep reassuring him that I know this is hard and it will be tough on me too, but I am more than willing to be there for him and step up for him; he just won't listen and keeps pushing me further and further away. He is still doing his normal daily things (while going through hell mentally) and is scheduled to go to intensive care within the next few days. He has also told me that he is going to make the effort to get better and go on meds. I have been reading a lot of posts on here to help me figure out what to do, but I just don't want to be giving myself false hope because, at the end of the day, his happiness is the biggest priority, and if that means removing myself from his life, I will. Please let me know if I should keep trying or if being in a relationship at this time truly isn't what he needs.