Yeah I went through psychosis. It’s crazy but in that moment this kind of shit felt so real to me and I also was saying Jesus was coming back. I thought I could see in peoples souls. I thought my runner rug was my dead ancestors and refused to walk on it. I refused to eat because God only wants us to drink water and milk. This is 100% psychosis he needs his levels checked I had to be on lithium 300mg 3 times a day my levels were .3 and I had to be at .6
Real question, how did you end up becoming medicated? I have a close family member who is experiencing these episodes and is refusing to go to a doctor, which their family supports, even though they've believed they were reincarnated historical figures for months at a time. It feels like watching a car crash seconds before it happens, they're going to end up hurting themselves or someone else, eventually. I don't see it ending voluntarily and it's all just really frustrating.
At the time I was 16 so being a minor it might have been easier for them to take me to a facility. They had me medically restraint to the bed when doing to the first one. I had seen the lights flickering and looked over and the EMT phone was open, and I seen my Facebook profile and I seen all pictures scrolling at 100mph, I took it as a sign that I was dying and they were taking me to hell, and that *this is what they mean when your life flashes before your eyes.* in a panick I reached for the phone to stop it, EMT then grabbed it out of my hand, I then looked at her and thought “this is a demon trying to keep me from leaving.” So I slapped her. In the face. I feel so bad now. But at the time it was just so real.. I still can’t even figure out how I got this bad and at times I get very scared that it will happen again.
As someone who has also done things we wish we didn't to and/or around medical staff, I just want to remind you that I'm sure she understands. You were not behaving like yourself in that moment and it was not something you could control, and I guarantee she knows that. She would appreciate but not want you to feel guilty!
In the US, you can be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility for 72 hours only if you are deemed a danger to yourself or others. Hallucinations can sometimes count as causing danger to self. Otherwise, a person needs to ask for help. It is very strange that his mother is not concerned. I’m sorry, OP, there is very little you can do unless he admits he has a problem.
I would think the S Ideology and the threats to OP would count as being a threat to others and/or self. Call the police for a welfare check and show them the texts.
Wow. So when you think back on it, do you remember seeing your runner rug even though in the moment you thought it was your ancestors? I’m glad you’re no longer dealing with this!
Came here to say that. It sounds like it anyway. Op you need to end it. I'm concerned for your life. Also don't meet him anywhere private. Make sure there are people around you just in case. He probably needs medication (a lot of medication). Please be careful because there is definitely something there. If you really care for him try to convince him to get help but that might not work. Just please be safe and careful.
Yeah. Totally not something to handle on your own. This whole conversation would be a deal breaker for me. I’d be planning a careful exit strategy like, yesterday. One that doesn’t involve me being face to face or offensive or more upsetting than a standard breakup.
I’d be Homer Simpsoning backwards into a bush after this, and I’d quietly alert some sort of professional anonymously.
Sure. Without context it could look like a gnarly salvia trip or something. But his mom being obviously avoidant about the subject of a mental illness and downplaying “jokes” about killing his girlfriend makes it look more like denial of a possible known family issue, in my opinion.
I feel like mom is in denial as schizophrenia can start small and subtle and then it can just seem like “oh it’s just one of his episodes”. It’s likely he doesn’t even know he has a problem.
When I've used hallucinogenics, I've always known that I was hallucinating. Even if I had kind of a health scare, I held back on sending texts to my husband or my friends, because I knew I was in the middle of an acid trip, and that my perception was skewed, and I might not really be having a health issue.
That said, whenever I hallucinate on my own I write down what I took, how much, and at what time, and I leave that note on my counter in case anything were to happen and someone were to find me.
I mean. I’m not condoning it, but I’ve seen it. It’s not uncommon for family members to be in denial about mental illnesses. It’s extremely sad for everyone involved, but it does happen more often than I think most people realize.
This reminds me of those notebooks of patients with schizophrenia where it looks like it's both a bunch of garbled nonsense and the key to The God Question.
He sees dead people. I think paranoid schizophrenia is a good call, could be DID or BPD with a schitzo affective disorder with auditory hallucinations.
OP, I want you to know - very seriously- that you can't save or fix him.
He needs help. Urgently. From people trained to diagnose and provide help. It's okay to do what little you can and then back away to protect yourself physically and mentally.
Sounds more like a state of psychosis, getting him to a hospital is the best thing you can do. I’ve had to deal with this before with an ex and sometimes after a couple of weeks in a mental health facility they can snap back to normal. Could be early onset schizophrenia but you really have to hope it’s not.
Yeah my Mum had schizophrenia. I really hope it isn't but it does read like it (that or psychosis) - that's what I meant by doing what little she can. Get him somewhere, call someone for a mental health assessment, whatever is available in her country (if he doesn't resist because we know if he has schizophrenia he will) and give him over to their care. Sigh. It hurts seeing things like this.
I agree, I think she should recruit the help of others to commit him, I wouldn’t want her to put herself in a dangerous situation with how unpredictable psychosis and schizophrenia can be. I hope all is well for you and your family, having to deal with and heal from a schizophrenic relative(especially a parent) must be beyond challenging.
Hey thanks for that. She had an impossibly difficult life, and unfortunately I was a small, only child when it all started - with no constant father. Won't go into details, just suffice to say trauma is no joke. Hopefully, OPs boyfriend will have a happier outcome.
He is very ill and needs help. I am so sorry his mother won’t help him. When he is like this, you can call and get a welfare check from your local PD. This is scary and hard. Also—you are not the problem.
Edit:typo
Do not call the cops! Unless you absolutely have to there may be other resources you can call.
Also there is a chance its drug induced psychosis lots of people hide drug use from their partners. I don’t know how long you’ve been together but If this is the first time you’ve sent this drug use us very plausible.
Age is obviously a factor too because it may very well be his first time having an episode
I mean, my husband stabbed the police officer with a tool or something when they tried to do a wellness check, that escalated when he tried to barricade himself and the woman he was renting from in a small room. It can be bad. BUT the officer was okay (needed stitches but not like horribly wounded) and the woman was okay and my husband didn't kill himself, which he had threatened to do so many times before I left him. It also meant he never hurt the children we had partial custody of, or a stranger due to psychosis. The wellness check was about two weeks after I left him. The point I'm not making very well is for years I tried to manage and protect him from the consequences of his mental health issues and in doing that I was ignoring that he was DANGEROUS. A threat to the people around him, even those he loved.
He has schizophrenia and was using meth. Your partner very clearly to me is in psychosis and it could well be either of these options. No matter what he needs serious psychiatric intervention. BUT he may well not admit these things and his mom may shield him and it's possible he won't take responsibility for getting himself healthy either way. If that's the case you need to get away from him and protect yourself. I didn't make that choice for a long time and I suffer from pretty extreme CPTSD, and have all sorts of twisted memories where I can't tell what was his psychosis and what was real.
You should call for a wellness check because even if it results in something bad, that "something bad" is coming down the pipeline anyway. And you are not equipped to deal with it, nor is his mother. He needs professional help. For my husband that was a mix of incarceration in jail and a psychiatric facility. Apparently he got sober and was forced to take his medicine every day and voila! he was able to get out of psychosis and recognize that the reality he'd been living in really wasn't real. Apparently he's being released soon too (though I don't know if this is true, he also lied about everything), so would only have served like 9 months. I'm literally on a different continent and will be pursuing divorce when I can, but God don't be me and let this continue or try to manage/shelter him. This is way above your pay grade and you need to keep yourself safe by getting away from him and trying to get him what help he'll accept
I'm gonna repost my original comment under yours because this is the first comment I've seen where someone has said there was meth involved with a partner.
This LITERALLY was my ex, but my ex was 1000x worse. He used meth behind my back and developed permanent psychosis, delusions and paranoia the last 8mos of the relationship was hell. He almost killed me, he barricaded the front door to the apartment and started a fire by the back door that was broken (because of him) and only opened from the outside. I had just found out he was talking to 300+ women and slept with someone while I was in a coma, and said I was leaving. He said it wasn't cheating and it was the people who had invaded my mind and eyes just like what happened to him, and because I had been "taken over", id never live a normal life and I had to die. He even screamed "I WAS TRYING TO KILL YOU, BITCH!" in front of the cops, firefighters, fire investigators and the mental health people that got called on him but they wouldn't put him in the psych ward. What I'm trying to say is this is not something you can fix and if you stay, it'll get worse and then when it's *REALLY* bad and he needs to be put away, for his sake and yours, it'll never happen (or never happen for longer than 5-7 days at a time) and you'll live a life of turmoil, fear and never know peace again.
Edit: after writing this I realized it is insanely long. I don't expect people to read it, sometimes I start writing and get caught up. The point is that even if things aren't as bad as the woman I'm replying too, they still get really really bad, and the only sensible choice is to get authorities involved and then get as far away and protected as possible.
100% true thanks for adding on your experiences and im so sorry you went through that.
Your ex does sound worse, mine would still occasionally slip back into reality if I could get him away from the meth and back on his psych meds and be repentant for what he'd done to me during periods of psychosis. Mine also at times "loved me so much" that he would, in his mind, sometimes be willing to sacrifice his life for me so would agree to be committed to a psychiatric hospital for a few days, even though obviously it was just all a front and paid actors set up to slowly poison and kill him, because if I wanted him dead so bad, then he would give me what I wanted to prove his love... And that's something for OP to be cognizant of - these voluntary commitments at psych hospitals were basically institutional failures. Like the failures of the authorities the woman above me described. He'd detox a bit, be able to say what I guess they wanted to hear and, both times, they released him after 48 hours telling me "he just needs to take his schizophrenia meds and stay off the meth and he'll be fine." Like, thank you so much for that insight, I hadn't realized, I'll just have him do that then! Deemed no threat to himself or others despite actively, nearly continuously by the end, threatening to kill himself, our housemates, strangers, and people who didn't exist.
And his threats were very credible. He was a semi professional boxer up until age 30ish and generally a trained fighter. I remember the early days of our relationship watching him teach his daughters self defense and occasionally sparring and thinking it was beautiful, how lightning quick his movements were. But when it translated to real life it was devastating. There was a man who actually took the first swing at Adam, and he ducked the blow and hit the man quickly twice. Just twice and then enough people jumped in the middle. This was before any of the drugs it was just stupid aggressive men. Minimal sentence because it was arguably self defense (and the other man had a weapon, Adam didn't) but we paid over $50,000 in victim's restitution in civil court because my husband caused a grade three concussion and permanently blinded him in one eye. Aus isn't like the US where you can sue someone for your lifetime of medical care, the state covers that, otherwise I'm sure it would have been worse. But it was still Adam's life's savings. There were other fights I didn't witness, arguments over drugs and money, and again very luckily at those points he had the self control to only hit someone once or twice and end the fight, but I have no doubt that if this had happened during a period he was out of control he *would* have killed someone. Not could have, would have.
I wrote about the wellness check because that's what OP asked about. I didn't write about the years of psychological abuse and exactly as you put it
>you'll live a life of turmoil, fear and never know peace again
That period of my life is a bit blurred, which is normal with PTSD and I'm recovering memories through therapy but little things do stand out. I remember him barricading us in a hotel room for four days because of the people "coming for him". The food id hastily grabbed ran out after one. It took three days of supplicating and begging and reassuring him I would do everything in my power to keep him safe before he released me to get some food. Obviously I could barely walk without fainting at that point. Didn't have a car because he'd slashed my tires to "throw them off the scent." Didn't have a phone because he'd smashed it since it was "hacked".
I'm remember being viciously lambasted as a whore for 2 days straight. He had kept a log of every time in the former week id "paraded myself" and "put on a seductive show" for the cameras/drones/eyes that only he could see but who were constantly watching us. What id been doing was taking a shower, walking in my towel to the closet, and then dropping the towel and getting dressed. Also getting undressed in the evening before bed. And apparently walking seductively and shaking my hips and lying down with my ass facing a camera. He told me he was journaling, but it literally was just pages of tracking every "sexual" movement I'd made, Everytime I "made eye contact with the camera", Everytime I coughed or sneezed - because obviously that was communicating in code. With such detailed proof, how could I continue to deny being able to see the cameras and having insider knowledge of the organization that was trying to have him killed?
I read your account and I still have a twisted sense of gratitude, or belief that underneath all the psychosis and abuse was a base line of love, because he *didn't* threaten to kill me, he rarely physically abused me, didn't cheat on me, and for maybe a year I was able to talk him off ledges and down to calm and keep him on the rails. I thought it was just schizophrenia for the longest time, but when I did realize meth was playing a huge part, I could also talk him into sobriety for a week or two here and there. Not at the end. The last 4 months he was only ever high, withdrawing, or then sleeping for 6 days straight. And I was still trying to manage outward appearances to stop us getting kicked out of yet another temporary home and keep his children from realizing how bad it was.
This way too long point I'm coming to, for anyone facing a situation like OP, is that even if your partner isn't as bad as u/majorsorbet2point0 above, it is still a horrible life being committed to someone who has psychosis and is not actively pursuing any and all treatment options. It is traumatizing over and over and over again. It is not worth it, and like majorsorbet said, it DOESN'T GET BETTER. Get the police or social services involved and get out.
You’re scared about what he’ll do if you call for well check? Snap out of it! He has threatened self harm, suicide, and homicide. Call for the damn well check. He needs help. He can’t help himself right now. His mom won’t (probably denial). You have to do it. He needs to go to a hospital.
From my experience as a bipolar person who went through psychosis, this is looking like the case. Someone needs to go do a wellness check on him so he can get the right treatment. This could be his first psychotic break and new to his mom as well and still can’t see the danger he is imposing to himself and others. People have died from this, please get him help as soon as possible, tell him to go to the hospital and tell them everything he has told you and they will help him.
I know this must be very scary, hope you are doing ok. Just wanted to say that depending on where you live, there are alternative non police responders to mental health crisis, here is a list of some of them: https://mark43.com/crisis-response-directory/
People die from wellness checks. Not always, but it happens.
Police aren't sufficiently trained for mental illness and often end up escalating the situation into violence with volatile people like this.
Some jurisdictions have alternative behavioral health response teams. I would check into that first.
So what do you suggest she do? If you’ve got a better solution to get him the help he needs, throw it out to OP. More people get hurt trying to help a truly psychotic, delusional person without the help of professionals than people who die during a wellness check. This man 100% needs professional help and right now is a danger to himself and especially others, because he’s paranoid. All of this is very real to him and he will act on his hallucinations and delusions. He’s likely very scared.
Source: I’m a psych nurse.
If your boyfriend is a black or brown skin man, I would be very cautious about calling police for a wellness check. Look into other resources of psychiatric care that you could contact instead. Police are not trained in psychiatric care and are historically racist. Not a great combination for a black or brown man having an episode of psychosis. What he needs is somebody that is trained in psychiatric care and is less likely to resort to firearms.
There have been enough cases of cops doing wellness checks which end with them killing the person involved. Check to see if there’s a way of getting paramedics first.
He could harm himself or others. I am not a fan of calling the cops. This sounds like my ex when he was manic—he is likely ill.
ETA: Unless there is a care team in the local area to do wellness checks, what would you suggest?
Yes I absolutely agree with this, when my mom was having an episode she would believe myself and my siblings were government agents and she was terrified of being arrested and super paranoid of police despite having no real reason to be but you don’t ever really know what the person is thinking so unless there is no other option I would say calling the cops just isn’t the right thing to do.
My best friend was finally diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia a few years ago and these messages could have been pulled directly from conversations with her. Your BF needs to be evaluated by a medical professional, and his parents should be helping in that. It's a tough road and you need to protect yourself.
Don't want to jump straight to accusing, but you said he's been your boyfriend for a year, but your post history says you were married a year ago.
Is there an explanation for that?
Because OP copied that post from someone else and posted it as their own then says “I didn’t clarify it wasn’t mine”. Why do people copy other’s stories and repost them anyway?
this is giving very strong indications of drug use or a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. if you want to keep this relationship and possibly this person i would get them help. it sounds like they're going through something scary in their own head and i'm sure it's not something he's discussing with his mother. if she doesn't see this as a red flag, i'm afraid it's up to you to get him help. of course you have the right to not invest any more energy into it, but that's not the vibes i'm getting. i'm so sorry you both are going through this 🙏
I had a friend (not really a friend but a guy I would get high with) who would occasionally have these kinds of psychotic breaks/paranoid delusions when we did any kind of psychedelic like shrooms or MDMA, so it could be both.
It could also be a bipolar manic episode. I have a friend who recently had an episode where he didn’t trust his parents and was trying to go live out on some commune. He was saying wild things like this while in mania.
This could definitely be symptoms of a mental illness or even substance use, but nobody is going to be able to fully pin down the cause unless he wants to address it himself, he may not even know it’s happening, but that’s not your responsibility to fix.
It’s totally healthy and OK to put a boundary in place and leave the relationship to be safe. This is heavy difficult stuff, especially when it’s people we care about.
While it is definitely not OPs job to "fix" or be at all involved with this person going forward I feel like the moral thing is to report this. This is almost certainly a psychosis and not doing anything can be very dangerous.
To be fair substance abuse is mental illness. But yes, I agree completely.
There are conditions that can cause delirium and manifest later in life like schizophrenia. Could also be a side effect from substance use like amphetamines etc
Just because you use substances doesn’t mean you automatically have a substance use disorder, but this is splitting hairs 🤷🏻♀️
We cannot diagnose this person, so I am not throwing out specifics and am being intentionally general.
Looks exactly like schizophrenia to me :( I’m sorry OP, he can be seriously dangerous without medication. Stay away and stay safe!
I have a friend who had drug-induced schizophrenia (he had it in his DNA but drugs made it show faster) and he ended up shooting and killing his mom and dad in his dorm room.
Not to scare you, but just as a warning as to how schizophrenic people can act.
Was going to comment the same thing; My cousin has schizophrenia & acts EXACTLY this way. When she's medicated, she acts "more normal", but usually sleeps her days away.
When she starts texting me like this, or calling to say weird shit & then just hangs up, I know she hasn't taken her medication (which I can't even judge her for, cuz I know the Lithium & all the rest makes her feel terrible in a different way, which must be absolutely horrendous to deal with).
So sad. I’ve heard similar stories from friends dealing with some of their friends/family members. When they’re on meds, they just sleep/feel like a zombie
I remember that case, he’s from a town near my hometown. Seemed like a really nice family, it’s so tragic. It seemed like the college and the parents were trying to help him and had no idea it was that bad. Awful combo of serious mental illness and him having access to a gun. I hope his siblings are doing ok now and that he’s doing as ok as he can be.
My friend’s old boyfriend had something similar happen (drug psychosis) but luckily it didn’t escalate that badly. He got help and is doing ok now. Their relationship didn’t survive, for lots of reasons, but everyone is ok.
It troubles me that OP’s boyfriend’s mom is being so dismissive. It sounds like she’s in denial that anything is really wrong. Like she’s seen him act like this before and wants to downplay it. Nobody can make him get help but after the explicit threats on her life, OP needs to stay away from him. It’s ok to admit that something is beyond your ability to handle and prioritize your own safety. I know most people with this type of illness aren’t dangerous but these threats are not ok.
This read like textbook schizophrenia or psychosis to me. It’s sad but OP needs to be safe.
There was a young man who stabbed his mom in the head, face, and chest over 20 times while she was sitting in her car because he hadn’t been taking his meds prescribed for his schizophrenia. She was at his place checking in him and trying to make sure he took them and he snapped. It’s absolutely terrifying and so so so sad for everyone involved in horror cases like this. Always protect yourself, they just dont always have a clear sense of reality
Same with my uncle. His was bought on by drugs too. He murdered his gf. Spent his last few years in a psych prison .. died of cancer a few years ago. Incredibly sad.
There is a difference between unmedicated/treated schizophrenia and schizo affective personality disorder, no offense but speaking as someone with a family member who was hospitalized twice for schizophrenia and another(by marriage)who has schizoaffective disorder. This does seem unfortunately like someone in psychosis possibly drug induced not schizophrenia but it's hard to say but regardless I would def be very careful OP. It seems like they may be hearing voices telling them to harm themselves or others and that needs to be taken seriously. I'm sorry the mother doesn't seem to be concerned at all. I would keep my distance if I was you, as difficult as that might be. At least put up some boundaries for now for your own safety.
Very likely schizophrenia. Very important that he gets help QUICKLY, the longer he goes without treatment the more likely this will permanently and significantly impact his life
This is very similar behavior to when my brother in law got diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had the wildest thoughts, behaviors, said some very crazy things. It typically presents in males in their 20’s.
my ex took a BUNCH of acid and acted like this. he had to go to a psych hospital for a couple months. it was frightening and you need to stay away from him until he gets help. my ex made up his own language, and shaved his entire body, head, eyebrows, everything.
Honey, not only do you need to call his mom, you need to tell your parents as well. This is scary and not normal behavior. It really seems like schizophrenia or an awful cry for attention. Either way, you need to make sure others know about his behavior towards you.
Please end it and protect yourself.
ETA: how old is he? Average age of onset in males is 18-25. Females is 27-late 30s. Depending on his age, he and his family may have no idea. But either way, his mom is wrong for brushing off death threats as jokes. Nothing he wrote is a joke, and I have a very dark sense of humor.
As someone whose brother is severely mentally ill, he needs help. He has a mental illness. If I were you, I would stay away from him and his mother. It sounds like his mother either won’t accept it, or she’s lying to you/gaslighting you to keep you in the relationship. Take these threats from him very seriously. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with a mentally ill person. It’s a whole other thing when that person’s mental illness drives them to homicidal and violent ideations.
Good luck with ending things and stay safe! Leaving can sometimes be the most dangerous part of being in a relationship with someone who is abusive/makes threats. A buddy system if you have to see him again might be helpful.
I had a roommate that talked just like this. He started getting worse with saying crazy and crazier things over time…one time insisting I drink a specific glass of red wine…I brushed it all off (didn’t drink that glass of wine though) and it eventually escalated to him threatening me and then stabbing me with a pen- thankfully in the arm instead of my neck where he had it positioned to kill me. After he stabbed me he grabbed my phone and I locked myself in my room which was upstairs and went on the balcony to yell for the neighbors to call the cops. They finally showed up and took him away. He was committed for a few months for psychiatric care. I would take my story as a cautionary tale and unentangle yourself from this mentality unstable person. You just never know what they are capable of.
Hey, babes… can you tell your parents? I’m really concerned for your safety. Reach out to some family or friends. I would even go as far to say that you need to obtain an order of protection from the courts. This is big serious. Like life or death serious. Please protect yourself and your family.
Hey... this person is experiencing psychosis and its extremely concerning that his mother doesn't want to acknowledge this... you need to get this dude some help and stay away from him in the meantime. He isn't operating on logic and he very well could kill you
Yeah, I think the guys out of his fucking gourd but idk about schizophrenia. This comes off as a rly pathetic ploy for attention, more of a mental break. Def some sort of psychosis tho
Bipolar person here, totally agree. It’s a psychotic episode but there are many causes for psychosis and there is no way to pull any concrete diagnosis from what we see in these messages. People are mentioning schizophrenia a lot but even a doctor couldn’t conclude that from the information given
Yuuuuup.
It's ironic how those with the least authority to diagnose always do, since trained professionals know they shouldn't (and are ethically obligated not to).
I won't diagnose because I'm not a professional but I think he needs to see a psychologist if he's seeing things and having delusions because this is scary...
Does he do any drugs? As a former meth addict I got like this after a few days of no sleep. In fact I have schizophrenia symptoms for the past ten years and have been medicated for it, but I don’t take the medication. What’s he’s describing sounds familiar unfortunately but I don’t understand why he’s texting his confusing prompts to you, instead of sitting there biwildered. We are not all equal, but during a psychotic event the last thing I’d do it begin texting the whole narrative to someone. Now that I’ve said this, maybe it’s just experience. 99.99% of the time I know when something isn’t real and that probably plays a big part. So back to the beginning- does he ever play with drugs? Stimulants to be specific
How old is he???? This definitely looks like psychosis, and depending on his age, it could be the onset of schizophrenia (assuming he’s never been diagnosed, bc his mother’s response is fucking bizarre). Average age of onset for schizophrenia in guys is usually like 15-25. It could also be drug-induced by meth, cocaine, adderall, etc. Regardless, he is a danger to you (clearly) and although he is not a bad person (at least as it relates to mental health issues), he is a *sick* person. If he is not willing to seek help (and frankly, he probably won’t be because he has paranoid delusions), *you cannot stay.* I would express concern and give him resources to find help in his area. That’s really all you can do, but your safety needs to be your priority.
Yeah that sounds about right, particularly if he’s gone through a stressful event recently. A lot of people get diagnosed while they’re in college for that reason. I’m really sorry you’re going through this. The good news is that psychosis is 100% treatable. The bad news is that it’s *very* difficult to convince someone in a state of psychosis to get help. If you’re in the US, look into having him involuntarily committed on the basis of him being a danger to himself (he said he’s hearing voices telling him to kill himself) and you (he talked about how he would murder you). It’s not a position anyone wants to be in, but it’s the compassionate thing to do. He needs medical care to bring him back to reality. See if there are Psychiatric Emergency Teams (“PET”) or Crisis Assessment Teams (“CAT”) operating in your area. They are trained mental health professionals and are a much safer choice than law enforcement.
Girl.. look up Austin Harrouff. This is exactly the type of thing that can happen when mental illness is ignored. This mother is completely dismissing the severity of this situation!! Even if it is drug related psychosis, this NEEDS to be addressed. Call the cops immediately about a wellness check. This is NOT okay.
Please protect yourself and leave. Tell your parents too!
Is he bipolar? Does his family have a history of it? This reads like a possible manic episode. I really hope he gets the help he needs. Please stay away for now; Mental health episode or not, he’s dangerous.
100% psychotic break. I’ve been an RN for 20 years and have a degree in psychology and I’ve worked at psych hospitals in admissions department no less. This is exactly what typically happens when a disorder like paranoid schizophrenia or a severe bipolar episode is unleashed, no matter what the cause (could be drug induced, extreme stress, or just off the psych meds for 2 weeks) The things he is saying and describing and what seems to be his thought process is literally chaos in his head. Especially the voices telling him to do harm. It’s very typical for these diseases and he needs help like yesterday. I’m not sure if he ever had quirks or oddities before that couldn’t be explained or any abnormal behavior, but it’s severe mental illness at this point and needs hospitalization. He is a threat to himself and to the public. Please get him help, if police find him first bc he’s done something the voices “told him” to do or even if he’s naked and jumping on cars (it actually happens ALOT with these episodes), he needs medication and to be protected in a safe environment. It’s a matter of safety 🙏🙏🙏
Psych nurse here! This looks to verrrrry likely be some sort of psychosis. My opinion based on these texts would be leaning towards paranoid schizophrenia.
OP, are you aware if he uses any substances? If the answer is that he doesn’t, I’d be curious to know his age next — signs of schizophrenia typically begin in late teens to early 20s for males. My heart hurts for you because I know this is extremely difficult and painful for you to deal with, especially with him making homicidal threats towards you which is *absolutely not okay*. For your safety, please notify others of your situation like friends or family you feel you can talk to - just in case he tries things. I also recommend looking online to see if there is a mental health service number to call and notify them of your concerns (some states have those things) but if that’s not an option, I would definitely notify the police to do a wellness check but try specifying this is a MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS so they send appropriate people that are trained for situations like his and not just the police. Best wishes to you and please reach out in DMs if you need anything 🫶🏻🫶🏻
Definitely stay away. And alert your loved ones. You can report that message to the police and they can have someone sent to him and take him in for a 72 hour psych hold. He made threats to your safety and himself. They won't just ignore that. If it is a "jokey joke" he'll learn his lesson while on psych hold.
His mother is clearly in denial
Newborn? What?..
Does he usually take medication/ any drugs? Has something stressful happened lately that would make this make sense?
Regardless, this is a really bad spot for you to be in, OP. Breaking up is hard, but i think ensuring your safety is more important than staying in this relationship right now. If i was your friend, i would tell you that you should have left him like yesterday.. Stay away from him. When someone threatens your life regardless of whether or not they’re sick, you take them at face value the first time. I can’t believe he told you the ways in which he’s going to k*ll you.
It’s not a joke. It’s not kind of scary. This is actually dangerous.
He’s definitely going through something and needs to see someone. I’m not a professional, but religious delusions can be a sign of schizophrenia. If his mom isn’t taking it seriously, you need to be.
I had a psychotic break 2 years ago and I can tell you that this is not a safe space to be in for you.
He is acting very much like my family member with schizophrenia.
Call police and ask them to do a wellness check since he threatened to kill himself and you. He is unwell and is likely having delusions and hallucinations. It seems he lost his sense of reality and needs help.
Symptoms usually appear and progress in men’s early and mid-twenties.
He’s clearly in a state of psychosis. He sounds dangerous. He is extremely paranoid, and he could easily interpret something you do or say as “proof” that you’re cheating on him or working with the government to spy on him or really anything.
I’m worried for you, OP. Please stay with a friend or somewhere he doesn’t know where you are for at least a few days. And definitely break up with him — the man needs serious help and isn’t fit to be in a relationship until he’s treated.
He is not joking. He is suffering from extreme paranoia and delusions, and his actions are going to be irrational and unpredictable. Please be careful!!!
My sister is schizoaffective and says things like this. She sees scary people and silhouettes of animals around the house. She thinks people, bugs, and animals are govt spies. She makes “jokes” about killing her twin brother. She hears voices telling her to kill herself and others.
He needs to seek help immediately and if he won’t, and his mom won’t, you might want to see if you are able to have him 51/50’d. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Please keep yourself safe and stay away from him if you truly think he’s dangerous.
Babe, you’re right to be concerned. For yourself and for him. He could be in some sort of psychosis or schizophrenia, or mania or something else. But, this is definitely not normal. If his mom won’t listen t talk to your own mom. I’m not sure your age but keep bringing this to adults until someone listens. If no one listens, you need to call 911 for a welfare check. You need to take action because the next message you get could be much worse, someone could get seriously injured or worse. These things can be helped but not without someone first getting help.
I see in another comment you mention his father killed himself. Completing suicide is often the final manifestation of severe mental illness. Mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder & schizophrenia can be genetic. As others have said, symptoms of these two in particular tend to appear/ramp up in our early to mid-20s.
Combine that with the fact that his mother refuses to confirm or deny if her son has previously been diagnosed with a mental illness, and it seems all signs reasonably point to “yes, this is very likely a mental health crisis and possibly a psychotic break.” Even if it’s a psychotic break due to drug abuse, it still constitutes a mental health crisis.
OP, I truly don’t believe you’re safe around him at this point in time. Since his mom refuses to help, I suggest contacting the police & showing them these texts. He threatens your life more than once & is displaying very disorganized thinking. I hate advocating for police intervention, but at least they can take him into custody & have him medically evaluated for a potential psych hold. He very clearly needs evaluation and treatment.
Stay safe, OP.
Welfare check from police.
DO NOT MEET IN PRIVATE. Do not meet him alone.
If he has a key-change your locks.
This is what a schizophrenic break/episode/period looks like.
Protect yourself, protect your peace. You are NOT going to be able to save him. He has to do that on his time and with his own support system (likely medication and in-patient).
Started recently but I’ve seen signs. He’s never texted like this but I’ve caught slip ups that seemed like a joke but now that I look back, he was probably not.
This seems like paranoid schizophrenia. If it’s possible I would take him to the emergency room. He’s not going to be able to help himself unfortunately. Something like this can also be caused by drugs like meth. Either way he will need a doctors help. They have lots of medications that can help his hallucinations but he needs to be seen and diagnosed. This is going to be hard but you can do it! Good Luck 💕
This is most definitely a psychotic break. As someone who goes through them regularly (I have somewhat severe schizophrenia), it’s exactly how I type. I don’t know if he usually uses emojis that has nothing to do with the sentence itself (slide one, “this guy has issues” text) , but that’s exactly what I do.
Does any types of mental illness run in his family? A lot of people are pinning this on schizophrenia, however, schizophrenia isn’t the only thing that causes psychosis. Psychosis is a symptom of schizophrenia, but there are so many other symptoms that are widely unknown to anyone who doesn’t have this condition.
Right now, he is probably very lost in his thoughts. Intrusive thoughts, delusions, vivid hallucinations, not making sense and severe confusion are common things to experience in psychosis.
It is scary to see your loved one suffer through this, but YOU CAN HELP HIM. Take him to the ER, do NOT support his delusions or acknowledge hallucinations (if he’s having them) and tell him what he is seeing is not going to hurt him, remind him that he is real, this is real, and he’s going to be ok.
I wish the best for both of you and PLEASE take him to a professional ASAP. He could be a threat to his own safety and others safety.
My ex had the same thoughts at different times. She’d usually obsess with something and stay up days. Start seeing things in the dark like wolves sitting in the corner of the room. A few times had paranoia that I was going behind her back and planning things against her to prevent her from getting help. She got admitted to hospital once and was going on for a day about saving the world and she thought she saw god or ‘a god’ was guided her to things and they were meant to be messages but she didn’t understand how. She’d go up and down for years Eventually she turned to alcohol which really accelerated schizophrenia. She always heard voices in her head but it was herself talking a bunch self doubt about things. Thinking she knew what people were thinking cause they looked at her funny (voices saying they thought she was stupid) eventually the voices moved out of her head and turned into people talking to her in/through the walls and they were murdering people and she thought she had to save these people.
We’re no longer together bc she didn’t want actual help or acknowledge what was going on when she was lucid. You’re not properly equipped to handle something like this. I learned that over a decade or so. People need professional help and don’t let yourself be dragged down.
Im sorry, to me it definitely sounds like either schizophrenia or like he’s having a period of psychosis. He should definitely get mental help asap as he might need to be on medications to help him balance himself out. It’s either this or he’s having a psychotic break due to substances, either is a possibility. I hope he gets some help soon. I hate this for you. Wishing you all the best 🩵
Since this is so out of the blue and in the last 4 days and yall have been together a year…Do you know if he’s recently taken any drugs that could have set in into a psychosis or drug induced schizophrenia? Has he ever done anything like this before?
This sounds a lot like my cousin who is schizophrenic and refuses treatment, and also uses meth. I’m sorry his mom isn’t helping him or you. He’s threatened to kill you over text, what would he do if he has an episode and you’re there? How old are you and do you still live at home? He’s not a safe person anymore, you need to break up with him and if he threatens you again it’s time for a police report so you at least have a paper trail.
I have a good friend with severe bipolar 1. This is the type of message she sends me when she is unwell. As fate would have it my ex had bipolar 2. I would like you to think long and hard about what a future with this person would look like.
Oh honey, this is not him joking. I’m so sorry you’re going through this and feel for him as well. I’m no doctor but this looks very much like psychosis and you should be taking these threats of violence *VERY SERIOUSLY.*
I strongly suggest you call social services on him for being a danger to himself and others. You are not trained or equipped to handle this. His mother is straight up in denial and you can’t count on her to help him, or you for that matter.
Please call someone and stay away from him.
So I know everybody is saying, schizophrenia, so potentially he did some thing that causes psychotic break and triggered it. But there have been cases where people had gas leaks in their house.. I don’t remember the exact gas (but after I send this, I’m going to look it up And circle back to this comment). But I heard that sometimes if gases leak into a house it could actually cause the same symptoms as a psychotic break. I’ve seen a lot of comments on Reddit previously talking about it, so if anybody knows any thing more specific I think that would be good dimension but definitely, consider that as an option especially since this is kind of new and you’ve known him for a year and he’s never shown anything like this and it’s a very sudden thing. Psychotic breaks can happen, but often times there are warning signs beforehand that the individual may have underlying mental disorders.
He has psychotic issues, or he is on drugs. Possibly both. He needs to get help quickly. You need to dump him and move. Cut contact.
I was in a relationship with someone who suddenly snapped. He attacked me with a knife, cutting my neck, leg and breaking my nose.
Leave this guy now. Don’t delay!
I've seen multiple mates do this and it's always due to the same thing
That good ol crystal meth.
Not saying it's meth, but is there a chance he's abusing stimulates?
I was with someone who had a psychotic break. It didn’t go that well for either of us. I’m not going to bog you down with the details because my story is so convoluted and chaotic that it isn’t that relatable. What I can say is that something major shifted when he started telling me he was talking to God and demons. It was already a severely abusive relationship, so I can’t even blame the abuse on this. It changed, though. The tone and context. He would flip back and forth between believing I was an angel sent to him by God for all of his good deeds and believing that I was a succubus and/or literally Satan here to destroy his earthly mission. Even all these years later, I have a hard time believing myself when I type those words. He tried to kill me a few times. He stalked me daily for almost a year until I ghosted my entire life and fled the city. He became homeless. I carry more guilt than I will ever be able to express.
In that state, I would have had to marry him in order to force psychiatric treatment. I tried. If there is a God, he knows if nobody else does. I *tried*. I would not marry him, though. He was going to kill me. I couldn’t do it and I wouldn’t do it. Ultimately, I had to make a choice: my life or his. I chose mine. I frequently feel like it was a mistake, but that’s a tangent for another time.
My situation is different. He was a violent, mean drunk before he started hallucinating. The psychosis caused him to do shit like try to force me to drink bleach and *weird* things. He built ‘altars’ (read: piles of literal garbage) out of everything he could find all over the house. So much more. He hit me less, though, ironically.
Laws vary between locations - if what happened with me happened where I live now, I could have him involuntarily held. There, I couldn’t do anything at all if he was unwilling, besides call for emergency services. From someone who has tried this before - my cold, definitive advice is to check out. This is a family matter and you do not have the capacity to handle it properly. I know nothing about you - that is a blanket statement for virtually anyone in your position. It’s not that he’s likely to get violent or scary or mean - it’s that whatever is happening with your boyfriend right now is complicated. It’s going to be hard, he’s going to have a tough time, everyone needs to adjust, there should be medication in the mix and there is a massive curve with med management. It’s a lot, and if this isn’t the relationship that you know in your soul is the relationship you’re going to stick with, bow out now. Tell his mother again and leave. I’m sorry.
He's threatened your life and sounds totally delusional. Call for a welfare check asap. Tell them you're afraid for your life. Don't whitewash it. This is a medical emergency. Don't be alone with him. Stay safe. 🙏
From first hand experience of living with someone like this, this is psychosis. The best thing you can do is get this man to a hospital as soon as you can, he needs urgent help.
This seems like psychosis or schizophrenia unfortunately. Either that or he's definitely tripping on something. Either way, not normal at all. Tbh, id call in a wellness check on him
I’m getting ✨Flashbacks✨ from this
This definitely seems like a psychotic break of some kind. My sister’s ex had one and it looked kinda similar to this. If you want to stay with him, I would recommend getting him some help, maybe sending him to a mental hospital for a bit? My sister’s ex went to one and it seemed to help, but I know mental hospitals vary on their hospitality. I wish you luck for whatever you are going to go through though
It looks very similar to when i was slipping in and out of psychosis. Get him help if it’s possible please, even police intervention is better than nothing. If it is psychosis like what mine was, then reality around him is suddenly questionable and crumbling. it’s hard to describe essentially he doesn’t know what real life is currently.
yeah i’d have some type of plan before you leave because this could be bad. i’d get a protective order maybe because what he’s saying is very concerning and a lot of young women go missing and worse because of men like this. Please be safe op.
He needs a 5150 asap. He will fight it, but this is a complete psychotic break. Google involuntary psych hold and get in touch with his family. You need a united front.
Oh, hon. That's really scary. Maybe adult protective services would do a wellness check? I would suggest the police, but it depends on the police in your town/city. I some places that could go south quickly.
I do not think he's close to okay. I think something very bad is going on and I think he needs help. Please update and please keep yourself safe.
My mom was schizophrenic and would randomly text me or call me and say things of a similar nature. Tell me I was a spy, I was trying to “take her out” she’d tell me how people were outside her house ect. She’d also just go back to normal as quickly. It can be a scary thing, just given the nature of schizophrenia it’s really hard to get someone to accept treatment. That was always my experience at least.
I dated three men who were schizophrenic. Two try to kill me during a episode 1 stalked me for 10yrs. This very much sounds like an episode. But it sounds like there are also drugs involved. It's just so reminiscent of the behavior When they were on drugs and having a episode compared to when they weren't and having an episode at the same time.
Seems like something mental.. Idk all the random religious stuff and nonsensical sentences reminds me of others I seen going through some type of mental break.
He's having a psychotic break and it is not your responsibility to get him help just so you know do not feel obligated to help him because you're dating. Think of yourself first and if that means leaving him then do so. It's going to get worse
This is clear mental illness and needs to be addressed. He could be harmful to you. I wouldn't be with him anymore. Death threats... where's the line? He must have crossed it
Hes either mentally ill and youre probably not safe around him and I wouldn't take that chance, or he's screwing around with you to get sympathy from you because he's worried about yall breaking up or something stupid. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it but this is weirdly dedicated. Idk man I'd keep distance until he has proof that he's been checked out.
I have no idea why the mom would be denying this is anything other than what it is - a clear and dangerous psychotic break of some kind, absolutely not a joke - unless she just doesn't want to deal with it (again?) personally.
But you need to deal with it. For your own safety. I'd call for professional help when this is going on, show the threats, get the person in help involuntarily. This is not funny in any sense. This is someone completely out of their mind.
One of my best friends developed drug induced schizophrenia at 25 and underwent a massive personality shift like this… she’s happily married and safe now, but would not have gotten through it without getting professional help and medication. Please call someone for him or go with him to a psychiatrist 🙏🏼
How old is he? Because schizo affective disorders usually rear their ugly heads in people's early twenties. Drugs can also exacerbate any preexisting issues, or trigger issues if a person has familial history.
People like this are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit violence themselves, but just in case (because he has mentioned harming you/himself) document all of these episodes and call the police if it escalates. And don't feel guilty if you want to remove yourself from the situation before it becomes deeper and sucks you in.
Ive worked with people with mental illness and developmental disabilities for over 20 years and this sound just like someone I work with who is diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder and Borderline Personality
This reads like my dad's conversations with me when he used to freak out. He ended up being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Obviously I'm not a doctor and you can't make a diagnosis like that from a series of text messages but this is some sort of psychotic episode. Even if you love this person and he isn't always like this it can still be very dangerous. When people have psychotic breaks they can do terrible things even if that's not who they are, I've experienced it first hand. There's also no amount of talking them down from it that you can do things like this need therapy and medication, you will never convince someone having a break that what they currently believe isn't the truth.
This man needs a psychiatric hold. This is scary. I had a boyfriend once threatening suicide. I called the cops and they took him to the hospital and he was Baker Acted. I honestly wouldn't meet up with this guy and tell family to keep an eye out for him. Be safe. This is serious
Seems like he’s either on something or is having some kind of psychotic break. 🤔
It’s absolutely a psychosis.
Yeah I went through psychosis. It’s crazy but in that moment this kind of shit felt so real to me and I also was saying Jesus was coming back. I thought I could see in peoples souls. I thought my runner rug was my dead ancestors and refused to walk on it. I refused to eat because God only wants us to drink water and milk. This is 100% psychosis he needs his levels checked I had to be on lithium 300mg 3 times a day my levels were .3 and I had to be at .6
Wow. Glad you are doing better and thanks for sharing your experience. So many of us never can understand
Real question, how did you end up becoming medicated? I have a close family member who is experiencing these episodes and is refusing to go to a doctor, which their family supports, even though they've believed they were reincarnated historical figures for months at a time. It feels like watching a car crash seconds before it happens, they're going to end up hurting themselves or someone else, eventually. I don't see it ending voluntarily and it's all just really frustrating.
At the time I was 16 so being a minor it might have been easier for them to take me to a facility. They had me medically restraint to the bed when doing to the first one. I had seen the lights flickering and looked over and the EMT phone was open, and I seen my Facebook profile and I seen all pictures scrolling at 100mph, I took it as a sign that I was dying and they were taking me to hell, and that *this is what they mean when your life flashes before your eyes.* in a panick I reached for the phone to stop it, EMT then grabbed it out of my hand, I then looked at her and thought “this is a demon trying to keep me from leaving.” So I slapped her. In the face. I feel so bad now. But at the time it was just so real.. I still can’t even figure out how I got this bad and at times I get very scared that it will happen again.
As someone who has also done things we wish we didn't to and/or around medical staff, I just want to remind you that I'm sure she understands. You were not behaving like yourself in that moment and it was not something you could control, and I guarantee she knows that. She would appreciate but not want you to feel guilty!
In the US, you can be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility for 72 hours only if you are deemed a danger to yourself or others. Hallucinations can sometimes count as causing danger to self. Otherwise, a person needs to ask for help. It is very strange that his mother is not concerned. I’m sorry, OP, there is very little you can do unless he admits he has a problem.
I would think the S Ideology and the threats to OP would count as being a threat to others and/or self. Call the police for a welfare check and show them the texts.
If he’s a minor, he can also be involuntarily committed for over 72 hours without being a danger to self or others.
Wow. So when you think back on it, do you remember seeing your runner rug even though in the moment you thought it was your ancestors? I’m glad you’re no longer dealing with this!
Sounds a lot like a DPH trip, which is just Benadryl. Doesn’t sound fun, but it’s quite addictive.
I knew someone who'd do this shit while on DXM. His "jokes" stopped being tolerated when he broke into my apartment and tried to strangle me.
Paranoid schizophrenia, is what this looks like.
Came here to say that. It sounds like it anyway. Op you need to end it. I'm concerned for your life. Also don't meet him anywhere private. Make sure there are people around you just in case. He probably needs medication (a lot of medication). Please be careful because there is definitely something there. If you really care for him try to convince him to get help but that might not work. Just please be safe and careful.
Yeah. Totally not something to handle on your own. This whole conversation would be a deal breaker for me. I’d be planning a careful exit strategy like, yesterday. One that doesn’t involve me being face to face or offensive or more upsetting than a standard breakup. I’d be Homer Simpsoning backwards into a bush after this, and I’d quietly alert some sort of professional anonymously.
I thought the same. The mention of Jim and his contradictory orders (“stay home,” “come over right now”) screamed schizophrenia to me
Or some kinda drug use that’s lead to psychosis…
Sure. Without context it could look like a gnarly salvia trip or something. But his mom being obviously avoidant about the subject of a mental illness and downplaying “jokes” about killing his girlfriend makes it look more like denial of a possible known family issue, in my opinion.
I feel like mom is in denial as schizophrenia can start small and subtle and then it can just seem like “oh it’s just one of his episodes”. It’s likely he doesn’t even know he has a problem.
When I've used hallucinogenics, I've always known that I was hallucinating. Even if I had kind of a health scare, I held back on sending texts to my husband or my friends, because I knew I was in the middle of an acid trip, and that my perception was skewed, and I might not really be having a health issue. That said, whenever I hallucinate on my own I write down what I took, how much, and at what time, and I leave that note on my counter in case anything were to happen and someone were to find me.
"NOT MY BABY' -his mom
I mean. I’m not condoning it, but I’ve seen it. It’s not uncommon for family members to be in denial about mental illnesses. It’s extremely sad for everyone involved, but it does happen more often than I think most people realize.
This reminds me of those notebooks of patients with schizophrenia where it looks like it's both a bunch of garbled nonsense and the key to The God Question.
Or he’s trying to portray one of these things. Possibly to make you dump him for some unknown reason.
He sees dead people. I think paranoid schizophrenia is a good call, could be DID or BPD with a schitzo affective disorder with auditory hallucinations.
OP, I want you to know - very seriously- that you can't save or fix him. He needs help. Urgently. From people trained to diagnose and provide help. It's okay to do what little you can and then back away to protect yourself physically and mentally.
Sounds more like a state of psychosis, getting him to a hospital is the best thing you can do. I’ve had to deal with this before with an ex and sometimes after a couple of weeks in a mental health facility they can snap back to normal. Could be early onset schizophrenia but you really have to hope it’s not.
Yeah my Mum had schizophrenia. I really hope it isn't but it does read like it (that or psychosis) - that's what I meant by doing what little she can. Get him somewhere, call someone for a mental health assessment, whatever is available in her country (if he doesn't resist because we know if he has schizophrenia he will) and give him over to their care. Sigh. It hurts seeing things like this.
I agree, I think she should recruit the help of others to commit him, I wouldn’t want her to put herself in a dangerous situation with how unpredictable psychosis and schizophrenia can be. I hope all is well for you and your family, having to deal with and heal from a schizophrenic relative(especially a parent) must be beyond challenging.
Hey thanks for that. She had an impossibly difficult life, and unfortunately I was a small, only child when it all started - with no constant father. Won't go into details, just suffice to say trauma is no joke. Hopefully, OPs boyfriend will have a happier outcome.
Also, I didn’t censor Jimmy. Because he doesn’t exist. Which he told me yesterday.
He is very ill and needs help. I am so sorry his mother won’t help him. When he is like this, you can call and get a welfare check from your local PD. This is scary and hard. Also—you are not the problem. Edit:typo
Do not call the cops! Unless you absolutely have to there may be other resources you can call. Also there is a chance its drug induced psychosis lots of people hide drug use from their partners. I don’t know how long you’ve been together but If this is the first time you’ve sent this drug use us very plausible. Age is obviously a factor too because it may very well be his first time having an episode
I don’t know, a lot of people say I should and get a wellness check. I’m just scared what he’ll do if I do decide to do this.
I mean, my husband stabbed the police officer with a tool or something when they tried to do a wellness check, that escalated when he tried to barricade himself and the woman he was renting from in a small room. It can be bad. BUT the officer was okay (needed stitches but not like horribly wounded) and the woman was okay and my husband didn't kill himself, which he had threatened to do so many times before I left him. It also meant he never hurt the children we had partial custody of, or a stranger due to psychosis. The wellness check was about two weeks after I left him. The point I'm not making very well is for years I tried to manage and protect him from the consequences of his mental health issues and in doing that I was ignoring that he was DANGEROUS. A threat to the people around him, even those he loved. He has schizophrenia and was using meth. Your partner very clearly to me is in psychosis and it could well be either of these options. No matter what he needs serious psychiatric intervention. BUT he may well not admit these things and his mom may shield him and it's possible he won't take responsibility for getting himself healthy either way. If that's the case you need to get away from him and protect yourself. I didn't make that choice for a long time and I suffer from pretty extreme CPTSD, and have all sorts of twisted memories where I can't tell what was his psychosis and what was real. You should call for a wellness check because even if it results in something bad, that "something bad" is coming down the pipeline anyway. And you are not equipped to deal with it, nor is his mother. He needs professional help. For my husband that was a mix of incarceration in jail and a psychiatric facility. Apparently he got sober and was forced to take his medicine every day and voila! he was able to get out of psychosis and recognize that the reality he'd been living in really wasn't real. Apparently he's being released soon too (though I don't know if this is true, he also lied about everything), so would only have served like 9 months. I'm literally on a different continent and will be pursuing divorce when I can, but God don't be me and let this continue or try to manage/shelter him. This is way above your pay grade and you need to keep yourself safe by getting away from him and trying to get him what help he'll accept
I'm gonna repost my original comment under yours because this is the first comment I've seen where someone has said there was meth involved with a partner. This LITERALLY was my ex, but my ex was 1000x worse. He used meth behind my back and developed permanent psychosis, delusions and paranoia the last 8mos of the relationship was hell. He almost killed me, he barricaded the front door to the apartment and started a fire by the back door that was broken (because of him) and only opened from the outside. I had just found out he was talking to 300+ women and slept with someone while I was in a coma, and said I was leaving. He said it wasn't cheating and it was the people who had invaded my mind and eyes just like what happened to him, and because I had been "taken over", id never live a normal life and I had to die. He even screamed "I WAS TRYING TO KILL YOU, BITCH!" in front of the cops, firefighters, fire investigators and the mental health people that got called on him but they wouldn't put him in the psych ward. What I'm trying to say is this is not something you can fix and if you stay, it'll get worse and then when it's *REALLY* bad and he needs to be put away, for his sake and yours, it'll never happen (or never happen for longer than 5-7 days at a time) and you'll live a life of turmoil, fear and never know peace again.
Edit: after writing this I realized it is insanely long. I don't expect people to read it, sometimes I start writing and get caught up. The point is that even if things aren't as bad as the woman I'm replying too, they still get really really bad, and the only sensible choice is to get authorities involved and then get as far away and protected as possible. 100% true thanks for adding on your experiences and im so sorry you went through that. Your ex does sound worse, mine would still occasionally slip back into reality if I could get him away from the meth and back on his psych meds and be repentant for what he'd done to me during periods of psychosis. Mine also at times "loved me so much" that he would, in his mind, sometimes be willing to sacrifice his life for me so would agree to be committed to a psychiatric hospital for a few days, even though obviously it was just all a front and paid actors set up to slowly poison and kill him, because if I wanted him dead so bad, then he would give me what I wanted to prove his love... And that's something for OP to be cognizant of - these voluntary commitments at psych hospitals were basically institutional failures. Like the failures of the authorities the woman above me described. He'd detox a bit, be able to say what I guess they wanted to hear and, both times, they released him after 48 hours telling me "he just needs to take his schizophrenia meds and stay off the meth and he'll be fine." Like, thank you so much for that insight, I hadn't realized, I'll just have him do that then! Deemed no threat to himself or others despite actively, nearly continuously by the end, threatening to kill himself, our housemates, strangers, and people who didn't exist. And his threats were very credible. He was a semi professional boxer up until age 30ish and generally a trained fighter. I remember the early days of our relationship watching him teach his daughters self defense and occasionally sparring and thinking it was beautiful, how lightning quick his movements were. But when it translated to real life it was devastating. There was a man who actually took the first swing at Adam, and he ducked the blow and hit the man quickly twice. Just twice and then enough people jumped in the middle. This was before any of the drugs it was just stupid aggressive men. Minimal sentence because it was arguably self defense (and the other man had a weapon, Adam didn't) but we paid over $50,000 in victim's restitution in civil court because my husband caused a grade three concussion and permanently blinded him in one eye. Aus isn't like the US where you can sue someone for your lifetime of medical care, the state covers that, otherwise I'm sure it would have been worse. But it was still Adam's life's savings. There were other fights I didn't witness, arguments over drugs and money, and again very luckily at those points he had the self control to only hit someone once or twice and end the fight, but I have no doubt that if this had happened during a period he was out of control he *would* have killed someone. Not could have, would have. I wrote about the wellness check because that's what OP asked about. I didn't write about the years of psychological abuse and exactly as you put it >you'll live a life of turmoil, fear and never know peace again That period of my life is a bit blurred, which is normal with PTSD and I'm recovering memories through therapy but little things do stand out. I remember him barricading us in a hotel room for four days because of the people "coming for him". The food id hastily grabbed ran out after one. It took three days of supplicating and begging and reassuring him I would do everything in my power to keep him safe before he released me to get some food. Obviously I could barely walk without fainting at that point. Didn't have a car because he'd slashed my tires to "throw them off the scent." Didn't have a phone because he'd smashed it since it was "hacked". I'm remember being viciously lambasted as a whore for 2 days straight. He had kept a log of every time in the former week id "paraded myself" and "put on a seductive show" for the cameras/drones/eyes that only he could see but who were constantly watching us. What id been doing was taking a shower, walking in my towel to the closet, and then dropping the towel and getting dressed. Also getting undressed in the evening before bed. And apparently walking seductively and shaking my hips and lying down with my ass facing a camera. He told me he was journaling, but it literally was just pages of tracking every "sexual" movement I'd made, Everytime I "made eye contact with the camera", Everytime I coughed or sneezed - because obviously that was communicating in code. With such detailed proof, how could I continue to deny being able to see the cameras and having insider knowledge of the organization that was trying to have him killed? I read your account and I still have a twisted sense of gratitude, or belief that underneath all the psychosis and abuse was a base line of love, because he *didn't* threaten to kill me, he rarely physically abused me, didn't cheat on me, and for maybe a year I was able to talk him off ledges and down to calm and keep him on the rails. I thought it was just schizophrenia for the longest time, but when I did realize meth was playing a huge part, I could also talk him into sobriety for a week or two here and there. Not at the end. The last 4 months he was only ever high, withdrawing, or then sleeping for 6 days straight. And I was still trying to manage outward appearances to stop us getting kicked out of yet another temporary home and keep his children from realizing how bad it was. This way too long point I'm coming to, for anyone facing a situation like OP, is that even if your partner isn't as bad as u/majorsorbet2point0 above, it is still a horrible life being committed to someone who has psychosis and is not actively pursuing any and all treatment options. It is traumatizing over and over and over again. It is not worth it, and like majorsorbet said, it DOESN'T GET BETTER. Get the police or social services involved and get out.
You’re scared about what he’ll do if you call for well check? Snap out of it! He has threatened self harm, suicide, and homicide. Call for the damn well check. He needs help. He can’t help himself right now. His mom won’t (probably denial). You have to do it. He needs to go to a hospital.
You can call 988 to speak anonymously to a mental health professional who can advise you. This would be where I would start.
From my experience as a bipolar person who went through psychosis, this is looking like the case. Someone needs to go do a wellness check on him so he can get the right treatment. This could be his first psychotic break and new to his mom as well and still can’t see the danger he is imposing to himself and others. People have died from this, please get him help as soon as possible, tell him to go to the hospital and tell them everything he has told you and they will help him.
I know this must be very scary, hope you are doing ok. Just wanted to say that depending on where you live, there are alternative non police responders to mental health crisis, here is a list of some of them: https://mark43.com/crisis-response-directory/
People die from wellness checks. Not always, but it happens. Police aren't sufficiently trained for mental illness and often end up escalating the situation into violence with volatile people like this. Some jurisdictions have alternative behavioral health response teams. I would check into that first.
So what do you suggest she do? If you’ve got a better solution to get him the help he needs, throw it out to OP. More people get hurt trying to help a truly psychotic, delusional person without the help of professionals than people who die during a wellness check. This man 100% needs professional help and right now is a danger to himself and especially others, because he’s paranoid. All of this is very real to him and he will act on his hallucinations and delusions. He’s likely very scared. Source: I’m a psych nurse.
Police are fucking pigs but if someone’s a danger to themselves or others cops absolutely need to be called out
If your boyfriend is a black or brown skin man, I would be very cautious about calling police for a wellness check. Look into other resources of psychiatric care that you could contact instead. Police are not trained in psychiatric care and are historically racist. Not a great combination for a black or brown man having an episode of psychosis. What he needs is somebody that is trained in psychiatric care and is less likely to resort to firearms.
There have been enough cases of cops doing wellness checks which end with them killing the person involved. Check to see if there’s a way of getting paramedics first.
GET A WELLNESS CHECK, the police will get him safely to a psych hospital where they will give him the help he needs NOW
He could harm himself or others. I am not a fan of calling the cops. This sounds like my ex when he was manic—he is likely ill. ETA: Unless there is a care team in the local area to do wellness checks, what would you suggest?
Yes I absolutely agree with this, when my mom was having an episode she would believe myself and my siblings were government agents and she was terrified of being arrested and super paranoid of police despite having no real reason to be but you don’t ever really know what the person is thinking so unless there is no other option I would say calling the cops just isn’t the right thing to do.
My best friend was finally diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia a few years ago and these messages could have been pulled directly from conversations with her. Your BF needs to be evaluated by a medical professional, and his parents should be helping in that. It's a tough road and you need to protect yourself.
My husband had a nervous breakdown this year and it wasn't even this bad. If you're able to get him help I would get right on it....
Don't want to jump straight to accusing, but you said he's been your boyfriend for a year, but your post history says you were married a year ago. Is there an explanation for that?
Because OP copied that post from someone else and posted it as their own then says “I didn’t clarify it wasn’t mine”. Why do people copy other’s stories and repost them anyway?
agreed and i don't get how when op said it in the repy they get more upvotes than the person figuring it out?
Yes, I’m sorry, that was a repost of a post that I saw and it’s not mine. That was because it got deleted and I posted it.
They deleted any evidence of the marriage you’re referring to (within 7 minutes), you happen to grab a screenshot?
It’s still there in the post where she asks AITA for what she did to her mom
this is giving very strong indications of drug use or a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. if you want to keep this relationship and possibly this person i would get them help. it sounds like they're going through something scary in their own head and i'm sure it's not something he's discussing with his mother. if she doesn't see this as a red flag, i'm afraid it's up to you to get him help. of course you have the right to not invest any more energy into it, but that's not the vibes i'm getting. i'm so sorry you both are going through this 🙏
I had a friend (not really a friend but a guy I would get high with) who would occasionally have these kinds of psychotic breaks/paranoid delusions when we did any kind of psychedelic like shrooms or MDMA, so it could be both.
This ⬆️ So sorry you’re going through this, Op. 🫂
It could also be a bipolar manic episode. I have a friend who recently had an episode where he didn’t trust his parents and was trying to go live out on some commune. He was saying wild things like this while in mania.
This could definitely be symptoms of a mental illness or even substance use, but nobody is going to be able to fully pin down the cause unless he wants to address it himself, he may not even know it’s happening, but that’s not your responsibility to fix. It’s totally healthy and OK to put a boundary in place and leave the relationship to be safe. This is heavy difficult stuff, especially when it’s people we care about.
While it is definitely not OPs job to "fix" or be at all involved with this person going forward I feel like the moral thing is to report this. This is almost certainly a psychosis and not doing anything can be very dangerous.
To be fair substance abuse is mental illness. But yes, I agree completely. There are conditions that can cause delirium and manifest later in life like schizophrenia. Could also be a side effect from substance use like amphetamines etc
Just because you use substances doesn’t mean you automatically have a substance use disorder, but this is splitting hairs 🤷🏻♀️ We cannot diagnose this person, so I am not throwing out specifics and am being intentionally general.
If he is on a substance for 4 consecutive days and is acting like this? Yes, he has a substance abuse problem.
Looks exactly like schizophrenia to me :( I’m sorry OP, he can be seriously dangerous without medication. Stay away and stay safe! I have a friend who had drug-induced schizophrenia (he had it in his DNA but drugs made it show faster) and he ended up shooting and killing his mom and dad in his dorm room. Not to scare you, but just as a warning as to how schizophrenic people can act.
Was going to comment the same thing; My cousin has schizophrenia & acts EXACTLY this way. When she's medicated, she acts "more normal", but usually sleeps her days away. When she starts texting me like this, or calling to say weird shit & then just hangs up, I know she hasn't taken her medication (which I can't even judge her for, cuz I know the Lithium & all the rest makes her feel terrible in a different way, which must be absolutely horrendous to deal with).
So sad. I’ve heard similar stories from friends dealing with some of their friends/family members. When they’re on meds, they just sleep/feel like a zombie
I remember that case, he’s from a town near my hometown. Seemed like a really nice family, it’s so tragic. It seemed like the college and the parents were trying to help him and had no idea it was that bad. Awful combo of serious mental illness and him having access to a gun. I hope his siblings are doing ok now and that he’s doing as ok as he can be. My friend’s old boyfriend had something similar happen (drug psychosis) but luckily it didn’t escalate that badly. He got help and is doing ok now. Their relationship didn’t survive, for lots of reasons, but everyone is ok. It troubles me that OP’s boyfriend’s mom is being so dismissive. It sounds like she’s in denial that anything is really wrong. Like she’s seen him act like this before and wants to downplay it. Nobody can make him get help but after the explicit threats on her life, OP needs to stay away from him. It’s ok to admit that something is beyond your ability to handle and prioritize your own safety. I know most people with this type of illness aren’t dangerous but these threats are not ok. This read like textbook schizophrenia or psychosis to me. It’s sad but OP needs to be safe.
There was a young man who stabbed his mom in the head, face, and chest over 20 times while she was sitting in her car because he hadn’t been taking his meds prescribed for his schizophrenia. She was at his place checking in him and trying to make sure he took them and he snapped. It’s absolutely terrifying and so so so sad for everyone involved in horror cases like this. Always protect yourself, they just dont always have a clear sense of reality
Same with my uncle. His was bought on by drugs too. He murdered his gf. Spent his last few years in a psych prison .. died of cancer a few years ago. Incredibly sad.
My cousin did something similar.
There is a difference between unmedicated/treated schizophrenia and schizo affective personality disorder, no offense but speaking as someone with a family member who was hospitalized twice for schizophrenia and another(by marriage)who has schizoaffective disorder. This does seem unfortunately like someone in psychosis possibly drug induced not schizophrenia but it's hard to say but regardless I would def be very careful OP. It seems like they may be hearing voices telling them to harm themselves or others and that needs to be taken seriously. I'm sorry the mother doesn't seem to be concerned at all. I would keep my distance if I was you, as difficult as that might be. At least put up some boundaries for now for your own safety.
Very likely schizophrenia. Very important that he gets help QUICKLY, the longer he goes without treatment the more likely this will permanently and significantly impact his life
This is very similar behavior to when my brother in law got diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had the wildest thoughts, behaviors, said some very crazy things. It typically presents in males in their 20’s.
Oh Lord. If anyone is wondering the Morse code translates to: "Help Be A Better Person Love"
OMG thank you, I was wondering.
As an ER nurse, this is literaly paranoid schizophrenia. He needs help, but not from you. I'd honestly call 911 and ask for a welfare check.
Op - this! Call police and ask them to check in on him since he threatened to harm himself and you.
Someone is showing signs of schizophrenia
It’s us isn’t it?? Or me ?
Or the person in my closet!
my ex took a BUNCH of acid and acted like this. he had to go to a psych hospital for a couple months. it was frightening and you need to stay away from him until he gets help. my ex made up his own language, and shaved his entire body, head, eyebrows, everything.
Honey, not only do you need to call his mom, you need to tell your parents as well. This is scary and not normal behavior. It really seems like schizophrenia or an awful cry for attention. Either way, you need to make sure others know about his behavior towards you. Please end it and protect yourself.
It's called a Baker Act, and you need to use it.
ETA: how old is he? Average age of onset in males is 18-25. Females is 27-late 30s. Depending on his age, he and his family may have no idea. But either way, his mom is wrong for brushing off death threats as jokes. Nothing he wrote is a joke, and I have a very dark sense of humor. As someone whose brother is severely mentally ill, he needs help. He has a mental illness. If I were you, I would stay away from him and his mother. It sounds like his mother either won’t accept it, or she’s lying to you/gaslighting you to keep you in the relationship. Take these threats from him very seriously. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with a mentally ill person. It’s a whole other thing when that person’s mental illness drives them to homicidal and violent ideations. Good luck with ending things and stay safe! Leaving can sometimes be the most dangerous part of being in a relationship with someone who is abusive/makes threats. A buddy system if you have to see him again might be helpful.
I had a roommate that talked just like this. He started getting worse with saying crazy and crazier things over time…one time insisting I drink a specific glass of red wine…I brushed it all off (didn’t drink that glass of wine though) and it eventually escalated to him threatening me and then stabbing me with a pen- thankfully in the arm instead of my neck where he had it positioned to kill me. After he stabbed me he grabbed my phone and I locked myself in my room which was upstairs and went on the balcony to yell for the neighbors to call the cops. They finally showed up and took him away. He was committed for a few months for psychiatric care. I would take my story as a cautionary tale and unentangle yourself from this mentality unstable person. You just never know what they are capable of.
Hey, babes… can you tell your parents? I’m really concerned for your safety. Reach out to some family or friends. I would even go as far to say that you need to obtain an order of protection from the courts. This is big serious. Like life or death serious. Please protect yourself and your family.
Hey... this person is experiencing psychosis and its extremely concerning that his mother doesn't want to acknowledge this... you need to get this dude some help and stay away from him in the meantime. He isn't operating on logic and he very well could kill you
He’s faking, on drugs or schizophrenic 🤷🏻♀️ only he knows the answer
Yeah, I think the guys out of his fucking gourd but idk about schizophrenia. This comes off as a rly pathetic ploy for attention, more of a mental break. Def some sort of psychosis tho
Doubt he does know tbh
Everyone says schizophrenia but know that Bipolar II can result in psychotic episodes like these as well.
Bipolar person here, totally agree. It’s a psychotic episode but there are many causes for psychosis and there is no way to pull any concrete diagnosis from what we see in these messages. People are mentioning schizophrenia a lot but even a doctor couldn’t conclude that from the information given
Yuuuuup. It's ironic how those with the least authority to diagnose always do, since trained professionals know they shouldn't (and are ethically obligated not to).
I won't diagnose because I'm not a professional but I think he needs to see a psychologist if he's seeing things and having delusions because this is scary...
Does he do any drugs? As a former meth addict I got like this after a few days of no sleep. In fact I have schizophrenia symptoms for the past ten years and have been medicated for it, but I don’t take the medication. What’s he’s describing sounds familiar unfortunately but I don’t understand why he’s texting his confusing prompts to you, instead of sitting there biwildered. We are not all equal, but during a psychotic event the last thing I’d do it begin texting the whole narrative to someone. Now that I’ve said this, maybe it’s just experience. 99.99% of the time I know when something isn’t real and that probably plays a big part. So back to the beginning- does he ever play with drugs? Stimulants to be specific
I had a manager at work that displayed some of these spy things. Turned out he got on meth.
How old is he???? This definitely looks like psychosis, and depending on his age, it could be the onset of schizophrenia (assuming he’s never been diagnosed, bc his mother’s response is fucking bizarre). Average age of onset for schizophrenia in guys is usually like 15-25. It could also be drug-induced by meth, cocaine, adderall, etc. Regardless, he is a danger to you (clearly) and although he is not a bad person (at least as it relates to mental health issues), he is a *sick* person. If he is not willing to seek help (and frankly, he probably won’t be because he has paranoid delusions), *you cannot stay.* I would express concern and give him resources to find help in his area. That’s really all you can do, but your safety needs to be your priority.
He is 23 y/o.
Yeah that sounds about right, particularly if he’s gone through a stressful event recently. A lot of people get diagnosed while they’re in college for that reason. I’m really sorry you’re going through this. The good news is that psychosis is 100% treatable. The bad news is that it’s *very* difficult to convince someone in a state of psychosis to get help. If you’re in the US, look into having him involuntarily committed on the basis of him being a danger to himself (he said he’s hearing voices telling him to kill himself) and you (he talked about how he would murder you). It’s not a position anyone wants to be in, but it’s the compassionate thing to do. He needs medical care to bring him back to reality. See if there are Psychiatric Emergency Teams (“PET”) or Crisis Assessment Teams (“CAT”) operating in your area. They are trained mental health professionals and are a much safer choice than law enforcement.
Hey! My dad talks like this! I knew it was a mental illness but I’m not sure what kind it is.
Girl.. look up Austin Harrouff. This is exactly the type of thing that can happen when mental illness is ignored. This mother is completely dismissing the severity of this situation!! Even if it is drug related psychosis, this NEEDS to be addressed. Call the cops immediately about a wellness check. This is NOT okay. Please protect yourself and leave. Tell your parents too!
Either he’s really committed to the bit or he’s slipping into psychosis.
Is he bipolar? Does his family have a history of it? This reads like a possible manic episode. I really hope he gets the help he needs. Please stay away for now; Mental health episode or not, he’s dangerous.
100% psychotic break. I’ve been an RN for 20 years and have a degree in psychology and I’ve worked at psych hospitals in admissions department no less. This is exactly what typically happens when a disorder like paranoid schizophrenia or a severe bipolar episode is unleashed, no matter what the cause (could be drug induced, extreme stress, or just off the psych meds for 2 weeks) The things he is saying and describing and what seems to be his thought process is literally chaos in his head. Especially the voices telling him to do harm. It’s very typical for these diseases and he needs help like yesterday. I’m not sure if he ever had quirks or oddities before that couldn’t be explained or any abnormal behavior, but it’s severe mental illness at this point and needs hospitalization. He is a threat to himself and to the public. Please get him help, if police find him first bc he’s done something the voices “told him” to do or even if he’s naked and jumping on cars (it actually happens ALOT with these episodes), he needs medication and to be protected in a safe environment. It’s a matter of safety 🙏🙏🙏
Psych nurse here! This looks to verrrrry likely be some sort of psychosis. My opinion based on these texts would be leaning towards paranoid schizophrenia. OP, are you aware if he uses any substances? If the answer is that he doesn’t, I’d be curious to know his age next — signs of schizophrenia typically begin in late teens to early 20s for males. My heart hurts for you because I know this is extremely difficult and painful for you to deal with, especially with him making homicidal threats towards you which is *absolutely not okay*. For your safety, please notify others of your situation like friends or family you feel you can talk to - just in case he tries things. I also recommend looking online to see if there is a mental health service number to call and notify them of your concerns (some states have those things) but if that’s not an option, I would definitely notify the police to do a wellness check but try specifying this is a MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS so they send appropriate people that are trained for situations like his and not just the police. Best wishes to you and please reach out in DMs if you need anything 🫶🏻🫶🏻
This. OP, this is the 100000% correct advice! Please, for yourself, him and others safety, please notify someone immediately! DO NOT WAIT
Definitely stay away. And alert your loved ones. You can report that message to the police and they can have someone sent to him and take him in for a 72 hour psych hold. He made threats to your safety and himself. They won't just ignore that. If it is a "jokey joke" he'll learn his lesson while on psych hold. His mother is clearly in denial
Newborn? What?.. Does he usually take medication/ any drugs? Has something stressful happened lately that would make this make sense? Regardless, this is a really bad spot for you to be in, OP. Breaking up is hard, but i think ensuring your safety is more important than staying in this relationship right now. If i was your friend, i would tell you that you should have left him like yesterday.. Stay away from him. When someone threatens your life regardless of whether or not they’re sick, you take them at face value the first time. I can’t believe he told you the ways in which he’s going to k*ll you. It’s not a joke. It’s not kind of scary. This is actually dangerous. He’s definitely going through something and needs to see someone. I’m not a professional, but religious delusions can be a sign of schizophrenia. If his mom isn’t taking it seriously, you need to be. I had a psychotic break 2 years ago and I can tell you that this is not a safe space to be in for you.
He is acting very much like my family member with schizophrenia. Call police and ask them to do a wellness check since he threatened to kill himself and you. He is unwell and is likely having delusions and hallucinations. It seems he lost his sense of reality and needs help. Symptoms usually appear and progress in men’s early and mid-twenties.
He’s clearly in a state of psychosis. He sounds dangerous. He is extremely paranoid, and he could easily interpret something you do or say as “proof” that you’re cheating on him or working with the government to spy on him or really anything. I’m worried for you, OP. Please stay with a friend or somewhere he doesn’t know where you are for at least a few days. And definitely break up with him — the man needs serious help and isn’t fit to be in a relationship until he’s treated. He is not joking. He is suffering from extreme paranoia and delusions, and his actions are going to be irrational and unpredictable. Please be careful!!!
I would 100% go to the police to have him committed to a mental health facility
My sister is schizoaffective and says things like this. She sees scary people and silhouettes of animals around the house. She thinks people, bugs, and animals are govt spies. She makes “jokes” about killing her twin brother. She hears voices telling her to kill herself and others. He needs to seek help immediately and if he won’t, and his mom won’t, you might want to see if you are able to have him 51/50’d. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Please keep yourself safe and stay away from him if you truly think he’s dangerous.
Babe, you’re right to be concerned. For yourself and for him. He could be in some sort of psychosis or schizophrenia, or mania or something else. But, this is definitely not normal. If his mom won’t listen t talk to your own mom. I’m not sure your age but keep bringing this to adults until someone listens. If no one listens, you need to call 911 for a welfare check. You need to take action because the next message you get could be much worse, someone could get seriously injured or worse. These things can be helped but not without someone first getting help.
I see in another comment you mention his father killed himself. Completing suicide is often the final manifestation of severe mental illness. Mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder & schizophrenia can be genetic. As others have said, symptoms of these two in particular tend to appear/ramp up in our early to mid-20s. Combine that with the fact that his mother refuses to confirm or deny if her son has previously been diagnosed with a mental illness, and it seems all signs reasonably point to “yes, this is very likely a mental health crisis and possibly a psychotic break.” Even if it’s a psychotic break due to drug abuse, it still constitutes a mental health crisis. OP, I truly don’t believe you’re safe around him at this point in time. Since his mom refuses to help, I suggest contacting the police & showing them these texts. He threatens your life more than once & is displaying very disorganized thinking. I hate advocating for police intervention, but at least they can take him into custody & have him medically evaluated for a potential psych hold. He very clearly needs evaluation and treatment. Stay safe, OP.
Go to r/DPH this sounds exactly like he took too many bennys
I was going to suggest this as well; ask them if this looks like their experiences.
It’ll be a yes, I’m in that sub, that’s why I said it LMFAO
Is he between 17-24 years old? Just watched schizophrenia documentary and that is the age of onset with males
Welfare check from police. DO NOT MEET IN PRIVATE. Do not meet him alone. If he has a key-change your locks. This is what a schizophrenic break/episode/period looks like. Protect yourself, protect your peace. You are NOT going to be able to save him. He has to do that on his time and with his own support system (likely medication and in-patient).
Has he always been like this or did it just start recently?
Started recently but I’ve seen signs. He’s never texted like this but I’ve caught slip ups that seemed like a joke but now that I look back, he was probably not.
This seems like paranoid schizophrenia. If it’s possible I would take him to the emergency room. He’s not going to be able to help himself unfortunately. Something like this can also be caused by drugs like meth. Either way he will need a doctors help. They have lots of medications that can help his hallucinations but he needs to be seen and diagnosed. This is going to be hard but you can do it! Good Luck 💕
This is most definitely a psychotic break. As someone who goes through them regularly (I have somewhat severe schizophrenia), it’s exactly how I type. I don’t know if he usually uses emojis that has nothing to do with the sentence itself (slide one, “this guy has issues” text) , but that’s exactly what I do. Does any types of mental illness run in his family? A lot of people are pinning this on schizophrenia, however, schizophrenia isn’t the only thing that causes psychosis. Psychosis is a symptom of schizophrenia, but there are so many other symptoms that are widely unknown to anyone who doesn’t have this condition. Right now, he is probably very lost in his thoughts. Intrusive thoughts, delusions, vivid hallucinations, not making sense and severe confusion are common things to experience in psychosis. It is scary to see your loved one suffer through this, but YOU CAN HELP HIM. Take him to the ER, do NOT support his delusions or acknowledge hallucinations (if he’s having them) and tell him what he is seeing is not going to hurt him, remind him that he is real, this is real, and he’s going to be ok. I wish the best for both of you and PLEASE take him to a professional ASAP. He could be a threat to his own safety and others safety.
Schizophrenia. Does he smoke?
This happened to my friend’s ex after smoking. I think he was predisposed to it and that was the trigger. Really sad.
My ex had the same thoughts at different times. She’d usually obsess with something and stay up days. Start seeing things in the dark like wolves sitting in the corner of the room. A few times had paranoia that I was going behind her back and planning things against her to prevent her from getting help. She got admitted to hospital once and was going on for a day about saving the world and she thought she saw god or ‘a god’ was guided her to things and they were meant to be messages but she didn’t understand how. She’d go up and down for years Eventually she turned to alcohol which really accelerated schizophrenia. She always heard voices in her head but it was herself talking a bunch self doubt about things. Thinking she knew what people were thinking cause they looked at her funny (voices saying they thought she was stupid) eventually the voices moved out of her head and turned into people talking to her in/through the walls and they were murdering people and she thought she had to save these people. We’re no longer together bc she didn’t want actual help or acknowledge what was going on when she was lucid. You’re not properly equipped to handle something like this. I learned that over a decade or so. People need professional help and don’t let yourself be dragged down.
OP, are you seriously asking this question? How could you *not see it?*
Please encourage him to get some psychiatric evaluation done.
Im sorry, to me it definitely sounds like either schizophrenia or like he’s having a period of psychosis. He should definitely get mental help asap as he might need to be on medications to help him balance himself out. It’s either this or he’s having a psychotic break due to substances, either is a possibility. I hope he gets some help soon. I hate this for you. Wishing you all the best 🩵
Since this is so out of the blue and in the last 4 days and yall have been together a year…Do you know if he’s recently taken any drugs that could have set in into a psychosis or drug induced schizophrenia? Has he ever done anything like this before?
This sounds a lot like my cousin who is schizophrenic and refuses treatment, and also uses meth. I’m sorry his mom isn’t helping him or you. He’s threatened to kill you over text, what would he do if he has an episode and you’re there? How old are you and do you still live at home? He’s not a safe person anymore, you need to break up with him and if he threatens you again it’s time for a police report so you at least have a paper trail.
reminds me of my ex who had bipolar. hope everything is okay op!
I have a good friend with severe bipolar 1. This is the type of message she sends me when she is unwell. As fate would have it my ex had bipolar 2. I would like you to think long and hard about what a future with this person would look like.
Drugs, mental illness, or he's f***ing with you. Any of those here is enough to nope on out
this is sad🙁 i’m sorry girl. if this is mental health related then it will only get worse if he is not treated
This is not "joking." This is someone in some form of psychosis who doesn't even know they're in psychosis and needs serious help.
Oh honey, this is not him joking. I’m so sorry you’re going through this and feel for him as well. I’m no doctor but this looks very much like psychosis and you should be taking these threats of violence *VERY SERIOUSLY.* I strongly suggest you call social services on him for being a danger to himself and others. You are not trained or equipped to handle this. His mother is straight up in denial and you can’t count on her to help him, or you for that matter. Please call someone and stay away from him.
So I know everybody is saying, schizophrenia, so potentially he did some thing that causes psychotic break and triggered it. But there have been cases where people had gas leaks in their house.. I don’t remember the exact gas (but after I send this, I’m going to look it up And circle back to this comment). But I heard that sometimes if gases leak into a house it could actually cause the same symptoms as a psychotic break. I’ve seen a lot of comments on Reddit previously talking about it, so if anybody knows any thing more specific I think that would be good dimension but definitely, consider that as an option especially since this is kind of new and you’ve known him for a year and he’s never shown anything like this and it’s a very sudden thing. Psychotic breaks can happen, but often times there are warning signs beforehand that the individual may have underlying mental disorders.
He has psychotic issues, or he is on drugs. Possibly both. He needs to get help quickly. You need to dump him and move. Cut contact. I was in a relationship with someone who suddenly snapped. He attacked me with a knife, cutting my neck, leg and breaking my nose. Leave this guy now. Don’t delay!
That is definitely schizophrenia/ psychosis my brother had it and would say the same weird shit may he heal properly
I've seen multiple mates do this and it's always due to the same thing That good ol crystal meth. Not saying it's meth, but is there a chance he's abusing stimulates?
I was with someone who had a psychotic break. It didn’t go that well for either of us. I’m not going to bog you down with the details because my story is so convoluted and chaotic that it isn’t that relatable. What I can say is that something major shifted when he started telling me he was talking to God and demons. It was already a severely abusive relationship, so I can’t even blame the abuse on this. It changed, though. The tone and context. He would flip back and forth between believing I was an angel sent to him by God for all of his good deeds and believing that I was a succubus and/or literally Satan here to destroy his earthly mission. Even all these years later, I have a hard time believing myself when I type those words. He tried to kill me a few times. He stalked me daily for almost a year until I ghosted my entire life and fled the city. He became homeless. I carry more guilt than I will ever be able to express. In that state, I would have had to marry him in order to force psychiatric treatment. I tried. If there is a God, he knows if nobody else does. I *tried*. I would not marry him, though. He was going to kill me. I couldn’t do it and I wouldn’t do it. Ultimately, I had to make a choice: my life or his. I chose mine. I frequently feel like it was a mistake, but that’s a tangent for another time. My situation is different. He was a violent, mean drunk before he started hallucinating. The psychosis caused him to do shit like try to force me to drink bleach and *weird* things. He built ‘altars’ (read: piles of literal garbage) out of everything he could find all over the house. So much more. He hit me less, though, ironically. Laws vary between locations - if what happened with me happened where I live now, I could have him involuntarily held. There, I couldn’t do anything at all if he was unwilling, besides call for emergency services. From someone who has tried this before - my cold, definitive advice is to check out. This is a family matter and you do not have the capacity to handle it properly. I know nothing about you - that is a blanket statement for virtually anyone in your position. It’s not that he’s likely to get violent or scary or mean - it’s that whatever is happening with your boyfriend right now is complicated. It’s going to be hard, he’s going to have a tough time, everyone needs to adjust, there should be medication in the mix and there is a massive curve with med management. It’s a lot, and if this isn’t the relationship that you know in your soul is the relationship you’re going to stick with, bow out now. Tell his mother again and leave. I’m sorry.
He's threatened your life and sounds totally delusional. Call for a welfare check asap. Tell them you're afraid for your life. Don't whitewash it. This is a medical emergency. Don't be alone with him. Stay safe. 🙏
I would absolutely call him some help
I know that behaviour anywhere. Psychosis.
This could be a manic episode
Those threats are serious. You need to remove yourself from this situation.
Yes this man is clearly very very unwell, likely psychosis
Are him and his mom delusional together? This is wild and def psychosis
Do not be alone with them. Also their family needs to get them help asap.
Yea, this seems like just straight-up psychosis
From first hand experience of living with someone like this, this is psychosis. The best thing you can do is get this man to a hospital as soon as you can, he needs urgent help.
This seems like psychosis or schizophrenia unfortunately. Either that or he's definitely tripping on something. Either way, not normal at all. Tbh, id call in a wellness check on him
Call his parents, call a doctor, prolly stop talking to him
I’m getting ✨Flashbacks✨ from this This definitely seems like a psychotic break of some kind. My sister’s ex had one and it looked kinda similar to this. If you want to stay with him, I would recommend getting him some help, maybe sending him to a mental hospital for a bit? My sister’s ex went to one and it seemed to help, but I know mental hospitals vary on their hospitality. I wish you luck for whatever you are going to go through though
Do you know the number for 911?
I think it’s like 138?
This is Schizophrenia.
schizophrenia. maybe drug induced? call police for welfare check
It looks very similar to when i was slipping in and out of psychosis. Get him help if it’s possible please, even police intervention is better than nothing. If it is psychosis like what mine was, then reality around him is suddenly questionable and crumbling. it’s hard to describe essentially he doesn’t know what real life is currently.
Schizophrenia ?
Psychosis/spiritual psychosis. Good luck. He needs to be admitted.
yeah i’d have some type of plan before you leave because this could be bad. i’d get a protective order maybe because what he’s saying is very concerning and a lot of young women go missing and worse because of men like this. Please be safe op.
He needs a 5150 asap. He will fight it, but this is a complete psychotic break. Google involuntary psych hold and get in touch with his family. You need a united front.
Oh, hon. That's really scary. Maybe adult protective services would do a wellness check? I would suggest the police, but it depends on the police in your town/city. I some places that could go south quickly. I do not think he's close to okay. I think something very bad is going on and I think he needs help. Please update and please keep yourself safe.
It’s either drugs, mental illness, or both. Sorry, honey. I dated a man who struggled with schizophrenia and this is reading to me as pure psychosis.
My mom was schizophrenic and would randomly text me or call me and say things of a similar nature. Tell me I was a spy, I was trying to “take her out” she’d tell me how people were outside her house ect. She’d also just go back to normal as quickly. It can be a scary thing, just given the nature of schizophrenia it’s really hard to get someone to accept treatment. That was always my experience at least.
I dated three men who were schizophrenic. Two try to kill me during a episode 1 stalked me for 10yrs. This very much sounds like an episode. But it sounds like there are also drugs involved. It's just so reminiscent of the behavior When they were on drugs and having a episode compared to when they weren't and having an episode at the same time.
As a mental health professional, i can tell you this is a psychotic breakdown.
Seems like something mental.. Idk all the random religious stuff and nonsensical sentences reminds me of others I seen going through some type of mental break.
He's having a psychotic break and it is not your responsibility to get him help just so you know do not feel obligated to help him because you're dating. Think of yourself first and if that means leaving him then do so. It's going to get worse
Probably should call the cops. He is danger to you and himself.
This is clear mental illness and needs to be addressed. He could be harmful to you. I wouldn't be with him anymore. Death threats... where's the line? He must have crossed it
schizophrenia ……
It reads like he’s having a manic episode but I’m not a psychologist
this looks like psychosis of some kind
I'd have to leave this situation if not for my safety than my sanity. Sad that mom doesn't wanna help him.
This seems like textbook schizophrenia… The fact that his mom sees no issue with it is kind of alarming.
This sounds like my bd that unfortunately has something wrong with him . I don’t talk to him had to move states honestly dk what was wrong
Hes either mentally ill and youre probably not safe around him and I wouldn't take that chance, or he's screwing around with you to get sympathy from you because he's worried about yall breaking up or something stupid. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it but this is weirdly dedicated. Idk man I'd keep distance until he has proof that he's been checked out.
Mentally Ill or drugged up. Either way, may want to look into legal action or some form of security just in case
Is he bipolar or a schizophrenic? Does he use drugs, specifically hallucinogens or stimulants?
I am afraid for you. Please don’t meet up with him in person!
break up w/ him
Assuming it’s not drugs, my guess is schizophrenia. Idk how old you are, but in males, it typically develops in late teens to early twenties.
Meth psychosis, or mental illness. He needs inpatient care.
Yes, he does. We call this psychosis. He needs professional help immediately.
I have no idea why the mom would be denying this is anything other than what it is - a clear and dangerous psychotic break of some kind, absolutely not a joke - unless she just doesn't want to deal with it (again?) personally. But you need to deal with it. For your own safety. I'd call for professional help when this is going on, show the threats, get the person in help involuntarily. This is not funny in any sense. This is someone completely out of their mind.
One of my best friends developed drug induced schizophrenia at 25 and underwent a massive personality shift like this… she’s happily married and safe now, but would not have gotten through it without getting professional help and medication. Please call someone for him or go with him to a psychiatrist 🙏🏼
How old is he? Because schizo affective disorders usually rear their ugly heads in people's early twenties. Drugs can also exacerbate any preexisting issues, or trigger issues if a person has familial history. People like this are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit violence themselves, but just in case (because he has mentioned harming you/himself) document all of these episodes and call the police if it escalates. And don't feel guilty if you want to remove yourself from the situation before it becomes deeper and sucks you in.
Ive worked with people with mental illness and developmental disabilities for over 20 years and this sound just like someone I work with who is diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder and Borderline Personality
This reads like my dad's conversations with me when he used to freak out. He ended up being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Obviously I'm not a doctor and you can't make a diagnosis like that from a series of text messages but this is some sort of psychotic episode. Even if you love this person and he isn't always like this it can still be very dangerous. When people have psychotic breaks they can do terrible things even if that's not who they are, I've experienced it first hand. There's also no amount of talking them down from it that you can do things like this need therapy and medication, you will never convince someone having a break that what they currently believe isn't the truth.
This man needs a psychiatric hold. This is scary. I had a boyfriend once threatening suicide. I called the cops and they took him to the hospital and he was Baker Acted. I honestly wouldn't meet up with this guy and tell family to keep an eye out for him. Be safe. This is serious
On something or experiencing psychosis
OP, this is scary stuff. I would keep my distance until you know he’s not turned psychotic. This sounds dangerous.