Psychosis

Has anyone ever experienced someone they knew slipping into Psychosis? Like hard?

So, I was out on a motorcycle ride late yesterday evening, when we passed what appeared to be my best friend from Middle School through about 15 years ago. Looked jyst like him. And he waved.. So, I split off from our group and circle back. He seems normal at first. He's an Aquarius so he's always been a little off-kilter anyway, but harmless. I knew he'd went through a divorce. I knew he was having a rough time, which is why i stopped instead of calling after our ride.

He invites me in. We sit down and talk. Hes super extatic that im there. Says he hasnt spoke to anyone in 11 months. Not his family, friends, nobody outside his kids have been inside his home for 11 months. This guy has always been very social. His social battery rarelyneeded charged. Then he goes and get a shit ton of weed from a cabinet. He's grinding it up, stops, goes to his fridge and pulls out a bottle with a dropper. I ask what its is, and he explains its basically where the hes been soaking Marijuana in Everclear to get the THC from the weed with EC being the solvent. Ive been pretty open about my doing dope when i was younger- and he and I used to party hard. We had parties every day while I was in college. Im talking pounds of wee a week.. Then i ODed and died, and i stopped.. because im not retarded. That was a lesson to learn, and I dont have a learning disability. But taht was way before we last talked. He knows this. He's acting like we about to throw down like old times.

Then he opens up about his divorce and what all went down. And that escalated into a wild story where you could tell he was traumatized. Hes telling me he had suspected she had cheated with all his friends, so he bought security cameras that are hard wired - not the app kind like Blink or Ring, hardwired cameras, to see if he was right. Then tells me he took a shower, got out, was on his couch in his underwear and a link popped up on his phone. He clicked it, it took him to a porn site, and the video was a live feed of him in his underwear on his couch. He said women were commenting asking where he lived, and that made him paranoid. The. Something about a weird prostitutiom ring his ex wife was involved in, where Dine-in meant they went to your house, and takeout meant you go to theirs (she worked in the food industry), there were 43 apps involved in this ring, one was a Weather App.. he said the weather app had dots and they moved around his house and he watched them drive by at the same time the dot showed up where his house was on the map. He said he went through 12 phoned in 6 weeks because people were watching him. He was having a hard time keeping his thoughts on track.

There was so much crazy he was talking about. And he was getting blitzed the whole time.

I snatched him up, gave him a big hug, made sure he had my number because he's went through 12 phones.. Ive had the same personal cell number since 1998, at this point its a war of attrition. At like 3 am im riding back to my place, running all this through my head.. i cant help but think he's actually in some form of psychosis. But, like what can.i do? Anything? Hes not going to seek help. Hes going to do what he's always done - more drugs. More drugs are just going to make it worse. I mean, I could probably get him thrown in jail where he can have a shot at sobering up, but he hasnt done anything to warrant a long enough time to sober him up, and he'd know it was me because he hadnt spoken to anyone else in 11 months. Which I think would probably have the opposite effect that im aiming for. He acknowledged being on TikTok and making a comment that apparently had like 100K comments back that he said he admitted came of psychotic, and he was thankful she didnt tag him, but it was his comment, so maybe he'd do it? I told he needed to see someone, and he was wasnt hearing it. Even told him I had been for a few months now, thinking that would lighten up any machismo . But he has guns, he's told me he stalked a few guys he found in her phone. Everything about last night was concerning to.me. but I dont know where to start. And him being social prior, a lot of people know him, and know he's been having a tough time, and know we are friends, so if I ask anyone I know, its going to be transparent of who im talking about.

Any suggestions?

wellness check. Idk how it works over there but get police to do wellness check, and they can link to mental health services if they suspect he needs it.

Posted by durrr
wellness check. Idk how it works over there but get police to do wellness check, and they can link to mental health services if they suspect he needs it.

Im very hesitant about getting any kind of law enforcement involved. I just dont trust his mindset to NOT DO something he'll regret.

I think, im just going to find more time to hang out with him. I think, and of course I dont know this, but I think he's sat in isolation with his own thoughts for the last 11 months, in his own little echo chamber, trying to come up with answers to questions with no other perspectives to give any semblance of an answer, and its driving him crazy. He works all day, then goes home and ruminates, while blasting every braincell in his mind witth any substance he can get his hands on hoping he numbs the pain. Its clearly not working though.

I think he just needs to get out, have some fun, lighten up, and talk.. get it out. He seemed pretty thrilled to see me.

I just swear, this year something I have been trying to work on is not making orher people's problems my own.. im conscious that it almost never works out where im glad I did it.. but somehow shit like this keeps landing in front of me, and im a fugging moron who thinks I can help.

Just a thought. Maybe it's weed paranoia? Definitely sounds like paranoid delusions. I couldn't imagine how to help since the drugs he's taking feed into any non-reality based theories he's had. Though being there can't hurt.

Posted by RollergirlOrc
Just a thought. Maybe it's weed paranoia? Definitely sounds like paranoid delusions. I couldn't imagine how to help since the drugs he's taking feed into any non-reality based theories he's had. Though being there can't hurt.

Im sure thats playing a role in it. Amplifying it. Like I said, he's smoked weed since we ran around being hood rats.. he never stopped, so its been like 30 years or so of him giving his brain the old blitzkrieg bop, and its just now, after his divorce that its showing up. But, I said in another thread about committing so hard to thongs it becomes your personality, thats him and weed.. i honestly dont think he could function as a basic human being without weed. And im not saying that to be mean, he's just made it such a crutch for his life, i font think thats something he would ever stop doing. He smoked 1/4 bag in the 3 hours we shot the shit.. by himself, along with the THC oil shit he concocted.

Yeah, I think he just needs a friend. I hope we can snap him out of it. If in a few weeks theres nothing really measurable, i may try to sneakily get my friend who is a therapist to talk with him without being overt and have him wall up. Maybe have a bonfire and get them talking. If i gotta pay, ill pay. I know this is all above my paygrade, im not qualified for this shit, and i dont want him in trouble.

do sags count? they don't do drugs but always go crazy in old age

Posted by Flitzpiepe

Posted by durrr

wellness check. Idk how it works over there but get police to do wellness check, and they can link to mental health services if they suspect he needs it.

Im very hesitant about getting any kind of law enforcement involved. I just dont trust his mindset to NOT DO something he'll regret.

I think, im just going to find more time to hang out with him. I think, and of course I dont know this, but I think he's sat in isolation with his own thoughts for the last 11 months, in his own little echo chamber, trying to come up with answers to questions with no other perspectives to give any semblance of an answer, and its driving him crazy. He works all day, then goes home and ruminates, while blasting every braincell in his mind witth any substance he can get his hands on hoping he numbs the pain. Its clearly not working though.

I think he just needs to get out, have some fun, lighten up, and talk.. get it out. He seemed pretty thrilled to see me.

I just swear, this year something I have been trying to work on is not making orher people's problems my own.. im conscious that it almost never works out where im glad I did it.. but somehow shit like this keeps landing in front of me, and im a fugging moron who thinks I can help.

click to expand

yeah, police here are unarmed so it's less likely to escalate

I'd try to get him assessed, or nudge him that way. possible drug-induced psychosis, which usually means he'll need meds/intervention - it rarely resolves on its own.

And I only suggest police because it defers responsibility tbh, given how volatile things could get. He might lose it regardless, but at least it's flagged. Idk your call/instinct on that

And yeah being a decent friend helps, at least he's not too paranoid to talk/open up, or even let you in the house, that's a plus lol.

Posted by Flitzpiepe
Has anyone ever experienced someone they knew slipping into Psychosis? Like hard?

No, that sounds scary. Your friend sounds really close to doing something crazy either to himself or others.

I guess the best thing to do is to keep him company and little by little give him other perspectives to balance him out.

Maybe after a while when the timing is right, offer options for him to stop the weed and maybe get some serious counseling/ therapy/see a professional.

Posted by Mare-E-Sole

Posted by Flitzpiepe
Has anyone ever experienced someone they knew slipping into Psychosis? Like hard?

No, that sounds scary. Your friend sounds really close to doing something crazy either to himself or others.

I guess the best thing to do is to keep him company and little by little give him other perspectives to balance him out.

Maybe after a while when the timing is right, offer options for him to stop the weed and maybe get some serious counseling/ therapy/see a professional.

click to expand

Thats my plan. I really dont know what else to do without going extreme and it probably just backfiring. We're supposed to go out on the boat fishing this weekend, just him and I. I thought that may be a way to keep him captive so I can get a little more blunt and he cant run off, but also start getting him back into some of the hobbies he used to like. And thats something we did together a lot, and I havent been fishing for a while. Mutually beneficial, hopefully.

Im not going to hound him about dope. Ill get resistance without a doubt. I want to keep that door open. Im just going to try to replace the dopamine hes getting from the dope, with actual fun he can remember. He still has a few race bikes he hasnt ridden in a while, so im going to work on those for him, get them going, then take him to a track for some adrenaline. I cant be having him sitting at home lost in thoughts. And this is all shit I love to do anyway, so no sweat off my back. Just need to stay consistent with him, i guess

Posted by Flitzpiepe

Posted by Mare-E-Sole

Posted by Flitzpiepe
Has anyone ever experienced someone they knew slipping into Psychosis? Like hard?

No, that sounds scary. Your friend sounds really close to doing something crazy either to himself or others.

I guess the best thing to do is to keep him company and little by little give him other perspectives to balance him out.

Maybe after a while when the timing is right, offer options for him to stop the weed and maybe get some serious counseling/ therapy/see a professional.click to expand

Thats my plan. I really dont know what else to do without going extreme and it probably just backfiring. We're supposed to go out on the boat fishing this weekend, just him and I. I thought that may be a way to keep him captive so I can get a little more blunt and he cant run off, but also start getting him back into some of the hobbies he used to like. And thats something we did together a lot, and I havent been fishing for a while. Mutually beneficial, hopefully.

Im not going to hound him about dope. Ill get resistance without a doubt. I want to keep that door open. Im just going to try to replace the dopamine hes getting from the dope, with actual fun he can remember. He still has a few race bikes he hasnt ridden in a while, so im going to work on those for him, get them going, then take him to a track for some adrenaline. I cant be having him sitting at home lost in thoughts. And this is all shit I love to do anyway, so no sweat off my back. Just need to stay consistent with him, i guess

click to expand

You’re a good friend 🥹🙏.

Everything you have planned sounds perfect. Replacing the dopamine with happy experiences sounds like a great solution.

Doing something you both love and share as a hobby together might also do wonders for him.

Just be careful with being blunt and your timing on that. He might not have the capacity yet to take in any hard news. He might need a lot more positive experiences before he is ready to talk about his problems.

Just have fun this weekend. That might be the best medicine!