Is my brother insane?

JoeyW

My brother since he was about 16 has bordered on insanity and we as a family don’t know what to do as he thinks he is normal and we are the ignorant, clueless siblings.

He paces the floor when the tv is on giving his opinions, when the news is on he goes berserk altogether shouting about the corrupt government etc and how they are trying to take over our minds. If one of us has a drink he tells us it’s polluted by the government (he drinks 5 or 6 cans a night but strangely enough HIS isn’t polluted mmm).

He LOVES Jim Corr and David Icke, he thinks the whole world is out to get him and believes totally in this one world government. Now each to their own I reckon, but he pushes it down our throats day in, day out and my poor mother can’t handle it anymore. Me and my sister have our own lives and houses so it’s easy for us to avoid him but our mam has to deal with it on a daily basis when he calls in. She is driven demented. You couldn’t have a conversation with him, if you told him it was sunny outside, he would say it was really raining and the government was making it sunny to cover up for everything else it was planning.

He rang my sister one day (there is only him, me and my sister) and told her off for working in a hospital canteen and accused her of being thick and ignorant for working a job like that while he himself has never worked a day in his whole life. He’s far too intelligent to work apparently.

Have any of you ever dealt with this type of weirdo?

What makes things worse is that he’s trained as a hypnotist and practices on vunerable people on a daily basis who want to give up smoking and drinking while he smokes 30 fags a day (cos he CHOOSES too) and according to him he doesn’t drink but mam tells us he drinks the whole time he’s in with her.

We are so exhausted. What do we do, for mams sake more than ours? How do we get hi out of our lives or get him help?

Sorry for the long post

amdublin

Has he ever been to a doctor?

JoeyW

No, Never, like I said he doesn't think he has a problem. He thinks the rest of the world has the problem and is thick.
Funnily enough, he had really bad asthma as a child, and had a lot of attacks. My mam seems to think it may have something to do with it because he was really agressive as a kid and a doctor once told her "so would you if you couldn't breather for x amount of time".

unattendedbag

Sounds like he has a distorted view of reality and is very susceptible to media trash and conspiracy theories. Do you think he suffers from hyperactivity of any sorts or Attention deficit disorder or anything like that? It may be worth a few of you talking to the family GP and explaining the situation to see if he has any recomendations.
Normally if a family member was as unreasonable as you described then the tough love approach would suffice and isolate him from the family until he copped himself on, but i have a feeling this would have disasterous conequences for your brothers mental health. I do believe he needs some professional help or even at least an assesment but therein lies the problem. How do you help someone who doesnt want to be helped?

zxcvbnm1

Sounds like he suffers from psychosis

Nevyn

zxcvbnm1 do not attempt to make a medical diagnoses over the internet, it breaks the site rules.

JoeyW if he won't see a dr then you have to help you mother, get her to see her dr,
get supports in place for her so that she can stand up to him and his behaviour.

kjl

Well in fairness to the poor chap, he is kinda right. The Irish government is very corrupt, and there is nothing wrong with being a hypocrite. Also Alcohol is a poison, so he is right there too.

Plus no offence to yourself, but you probably don't listen to him properly to hear his opinions. We are getting a condensed version of what he does from your eyes, but have you ever considered he might be right about a few things. The comment you made about the "sunny outside" shows that you have a very low opinion of him, and maybe if you took time to hear what he has to say he wouldn't feel the need to make such a big fuss about it.

OK maybe he is a little hyper and over the top about it, but I don't think that makes him insane.

Cheap Thrills!

Very hard situation OP.

He does really need to see a Doctor. This sounds like more than just eccentricity. Can't give diagnosis here but there are a few red flags in your post.

He needs professional help....can you talk to your parents and persuade them to get him along to a Doctor.

up for anything

I'd imagine, from the way you describe him, that you would have fat, little or slim chances of getting him to see a doctor. I agree with Cheap Thrills' red flags.

I would concentrate on getting your mother some help first. First stop would be her GP. I would imagine that this might be quite a task as she probably feels guilt and compassion and if she has been putting up with his abusive behaviour for years she may find it hard to admit it herself let alone to a third party. It could be that from opening up to a health professional about how she feels and what her needs are, that steps could be taken to deal with him.

I think you and your sister also need some help and support. Have you spoken to anybody that could help?

You don't mention your father so I presume he is not in the picture. Is there any adult close to mother who is aware of your brother's behaviour who could support her.

Did something happen that you know about when he was 16 to exacerbate his tendency to aggression? Asthma, even a severe case, does not cause or entitle someone to display aggression unless the person is already lacking in coping mechanisms. I think the doctor who told your mother that should be shot. She probably reined herself in in dealing with his attitude because of that and coupled with mother love/guilt began to make excuses for him.

It's a horrible situation but one that you need to get a handle on sooner rather than later.

Denerick

Thaedydal wrote: »

zxcvbnm1 do not attempt to make a medical diagnoses over the internet, it breaks the site rules.

JoeyW if he won't see a dr then you have to help you mother, get her to see her dr,
get supports in place for her so that she can stand up to him and his behaviour.

<Snip>

OP, From what you explain, your brother certainly seems to have mental health issues. If he is badly adversing either his or his mothers quality of life, you should seriously look into advising him to go see a doctor. Failing that, you should consider getting him sectioned. Seriously, better safe than sorry.

LegacyUser

I'm a reg but having difficulties in signing in...

I too believe in alot of what your brother believes in..I do believe 80% of what David Icke says and I'm a firm believer in that we're lied to left right and center to keep us dumbed down and not question real issues, but I won't get into that now.

On a personal note, I'm a completely sane person, I have let that information go to my head sometimes..and yes, it can make you paranoid the more you delve into that sort of subject. I've had the odd sleepless night over some information I found but on the whole I dont let it effect my life. Your brother sounds like he has OD'd on the information hence him sounding and looking somewhat eccentric. I only talk to certain people about my thoughts and opinions on the matter, as there are more closed minded people than open minded people as a consensus to the majority, and I dont feel that its fair to persaude people into thinking the same as myself. There is only so much pushing you can do, some people are just set in their ways.

I'd suggest sit your brother down..and just TALK to him about it. It sounds like he wants attention or some level of an audience. He needs to be withdrawn from his current mentality for a while so he can see how he might be percieved by other people. I have alot of sympathy for your brother as I know what that information can do to a person. Its best learned in small dosages but I can imagine how frustrating it must be for you and your other siblings in the process.

Any advice I've given, I've had the same done to myself..and it helped.

I hope you can rectify it also

LegacyUser

A lot of us have those beliefs. Maybe if he had a woman it would calm him down

Lollipops23

JoeyW wrote: »

No, Never, like I said he doesn't think he has a problem. He thinks the rest of the world has the problem and is thick.
Funnily enough, he had really bad asthma as a child, and had a lot of attacks. My mam seems to think it may have something to do with it because he was really agressive as a kid and a doctor once told her "so would you if you couldn't breather for x amount of time".

That's rubbish-this is coming from someone who suffered crippling asthma for 19years from the age of 3. I have never heard of it being linked with aggression,ever.

Honestly OP it does sound like he needs professional help-I'm not a doctor but some of the symptoms sound like schizophrenia or similar.Like I said,i'm not a doctor so please get a professional opinion.

Cheap Thrills!

Another thing OP, words like 'weirdo' and 'insane' are not helpful to your brother. Strangers would say things like that but you are his family.

Your Mam doesn't sound like she's coping. Yet she has this young man on her plate. She probably can't think straight.

You, the family have to start researching and seeking medical advice... I think if the lad continues on without any professional care it would really wear your Mother down even more.

yogy

Should really have a chat with a psychiatrist.

JoeyW

Hi guys
Thanks for all the helpful replies, I really didn't explain half of what he is like looking back, it was a rushed post and I didn't want to go into too much detail.
When I said he was aggressive, I mean beating people up and has even hit mam and smashed the house up all around her. She is terrified of him but scared to go to the guards.
My Dad is not in the picture anymore, he left us years ago.
He can never keep a woman as he ends up beating them too.
Thats is the type of "person" we are dealing with here.

Just to update, he kicked off again yesterday at my mams and she told him to leave and threatened him with the guards. Thankfully he went, vowing never to return (fingers crossed). Of course she didn't go to the guards but hopefully he'll leave her in peace.

Nevyn

You mother should get a safety order, is he living in the house?
If not she should refuse to answer the door and she should change the lock.

irishh_bob

Denerick wrote: »

<Snip>

OP, From what you explain, your brother certainly seems to have mental health issues. If he is badly adversing either his or his mothers quality of life, you should seriously look into advising him to go see a doctor. Failing that, you should consider getting him sectioned. Seriously, better safe than sorry.

have you any idea how difficult it is to have someone sectioned in this country , time was , people were put in the big house for trivial matters , the pendelum has now completley swung the other way and you more or less have to kill someone in order to be institutionalised against your will , the mental health system is comletley dominated by PC liberal do - gooders who subscrible to the CARE IN THE COMMUNITY mantra , they see any form of incarceration is a gross human rights abuse , trust me , ive experience ( through extended family in this area ) with theese matters

loveroflight

I'm sorry to say this sounds very familiar. My brother has had schizophrenia since he was about 19. My sister, my mother and I lived with him then. We became so used to such bizarre behaviour it began to feel normal. It was a huge strain and constant pressure. My brother needed help and would never have got it for himself. We had to get a doctor to visit and see his behaviour. It took years to have him diagnosed. I am convinced now that if he had been diagnosed earlier, maybe he would have had some chance of a reasonable life. It has not turned out well for my brother.

Get information from AWARE. Get help!

JoeyW

Thank you for all the positive replies,
Just to answer a few:
My brother does not live at home but was calling in every day and staying for hours with my mam. Hasn't since his last outburst and hopefully it will remailn this way.
Another OP said maybe we didn't listen to him enough and can I just say we were blue in the face listening to him and agreeing with him and it still wasn't enough. He would rant and rave at how stupid we were because "we weren't standing up and fighting for our cause". He really wore us all out. My poor mum is a pensioner on her own who had to agree with every word because if she dared to disagree all hell would break loose. I'm not saying what he believes in is false, we're just too busy living in the real world to be focused on trying to save the world at the minute. He needs to keep his opinions to his self. No one could call in to mams, friends of mams who didn't know him would call when he was there and he would still be ranting and raving, my mam would be mortified.
I always thought myself it sounded like sychozphrenia but how can you help someone who doesn't think he has a problem? As another poster mentioned, you can't section anyone anymore.

degrassinoel

i'd be worried if he said he's going and wont be back considering that he appears to have no sense of self control and a temper.

I was a bit shocked when you called your own brother names too, maybe he's not the only one with issues.

Personally, if it was my brother i'd get him on a good day and convince him about seeing someone, even if it was just a councelling session.

sexdwarf

JoeyW wrote: »

No, Never, like I said he doesn't think he has a problem. He thinks the rest of the world has the problem and is thick.
Funnily enough, he had really bad asthma as a child, and had a lot of attacks. My mam seems to think it may have something to do with it because he was really agressive as a kid and a doctor once told her "so would you if you couldn't breather for x amount of time".

As a chronic asthmatic I find this to be highly unlikely, I've never heard of respiratory problems causing behavioural issues like this.

christina_x

maybe go down to your gp with your sister and together explain your brothers situation to them? maybe he does have a mental illness. Your doctor will assess him and if necessary can admit him to a psychaitric unit for treatment.
www.mhcirl.ie might give you more information about the process of admitting a person involuntarily. As far as i know, the GP will assess him and if he feels he needs psychiatric treatment will refer him to the hospital, where he will be assessed by a psychaitrist who can hold him involuntarily if he feels necessary. feel free to correct me if im wrong

JoeyW

sunflower27 wrote: »

I totally disagree. If my brother beat up on my mother I'd be calling him a hell of a lot worse than a 'weirdo'.

My sentiments exactly. :rolleyes:

irishh_bob

christina_x wrote: »

maybe go down to your gp with your sister and together explain your brothers situation to them? maybe he does have a mental illness. Your doctor will assess him and if necessary can admit him to a psychaitric unit for treatment.
www.mhcirl.ie might give you more information about the process of admitting a person involuntarily. As far as i know, the GP will assess him and if he feels he needs psychiatric treatment will refer him to the hospital, where he will be assessed by a psychaitrist who can hold him involuntarily if he feels necessary. feel free to correct me if im wrong

nine out of ten GP,s wont have any hand , act or part in having someone admitted against thier will to a psychiatric hospital , they see it as pointless for the simple reason that , the few who are admitted against their will , are usually back out in less than a day , as i said earlier, the people who call the shots in our psychiatric services ( nowadays ) dont believe in people being detained against thier will , the only time people ( nowadays ) are detained in psychiatric units is when they commit a serious crime and are deemed criminally insane and those people are dealt with by the police and judiciary , political correctness has made our psychiatric services a complete and utter shambles , i have a 1st cousin who has made his familys ( and lateley his neighbours ) life a hell for the past 15 years , he is a religous fanatic , a control freak and a violent bully , he has been predicting the arrival of jesus ( on a thursday ) for the past decade and during last years lisbon treaty , was telling anyone who would listen that satan was running the YES campagin , his mom has asked the local GP to have him admitted to a psychiatric unti on several occasions but the GP has had his applications repeatedly vetoed by the ruling psychiatricst in the local hospital

thier was a time people were put in the big house for having a silly haircut but since the liberal do - dooders took over , the pendelum has completley swung the other way

i think your best bet OP is to try and persuade your mom to apply for a barring order against her son , the proffesional hand wringers in our mental health services are a waste of time

christina_x

irishh_bob wrote: »

nine out of ten GP,s wont have any hand , act or part in having someone admitted against thier will to a psychiatric hospital , they see it as pointless for the simple reason that , the few who are admitted against their will , are usually back out in less than a day , as i said earlier, the people who call the shots in our psychiatric services ( nowadays ) dont believe in people being detained against thier will , the only time people ( nowadays ) are detained in psychiatric units is when they commit a serious crime and are deemed criminally insane

fair enough you seem to have had a bad experience, which makes your view on the psychaitric services fair, but that was just a bad experience you have had. Maybe you should get an opinion from another GP? Im studying psychaitric nursing and on placement iv seen patients being held involuntarily, and they had not commited a crime or were any sort of criminal, they were just people who had an illness they could not detect in themselves. involuntary patients get a tribunal to appeal theyr admission and if it is felt that they are being held unjustly they are free to leave, but if it is decided that they do need psychaitric treatment then they will continue to be held involuntarily.

OP you said your brother wasnt always this way, that his behaviour onlly changed from when he was roughly 16. So you know that this isnt your brother, and if he is suffering from an illness he deserves the help available.

bigjohnny80

OP

Sorry but stuff like 'Thankfully he went, vowing never to return (fingers crossed).' isn't really helpful to you/ your brother or family.

You need to go to your local GP with your mother and start sorting things out. What have ye done so far for him in terms of outside help? If you cannot go to your GP, please ring one of the mental health organisations and get professional advice.

I dont mean to be harsh and very much sympathise with what is clearly a very difficult situation but you/your family need to take control of things. Your brother will not get better by himself. Do not judge him, he is ill.

irishh_bob

bigjohnny80 wrote: »

OP

Sorry but stuff like 'Thankfully he went, vowing never to return (fingers crossed).' isn't really helpful to you/ your brother or family.

You need to go to your local GP with your mother and start sorting things out. What have ye done so far for him in terms of outside help? If you cannot go to your GP, please ring one of the mental health organisations and get professional advice.

I dont mean to be harsh and very much sympathise with what is clearly a very difficult situation but you/your family need to take control of things. Your brother will not get better by himself. Do not judge him, he is ill.

my aunt and her family tried to take control of the situation with thier son - brother , they eventually realised they were banging their heads of a ( pollitcally correct liberal do - gooder ) wall

Lyn2010

SOUNDS LIKE PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA....HOW YOU HELP THEM IF DONT REALISE THEYVE A PROBLEM IS THROUGH THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT IF THEY ARE A HARM TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. WHATS HE LIKE NOW AND WHAT AGE?

opinion guy

Lyn2010 wrote: »

SOUNDS LIKE PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA....HOW YOU HELP THEM IF DONT REALISE THEYVE A PROBLEM IS THROUGH THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT IF THEY ARE A HARM TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. WHATS HE LIKE NOW AND WHAT AGE?

Jeebus H Christus.
Can clueless irresponsible people stop throwing around diagnoses like this? Yes aspects of this story sound like schizophrenia. Yet other aspects do NOT sound like schizophrenia and instead sound like something else (which I won't mention). The Internet is NOT a place for diagnosing people. You are NOT helping by throwing out diagnoses like this.


OP
I feel for your situation. Really the only thing you can do is try to get your brother into the realm of the psychiatry services for a proper assessment and possibly a diagnosis (or not). You need to speak with your GP and maybe a psychiatrist about how to do this. And at the very least the psychiatrist may be able to advise you on how to handle your brother. The other thing you and your family can do is to involve the gardai and social services. I realise this is a very hard thing to do however it will provide protection for your mum and even protection for your brother.
I hope things get better.

Blackdrag

My friend worked with a guy like that apart he thought the world was coming after his biscuits... and that’s not a joke in anyway. The story finished with his threatening behaviour and ranting landed him in a mental hospital.

It’s easy to say he needs to go visit a doctor but this will only infuriate him further. And think that his family is in on the conspiracy.

Get video evidence of his behaviour and have him sectioned. Its harsh i know but this will only get worse. He will get the relevant help and drugs there to sort out his disillusions of the government or world.

irishh_bob

Blackdrag wrote: »

My friend worked with a guy like that apart he thought the world was coming after his biscuits... and that’s not a joke in anyway. The story finished with his threatening behaviour and ranting landed him in a mental hospital.

It’s easy to say he needs to go visit a doctor but this will only infuriate him further. And think that his family is in on the conspiracy.

Get video evidence of his behaviour and have him sectioned. Its harsh i know but this will only get worse. He will get the relevant help and drugs there to sort out his disillusions of the government or world.

they dont section people anymore in this country , you cannot be institutionalized against your will unless you more or less kill someone , the liberals run the show now and are enforcing theese new practices under whats known as CARE IN THE COMMUNITY , it makes PC libs feel warm and smug inside but is a fcuking disaster for everyone else

Nevyn

irishh_bob banned for a week for off topic and unhelpful posting.

This thread will be locked if people keep ignoring the site and forum rules.

sam34

irish bob's post is inaccurate.

you do not have to kill or nearly kill someone to be sectioned.

there were over 4000 people sectioned in this country in teh last 2 years alone.

to get him sectioned/certified, speak to your/his gp about making an application for assessment under the mental health act, and take it from there.

JuliusCaesar

Here's a self-help & support organisation Shine which might be useful to you all.

LegacyUser

Hi there,

Hope you are doing okay, reading this post, I could have wrote this myself about my own brother...everything you mentioned he does aswell...down to the distorted thinking, the cans, the abuse...My poor mum has suffered for years, but wont kick him out.
Anyway, he is/was on drugs from an early age, and played a huge part in his mental health. After the death of our dad, he went downhill very fast. He start doing and saying stranger things, and talked about the goverment, and aliens etc. Then one day he walked into a neighbours house, and start coming on the girl who lived there, and the bf attacked him, and we had to bring him to hospital, and this point he was taking to a tv that wasnt on, and ranting and raving, and talking to the wall. So the hospital took him in, and he spent over a month in there. Anyway my point is that if you can try get him to see someone, I know its hard, but dont leave it. Now I am not saying that it is the same for your brother as my brother was taking lots of different drugs, but it sounds very simular.

It did really help him. Unfortunetly he went back to his old ways after a few months. And I completely understand that you are sick of listening to him...I am the same. I just want to look after my mam, which is what you should focus on now.

Hope everything gets better.

JoeyW wrote: »

My brother since he was about 16 has bordered on insanity and we as a family don’t know what to do as he thinks he is normal and we are the ignorant, clueless siblings.

He paces the floor when the tv is on giving his opinions, when the news is on he goes berserk altogether shouting about the corrupt government etc and how they are trying to take over our minds. If one of us has a drink he tells us it’s polluted by the government (he drinks 5 or 6 cans a night but strangely enough HIS isn’t polluted mmm).

He LOVES Jim Corr and David Icke, he thinks the whole world is out to get him and believes totally in this one world government. Now each to their own I reckon, but he pushes it down our throats day in, day out and my poor mother can’t handle it anymore. Me and my sister have our own lives and houses so it’s easy for us to avoid him but our mam has to deal with it on a daily basis when he calls in. She is driven demented. You couldn’t have a conversation with him, if you told him it was sunny outside, he would say it was really raining and the government was making it sunny to cover up for everything else it was planning.

He rang my sister one day (there is only him, me and my sister) and told her off for working in a hospital canteen and accused her of being thick and ignorant for working a job like that while he himself has never worked a day in his whole life. He’s far too intelligent to work apparently.

Have any of you ever dealt with this type of weirdo?

What makes things worse is that he’s trained as a hypnotist and practices on vunerable people on a daily basis who want to give up smoking and drinking while he smokes 30 fags a day (cos he CHOOSES too) and according to him he doesn’t drink but mam tells us he drinks the whole time he’s in with her.

We are so exhausted. What do we do, for mams sake more than ours? How do we get hi out of our lives or get him help?

Sorry for the long post

LegacyUser

OP I was in a similar situation a few years ago with my own brother... Not gonna go into all the details here about it... but when it escalated to the point that we couldn't cope anymore our family GP was hugely helpful with getting him the help he needed. We were lucky in that he eventually agreed to being admitted to a psychiatric hospital but our GP had all the paper work ready to go to have him sectioned (is that the right term?) if he didn't agree or if he tried to check himself out once he was there. My brother hadn't injured anyone or done anything in anyway criminal and yet he still would have been taken in against his will if it had been needed.

I don't know all that was involved in the procedure, my parents were the ones dealing with it, but there is definitely help out there. Go to your GP for advice, and if he/she isn't helpful go to a differant GP.

Best of luck.

Blackdrag

irishh_bob wrote: »

they dont section people anymore in this country , you cannot be institutionalized against your will unless you more or less kill someone , the liberals run the show now and are enforcing theese new practices under whats known as CARE IN THE COMMUNITY , it makes PC libs feel warm and smug inside but is a fcuking disaster for everyone else

I live in the UK(birmingham), doctors saw him as a threat to the public, hearing voices so on and so forth. They also sectioned my aunt as she was worried she could kill my uncle with a bag of peas...

Come think of it i know a few people that have been took away due to minor or major mental health issues.