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Worried about friend that has become paranoid

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  • 20-04-2013 8:48am
    #1
    Some_randomer
    Registered Users Posts: 388 ✭✭


    Hi, I hope this is the right place for a question like this. I have a friend that I've become worried about lately. She seems to have developed some kind of paranoia in the past while. She left her last job because she reckoned the company were reading her emails and had bugged her phone. She formatted her laptop and her phone and left the company. I told her she was being paranoid but now she reckons the company have been in touch with me and we're plotting against her somehow.

    She's always been suspicious since I've known her but nothing this bad. We've had an on off relationship in the past few years and she's read text messages on my phone more than once. I was friends with her on Facebook for a while and she emailed a couple of my female friends that she didn't know and asked how they know me and was I having an affair with them. Needless to say I dropped her from FB straight away and put a pin on my phone, and that pretty much ended the relationship.

    So to my mind she seems to have developed some kind of paranoia or mental condition. Is there anything can be done to help her, or how would a person go about broaching this? Is there any agency / counselling service or something like that that could help with this kind of thing?
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    #2
    Brego888
    Registered Users Posts: 1,314 ✭✭✭Brego888


    Sounds like a psychotic disorder. She needs to get to her GP to be properly assessed who may prescribe anti psychotic medication or refer her to the local psychiatric services.

    Difficult part would be getting her to the GP in the first place


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    #3
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    There is nothing anyone can do until your friend can either:

    Be persuaded to see a GP. And even then, she might not be diagnosed properly.
    OR
    She becomes a danger. In which case the Mental Health services are informed, and she can be sectioned for treatment.

    Believe me, it's not a nice experience watching someone you care about so obviously ill, knowing full well there's nothing you can do.


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    #4
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    If she believes you're in on it, then you can only do so much. I would advise speaking directly to someone in her family about your concerns, then remove yourself from the situation.


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    #5
    mood
    Registered Users Posts: 4,264 ✭✭✭mood


    If you know some of her family maybe consider having a chat with them. She needs professional help.


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    #6
    car.kar
    Registered Users Posts: 101 ✭✭car.kar


    As previous posters have said, I would try and let a family member or someone close to her about this, and then leave the situation. If she already thinks you're "plotting against her" then there's not much else you can do, as she probably won't believe you when you say you're trying to help.

    If she has no family around or anyone else you can contact, then perhaps you could ring a mental health charity and ask them what the best thing to do would be?


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    #7
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    I can tell you what a mental health professional will say. Neither they nor the OP will be able to do anything!! The friend might be mentally ill, but they still have rights, believe it or not. As the OP isn't even family, they can only speak in general terms.


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    #8
    mood
    Registered Users Posts: 4,264 ✭✭✭mood


    ABajaninCork wrote: »
    I can tell you what a mental health professional will say. Neither they nor the OP will be able to do anything!! The friend might be mentally ill, but they still have rights, believe it or not. As the OP isn't even family, they can only speak in general terms.

    That is why I suggested the OP get in touch with her family.


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    #9
    ABajaninCork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,411 ✭✭✭ABajaninCork


    Yes, I know. And I agreed with that, by thanking the post suggesting just that.


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    #10
    Catkins407
    Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Catkins407


    A gp won't be able to to diagnose anything like schizo affective disorder or anything similar that will have to be done by a psychiatrist. She will need to be referred to see one though either through a gp or by going to an a&e department in a local hospital. The truth is if she is not a danger to herself or others there's not a lot you can do. Her family and friends will be able to see if her behaviour has change and she has become more erratic so I wonder do you need to do anything? If so may e have a word with a family member. For all you know she may already be diagnosed with a mental health condition. It's not something people share much. She may be off meds or need a med tweak . The truth is though if she is ill or acting out of character more than you will have noticed.


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    #11
    christina_x
    Registered Users Posts: 701 ✭✭✭christina_x


    One option to getting her assessed by a GP is to ask them to call to the family home when its known she will be there. Even if she is unwilling to co-operate, its still showing signs of paranoia and fixed beliefs, that she cannot fathom challenging by a doctors assessment . It increases the chances of her getting admitted under the act without her causing irreversible damage. Contact her family a.s.a.p.


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    #12
    Magenta
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,957 ✭✭✭Magenta


    christina_x wrote: »
    One option to getting her assessed by a GP is to ask them to call to the family home when its known she will be there. Even if she is unwilling to co-operate, its still showing signs of paranoia and fixed beliefs, that she cannot fathom challenging by a doctors assessment . It increases the chances of her getting admitted under the act without her causing irreversible damage. Contact her family a.s.a.p.

    A GP would never do that! They're not going to just show up to a house and ambush the patient!


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    #13
    Overheal
    Registered Users Posts: 81,685 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Magenta wrote: »
    A GP would never do that! They're not going to just show up to a house and ambush the patient!
    Especially not for something so relatively mild. In exceptional circumstances, in certain legal jurisdictions, this can happen. However its almost always never before the point the patient becomes a harm to themselves or to others. Even then, their ability to hold someone is weak, and under most circumstances a patient can 'pretend' to be lucid to get released and there isn't much the ward can do about it. Happened with my aunt a couple years back in Florida - that was a hot mess. This, in relativity, is a mild paranoid episode.

    Is it possible she is on drugs? Or, not on drugs? I've also seen the effects of people 'off their meds' and its not pretty; a poor woman that had become physiologically dependent on anti-depressants


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    #14
    Some_randomer
    Registered Users Posts: 388 ✭✭Some_randomer


    Thanks for the advice so far some food for thought.
    Overheal wrote: »
    Is it possible she is on drugs? Or, not on drugs? I've also seen the effects of people 'off their meds' and its not pretty; a poor woman that had become physiologically dependent on anti-depressants

    She's not on any drugs that I'm aware of or off any meds either, pretty sure she's not on anything. Thing is she's perfectly normal most of the time and has friends, goes out regularly etc. Also she's not from Ireland and I don't know any of her family. I've met a couple of her friends once but our friend circles don't mingle. I found one of her friends on FB and was going to drop her a line and say something but chickened out in the end, was afraid of opening a can of worms

    (When I say perfectly normal I mean if you were to meet her in the street or in a bar. The previous stuff about reading text messages and emailing people on FB probably wouldn't be classed as normal..)


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