Seeking help for son with chronic delusions

Hello @Mum99 

WELCOME to the SANE forums 🤗 We're glad to have you here with us. Thank you for showing up and sharing so openly and honestly, that's not always easy to do. 

There are lots of interesting threads that you might find useful.

I'll pop a couple here: 

Welcome to the Friends, Family and Carers Group Hu... - SANE Forums

Welcome! Introduce yourself here 🙂 - SANE Forums

The forums community are a lovely bunch of supportive people; I'm sure others will jump in to say hello and offer support. 

SANE also has the Recovery club that you might like to check out. Access is fast and free.

Here is the link to more information and registration: Welcome to SANE’s Recovery Club 

It really is great that you are reaching out for support. It's incredibly hard knowing how best to support a loved one with complex mental health, my heart goes out to you. 

Check out the Recovery club, you can probably book in for a one-on-one session sometime this week if you would like to talk to someone.

Sending you all my best 💌

@Mum99  hey Mum99 i have a son with schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and moderate intellectual delay. i get it.  my son was first diagnosed at the age of around 5 with early childhood schizophrenia but it took ttill the age of 16 for him to have the label of schizophrenia.    it is a tough one.  it sounds like you are doing everything you can for your son. good psychiatrist, psychologist are essential.  getting the meds properly sorted is another. tbh the meds are pretty horrific (i have schizoaffective disorder) and am medicated).  my son takes his meds as without them the voices become horrendous.  even though he still has voices and entities with them.  if ever you need someone to talk to i am here. love Bunniekins x

I'm sorry you and your son are going through this, I know how hard this can be!

My mum has delusions, and while I can't help tell you with what will make this easier, I can tell you what doesn't work.

Outright denying or trying to dissuade them from what they believe doesn't work. It's their reality, is like trying to persuade us that the sky isn't blue and the grass isn't green. 

I'm no longer in contact with my mum (she was abusive. Her delusions had nothing to do with this decision), but when I was my therapist said instead to say things along the lines of "that must feel scary", etc, where you're not validating the delusion but you are their emotions around it.

As for paranoia, my therapist said that's how delusions are usually formed. The constant fear and worry had them hyperfocus on the thought, until they no longer can tell it's was originally just a fear they had and not their reality. With my mum, I noticed she would develop a delusion over the course of 1.5-2 weeks.

As for people who can help, I'm not sure there is actually all that much they can do. The reason mental illness exists is because there aren't any cures, and medication and therapy can only help so much.

My mum never took her medication enough to work and didn't go to therapy (so I don't have any experience in how it could help), but I know from my own experience that therapy doesn't work overnight, and that it doesn't work unless you put the work in and follow their advice. As such the reason it might not seem like it's working is because you're both expecting too much too soon, or he may not be following their advice.

The hardest lesson I've learnt in all of this, is you can't help someone who won't help themselves, and in my mum's case she refuses to help herself!

If you're struggling with this, it might be a good idea for you to talk to your GP to see if you qualify for some psychology sessions under Medicare. A psychologist would likely provide you great advice for how to provide better support and explain to you how things work from their perspective, while also teaching you ways to make sure you're helping yourself to stay emotionally strong and healthy!