Anyone have a young family member with schizophrenia?

My son, was diagnosed bipolar. It was rough , very to rough. Look back his Acting out I should of seen signs. Mental health was not near as good then as it is now. And I made a lot of mistakes. Acting out as a teen. He even actually burnt an abandoned mill down.

End all be all, he became a beautiful human, beautiful family, and a great job in the mental health field. It made him who is is today.

Love her, get the help she needs and her problems may very well help others someday

I have a nephew suffering from schizophrenia, and yes, it's absolutely heartbreaking. His parents split when he was young, his dad went off and started a new family, his mom struggles to make ends meet -- it's always been a lot.

I'm not sure when his illness started, but I'd guess it was around the same age as your granddaughter. (He's 25 now.) His mom couldn't get him the real help he needed and his dad who could wouldn't get involved enough in his life to be of much use.

Surprisingly, he finally got help after getting arrested and being sentenced to a mental health facility. He had to spend two years in that place in a terrible part of town with a lot of people far worse off than he was, but he finally got on the right medications and he's like a new kid now. He just got out last October, and he's as right as rain mentally. He's back living with his mom, which isn't the best situation for him, but he's able to get a job and function just fine as long as he stays on his meds.

It's sad, scary, and heartbreaking, but there is hope for your granddaughter to be a fully functioning member of society. The key is to stay on the meds even when she feels fine.

My step daughter, 32, is bipolar. She's impossible to deal with and constantly plays the Victim, so she's not talking to most family members because we've "wronged" her somehow. The key is this: she refuses to take her medication and therefore, stays mad and upset 95% of the time.

My childhood BFFs son, 38, is schizophrenic. Diagnosed in his late teens. He's fine if he stays on his medication, and disengaged with his wife and daughter if he refuses, which is 99% of the time. He disassociates from others and lives in his own world, a solitary soul who drives a semi for a living.

My ex husband of 22 was finally diagnosed schizotypal a few years after we divorced and he lost everything. He refused to get diagnosed or take medication for his erratic behavior, so I chose to cut the cord with him. Nowadays he takes all sorts of meds and is somewhat more functional as a result.

My mother lived to 95 and refused to ever see a doctor for what I believe was her Borderline Personality disorder and horrendous fears and anxiety. Dad and I had a helluva time dealing with her for decades, especially after the dementia set in.

The common thread with all of my examples is the refusal to see therapists, psychiatrists, take necessary medications and to instead live in denial, which is not just a river in Egypt.

Mental health issues are common among human beings. Just as medical conditions are. People are 90% more likely to seek and follow medical advice than mental health advice. There is STILL a stigma attached to it, unfortunately.

Make your daughter and more importantly, your granddaughter feel loved and not judged, and not that GD is afflicted with such a horrible and heartbreaking illness. She just has to do A, B, C, and D to live a normal life, similar to a type 1 diabetic who has to test her blood sugar several times a day, use insulin, and eat a healthy diet. A diabetic doesn't question that regimen; it's what must be done to stay alive and healthy. Your GD will learn what SHE must do to stay healthy and happy as well, and the routine will smooth out in time.

We all have a cross or 2 to bear in life, and once we accept the challenge, we're golden. It's when we fight and rage against the moon and cry WHY ME? that things get really hard. Accept what is and move forward, together as a family.

Your priorities are straight.....mother can fly a kite right now. I had many incidents where I had to put my mother, the drama queen, on the back burner while I went out to slay dragons myself. Otherwise, she'd have ADDED an enormous load to my already overburdened shoulders.

Best of luck to you.

I think it’s pretty unanimous here, grandkid in crisis and her family has priority over stable but complaining elder.

As a side note, you may want to look into the work of Chris Palmer, MD, of Harvard Medical School and McLean Psychiatric Hospital. He is currently investigating treating psychiatric illness as a metabolic disease, and apparently has had some encouraging success with his own patients. His book for the general public is called Brain Energy and I found it quite interesting. (And he is definitely not anti-meds or making extravagant claims that his approach is a cure-all, etc.)

Best to you and your family!

You won't change your Mom and happily you are SMART ENOUGH with good enough boundaries set in place to keep telling her what she needs to hear.

As to the diagnosis of your granddaughter? I have in my family a likewise just beautiful step-granddaughter who is bipolar. If you have good medical help that is a blessing. If she will keep on her meds that will be a blessing. But the world of mental health is notoriously tough to negotiate and there is really no such thing as getting good guardianship in place.

This is a tragedy. You all in the family already know this. And the impact will be ongoing. Some do better than others, but challenges will persist and I can only recommend a REALLY GOOD support group if you can find one. With these beautiful children of ours, thusly beset, the tendency to self medicate--I will be blunt here in saying drugs and alcohol--is very very seductive, and if it happens the complications go up exponentially.

Trust me, you are not alone. You didn't cause this, you can't fix it, and the world of mental health will be iffy and will throw out more diagnoses and ideas for expensive treatments than you can begin to imagine. It's an awful place to be stuck in. I am terribly terribly sorry.

So sorry about your granddaughter. This is a very hard thing for her and the family.

I am also glad you told your mother how it is. I feel the same way. There are others in my family who have more pressing needs and require more help than my mother who is in a NH. All she does is complain about whatever it is she needs to complain about that day.

I had to cut my one month visit with my parents short because my 44 yo son in law decided he wants to recreate his life as a college frat boy and so he picked up and left his wife and four children two weeks ago. I had to fly back to pick my daughter off the floor and help a 7 and 9 year old deal with the trauma of his sudden departure.

So I had to tell my mother that I needed to go and that was that. She had her life. My granddaughters' well being is more important than my mother's issues.

Not a young family member, but my ex-husband was finally given a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder in 2020. We married at 20. By 25 his behavior was manic, but I knew nothing of mental illness so I couldn't wrap my head around why his behavior was so bizarre. I ended up having to commit him and he was given the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. He was involved in a incident that to this day I still do not know the truth of what fully happened, but it left him with a traumatic brain injury which prolonged his diagnosis. We divorced at 27 and at 35 he finally was given a proper diagnosis schizoaffective disorder.

He is inconsistent with most things in his life. He won't take medicine, just wants to smoke weed all day. He won't go to therapy and he is very impulsive. He is paranoid with certain things, but also somewhat aware of when he is about to go manic (I say this loosely).

I'm so sorry you are going through this. If she has a good support system (sounds like she does) and will take her meds and go to therapy regularly she can live a normal life. It may take a while for her to be regulated though. I'll be praying for you all! Hang in there and don't let your mom or anyone else burden you. It sounds like you have your priorities straight, the rest will figure itself out.

I feel like a lot of the post here are on the negative side. Yes, this is hard, and scary for all of you. But many people with mental conditions lead a productive life.

That is very sad to witness in a child so Young . No One really Knows where schizophrenia comes from ? Different theories - too Much Dopamine , the gene is Inherited - could be Bi-Polar or both schizophrenia and Bi- Polar . I would suggest reading up On her Illness and then supporting her artistic talents and endeavors . I had 2 brothers who came down with this iIlness at 16 and 19 . Knowing what I Know Now I would encourage acupuncture treatments - That is a healing space for the Mind , exercise such as swimming , Body massages Like Shiatsu , study Reiki . Sometimes holistic treatments can really help and If Not for the grand child the Mother . Eating healthy - Organic , brain foods such as fish , avocados , walnuts . Listen to her delusions and paranoia with Out Judgement . Go for long walks in nature . The best thing to do Is be her best friend and Listen . Wishing her healing and Happiness .

The theory is when they are transitioning from childhood Into adolescence the Hormones are triggering the Nuerotransmitters and different parts of the brain are Not connecting or developed so there is a Misfiring of Information . Some Of the Younger People that Frontal brain area hasn't quite developed . This is a Popular theory . I Can Private Message you some More information .