Hey nexus, I believe a good friend of mine may have schizophrenia and it seems to be getting worse. From what I have seen and what he has told me, he is having trouble interacting with people and trouble with depression. Along with that he told me that during his recent travels (edit: recent travel overseas, not trips) he believed that he was being followed by private detectives or various government agencies.

Would any of you have any advice that i could give him?

If he uses psychedelics, he should stop. They can only make such a severe psychological illness such as schizophrenia worse. Would he be open to seeing a psychologist to get a diagnoses?

Yeah. someone suffering from such severe psychological disorders should not take psychedelics. this also includes cannabis.

If he realizes that these paranoid ideas are paranoid ideas, then his condition isn't that bad and he probably just has a severe depression wich is bad enough on itself.
If he realy believes that the government IS following him, then he very likely, realy has a psychotic disorder.

In both cases it's wise seeking help.

Oh, I forgot to ask, does he have any reason to believe that the government would be following him? Does he participate in illegal activities that would warrant that kind of action from the government. Smoking methamphetamine will also make a person paranoid and delusional, I hope your friend does not have a secret like that.

ive told him to stop taking psychs and consider seeing a psychiatrist. I think he knows now that gov officials arn't following him (he told me that he thought they were when he was traveling overseas), took alittle talking but i think he realizes that its a delusion.

i highly doubt he is doing any sort of amphetamines at all. that or illegal activities other than the consumption of a few psychedelic drugs + alcohol + alittle cannabis.

he tells me that he dosnt feel bad during trips and that they actually impart a sort of structure effect that makes understanding sober world alittle easier.

who knows what the actual dsm label is but he definitely is acting wierdish.

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion of schizophrenia just yet, obviously I don't know all the details, but from what is posted here, it sounds more like a paranoid delusional episode, and again a key aspect here is that your friend knows it's a delusion which really suggests he's not doing that bad...it's key. plus with a lot of these illnesses people are at risk of making a self-fulfilling prophecy, sadness is not a sickness, and absolutely psychs and cannabis may cause temporary paranoia and make real psychiatric illnesses more apparent.

I have a close friend who has schizophrenia (both paranoia as well as hallucinations). She uses cannabis to help with her symptoms, and it seems to work well. Even her psychiatrist told her to continue using it.

This person has serious paranoia; including believing that David Hasselhoff, Pat Robertson (she went to one of his schools), and the entire Republican Party is watching her closely. Her meds have helped this a lot, as does having someone to help bring her back to reality (not an easy task). MJ seems to dampen this paranoia when used in small-medium sized doses as well as helping to keep her anxiety at bay.

She also used to use mushrooms and DMT until she was put on meds that prevented her from "tripping". I'm not sure if her psycadellic use helped or increased her symptoms, she doesn't seem to know either, but in either case the effects were not dramatic. I agree that people like this should not be using psycadelics at all, as the chance of increasing their symptoms is high.

I also truly believe that SOME disorders can be treated using psycadelics (as I've seen first hand in my wife), many psyciatrists used them in the past to help treat a range of illnesses. Nothing that I am aware of is a pancea, psycadelics are NEVER a CURE for anything, but can be used as a tool in conjuntion with other thearapy.

I am NOT saying that people with mental imbalances should use MJ as a way to self medicate, as my friend was and is on medicine for her illness. I'm only saying that in this 1 case MJ has been very helpful for her as long as she is taking her other medications.

I agree 100% though that anyone with a mental illness that impacts their day to day life needs to seek professional help. There is no shame in getting treated for a disease, whether it be physical or mental.

ill show him all of your posts, thanks. though i dont think that government officials thing was his only delusion, there are more according to him (not too many i hope, ill prod him to sift his thoughts alittle more), but i believe that he is learning that they are delusions, nothing nearly as severe as your friend acolon but delusions nonetheless.

the issue is that from what i observe and what he entrusts with me is that it is getting worse. i started googling about and remember once when he told me that he was born a blue baby. whatever that means i think that means he had some oxygen deprivation at birth.

one thing he did tell me is that trips do help to give some sense of reset and from what i have observed, they may act differently on his mind than they do on others. another thing is that the discovered delusions have occurred during periods of no drug use along with trip use.

and yes, i should definitely tell him to not fullfil the prophecy and try to figure out whats up before pinning down an "issue"

thankfully none of this has really acted outward in a detrimental fashion (violence, etc.), just to himself personally and avoiding half a hand of potentially fruitful relations. not too many people other than his closest friends notice, such as myself..., i think

I would first suggest you go see a psychiatrist or something.... but if that doesn't work and if the entheogenic experiences really do help him then I'd suggest he meets with a shaman and tries Ayahuasca or another entheogen.

But as other have said, be extremely careful with this and make sure you friend know what he is getting into.

I personally believe that entheogens can help in SOME situations like this.

Sorry to hear about your friend since he confides in you that is a good thing I know he is depressed but the main thing to be concerned about is is he suicidal? That should be your main concern if he is you may need to escalate your plan to help him.

How does he feel about getting help is he willing? Having a friend he can trust and will talk to is a major benefit and since he already has that it is good, most just keep these things inside.

Even if he gets help that is no Holy Grail many times antidepressants have no effects at all they give you one type if it doesent help they try another and another.

The best cure for depression is exercise that tires you out it releases the feel good neurotransmitters naturally. However this is easy to say and hard to do, its hard enough for a regular person to stick to a exercise routine let alone a depressed person.

Do you know why he is depressed? In many severe cases of depression the person is depressed all the time even if life is going well and to others the person appears successful. This is the most difficult type to treat.

Depression its self can cause psychosis and irrational thoughts from lack of sleep, stress, anxiety. Hopefully that is the case with your friend. If he can beat depression the others symptoms may subside

The Black Dog(Winston Churchills name for depression) is a evil crippling beast indeed.

The darkest hour is always before the dawn.

Hope you friend will be doing better soon.
PEACE
MV