Hello! This is my first forum post.
A good friend of mine has been pretty isolated recently, and I’m a bit concerned about his mental health. (Of course, we’ve all been in lockdown, but he’s been avoidant since before then and hasn’t been talking or posting much anywhere. The last I saw of him was a few months ago and he seemed quiet but not concerningly so) I invited him over recently and he called on the night in a state saying he couldn’t come because ‘people were following him’, which I found a bit worrying. He also posted something online mentioning whispers agitating him, which sounded like he might’ve been hallucinating? Anyway, I visited him this afternoon and he’s acting pretty off - muttering to himself and just not seeming to pay much attention to anything, leaving and reentering the room because ‘someone threatened him through his window this morning’ and he thought someone would break in, stated like that was totally normal. I asked if everything was okay and he mentioned he’s been pretty anxious and hasn’t been sleeping much as well as hasn’t been completing his school work recently.
When I brought up talking to someone he was pretty insistent that he’d deal with it alone, but I’m worried it’s some kind of psychosis. I know he’s struggled with anxiety for a long time but I’ve never seen him acting like this in the time I’ve known him, and it was a little unsettling. What should I do? Does this sound like psychotic behaviour over just anxiety, should I be pushing harder for him to visit his GP or am I worrying/meddling excessively? We’ve been quite close in the past and the complete distance is unlike him, I don’t know what’s overstepping.
Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated!!
