I think my wife is experiencing psychosis

[AvailableDisplayname]

Hi all

I am on my phone so apologies if this doesn't read well. I am typing this while trying not to raise the suspicion of my wife who is becoming extremely paranoid.

She has never had mental health issues before but over the past month she has been getting increasingly delusional and paranoid. At this stage she is unable to relax and spends all day wrapped up in various causes of concern, none of which have any proof.

This began with falsely accusing me of infidelity, but has gotten worse. To be specific, at this stage:

- she thinks her phone has been hacked and is being monitored

- she thinks hidden cameras are filming her

- she thinks I've been communicating "private information" about our lives with others, and that it's gone viral on the internet

This is getting worse. I took her to the GP who asked for a blood test to rule out any dietary causes (she hasn't been eating much). I am convinced this is something much more sinister and that she needs to be medicated immediately.

We got the blood test and need to follow up with the GP, but he's not available again until next week. Am i just stressing out wanting to move fast on this or is my intuition valid? Can we afford to wait until Monday to have the doctor look at her blood test?

I have no idea what to do and the longer this goes on i am scared of her getting worse.

[Petal22]

Hi AvailableDisplayname,

Im so sorry yourself and your wife are going through this it must be so difficult……. I can understand the pain you feel ….

Can you say to your wife that her gp has called and wants her to go in for results?

I think it would be a good idea to have your wife seen today..

Please let me know how you go..

Here to chat

[Aaronsis]

Hello AvailableDisplayname

I have just come across your post and I firstly wanted to say how wonderful it is that you have reached out for some support at a time that I can only imagine how emotional and worrying this is for you and also for your wife.

I think it is a wonderful idea to get your wife to see the GP however my opinion is honesty, it is only my opinion and I am no professional but I feel like if you sell her a false story of why she is to go to see her GP then when she is there she realizes that is not the case I would be concerned that her reaction would be to be very angry and also it may fuel her original thoughts that there is a conspiracy, this act, whilst with every good intention on your behalf may make her feel worse.

If you are able to secure an appointment today or even tomorrow I would be inclined to tell her:

• You have called her GP
• You are very concerned about the situations/scenarios that she is claiming that are true
• You have tried to reassure her that they are not true and would like her to discuss this further with her GP
• You are being open and honest with her to show her full transparency

There also seems to be little you can do to convince her that you are not doing these behaviours so I think trying to do so may only make it worse for you and for her too. Maybe a different approach of asking her how you can reassure her you are not doing these things, maybe leaving your phone on the kitchen bench so she can see you have nothing to hide. Ask her if there is something specific that she has expereinced to led her to believe this.

I am not sure this is something you can "fix" so trying not to might prove to be very helpful to you both.

Also maybe sitting with her and asking her what she needs from you right now to support her might also be good words for her to hear and if she knows it would be helpful for you to hear too.

I am so sorry you are going through this, it sounds absolutely heartbreaking.

We are here for you and there are the amazing support people too on the 1300 22 4636 number if you need to chat and to get some support.

So glad you have reached out and we are here for you.

Hugs

Sarah

[AvailableDisplayname]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Being able to sound this out is helping a lot.

I emailed the clinic and let them know what's happening, the gp has made himself available this afternoon and i got the clinic to call her to say the doctor wanted to talk. She is happy to go in.

However, at this stage i am mentally preparing myself for divorce. She has spent all day so far planning this out, despite no fluctuations in mood she is still 100% certain that i have been filming her and she cannot be talked down from divorce being necessary.

I spent an hour or so weeping on the floor in the second bedroom (where i am sleeping at the moment) earlier but also realise i need to prepare mentally that this outcome is quite possible.

Her parents live overseas (she's not from Australia originally), i have been in touch with them about this and if the shit really hits the fan i will at least ensure she returns to their care and doesn't venture out into the world on her own.

I think she will find that acceptable. Wish me luck tonight everyone. I hope the gp can get us on track. If not, it could get very hard. I feel lik I'm staring off the edge of a cliff.

Thank you again for your support.

[Aaronsis]

Great to hear back from you ADN

I can hear some really positive things in your post and I am so pleased to hear that she is willing to accept the appointment today with the GP, that is fantastic.

I wanted to suggest something to you though and that is to try not to get onto the "train" in your head. Try not to respond to the things she is suggesting like the divorce as it may not be reality once she gets some help. It may also be reality but please try not to role play this scenario out until you have the facts. At the moment she is in some need of some care and so what she is suggesting may possibly not be a concern later. I know that is really hard as the thought of your marriage ending is heartbreaking but please try to work with what the facts are and that is at this moment she needs some help.

Also the other thing is that please prepare for a little bit of a journey and that everything may not be solved today. I could be wrong as this is just my opinion but I would not like for you to put all your hope into this appointment to find that if she is still feeling like this tonight it has all been a failure, that is not the case. Just as it has taken her some time to get to this point it may take some time to heal too. Once again, not helpful I know and pretty hard to hear but I would not like you to think that it all will be solved today, it may, it also may not.

I am so pleased to hear that sharing here has made you feel somewhat better, that is great, keep doing that and reaching out and maybe even think of a GP appointment for yourself, to get some support for you too.

All the best for tonight and try not to fix, just to listen and also consider that this may take time.

Here with you

Sarah

[Petal22]

Hi AvailableDisplayname,

Im glad our forums have helped you 😊

I understand this would be really difficult for you.

I wish you all the luck in the world that the health professionals you are seeing will be able to help yourself and your wife.

Please let us know how things go if you can…

Hang in there

I’m here to chat

[AvailableDisplayname]

Thanks Sarah you're right. Rock solid advice. Much appreciated.

[AvailableDisplayname]

So a bit of an update out of respect for everyone who took the time to help me.

We saw the gp on Friday and he was very helpful. It helped that he knows her language and culture (pure coincidence) which helped put her at ease. And the word 'schizophrenia' did bring her back to earth slightly. She has been prescribed a low dose antipsychotic for 6 months.

The more extreme symptoms have stopped, she's not worried about being recorded anymore. Still very wary of me, and asking herself a lot of questions about our marriage, but i am trying to focus on the positive steps we've taken here so far.

[Petal22]

Hi AvailableDisplayname,

Thank you so much for letting us know..

Im so glad you saw a gp who was helpful….. That’s amazing that the gp new your wife’s language and culture 🙏

Will your wife be seeing a psychiatrist for a diagnosis? If it is schizophrenia I’m sure a psychiatrist can help…..

Im so glad the medication has helped your wife……

I really hope that things keep improving for yourself and your wife….

We are always here as a community to support you AvailableDisplayname.. I’m glad we have helped you and your wife in some way…..😊

Always here to chat

[Aaronsis]

Thank you so very much for coming back to let us know how the appointment went for your wife.

That is such great news that the doctor was able to connect with her and to understand her cultural needs and to be able to gain her trust. I thin that is such an important thing as with out this his words may have fallen short and she may not have been as open to getting the most out of the appointment. I hope that the medication can help her through this time and to give her some relief too from the pain and the thoughts she has been having.

That is wonderful that you can focus on the positives as this is not an overnight fix here and to be able to stand beside her and to support her is wonderful, please take care of you too and reach out if you need some extra support too, this is a very tough time for you both.

Well done on the progress you have made so far and I look forward to hearing more from you if you would like to chat.

Hugs

Sarah

[AvailableDisplayname]

Hi everyone, it's been a few months now. I wanted to come back and post an update for anyone googling "wife psychosis" and its many variants in an attempt to find peoples' stories and anything else that might be helpful. I also feel I "owe it" to those who helped me when I came here hat in hand, coming once with a question and no follow up seems a bit rude 🙂

I will check this thread periodically, so if anyone in need stumbles upon it and wants to ask me anything, sign up and ask away. Would also love it if anyone more experienced had any tips or general comments for me.

I'll talk about meds first, then the condition and life generally. Probably over a couple of posts, this may be long 🙂

There have been ups and downs, and I've come to accept that the next year or more is going to be very challenging. Medication was a real turning point. She was prescribed a low dose back in September. My understanding of an initial GP prescription is low dose + common medication first, to test for negative side effects, then adjust the dose as needed. One of our real blessings here is that she responded very well to the test dose, well enough that we decided against increasing it. She decided to stop taking it once, but that only lasted a couple of days before she started taking it again. This was fairly early on, when her condition was more unpredictable. About a month after that, she genuinely forgot to take it one night. Aside from these two instances, she's been taking the same dose once a night since September.

Medication has taken the severity away from her condition and helped her to sleep consistently, but has also affected her personality. She dosen't appear to feel joy and is very, very calm - almost TOO calm. One interesting thing - the night she forgot to take it, what looked like some paranoia came back the next day - but so did her 'personality' if that makes sense. We had a small argument over something silly, and after I pointed out how silly it was, she remembered she forgot to take it the night before. This level of self awareness was a big turning point in my opinion and a sign that she was starting to see this as a 'condition' rather than 'something that is happening to me'.

More to follow...