My daughter had a psychotic episode 2 years ago, which saw her in a mental health ward. The psychiatrist initially diagnosed bipolar & put her on antipsychotic medication, on release she was to see a psychologist for 12 months. She moved home as her relationship broke down & we could support her financially. She had 3 psychologist visit, she told us the psychologist said she was not bipolar, her episode was likely drug induced & did not need to continue.
She went off medication & appeared okay after a year she got a great job driving haul trucks at a mine 6.5 hours away so drove back & forward after each round. She had a couple of mild episodes while at this mine but appeared to work through with family support. after 6 months she transferred to a closer mine & only travelled 3.5 hours to work. She bought a new car & was saving to buy her own home.
During this time she began crying, she would not talk to us about what was wrong, we asked whether it was her job or if anyone had said or done anything to her she said she loved driving the trucks. However the crying increased & she began accusing us of repeating her words back to her as if we were listening in on her she said it was happening while driving the truck & all the family and other random people were doing it, we have tried to get her to seek help but she refuses and will not take medication.
2 months ago her job ended due to her employer losing their contract this happened the day before her 30th birthday. Since then she has gotten worse to the point where we can’t sleep as her crying keeps us awake, when we approach her she is abusive and aggressive towards us. One night she slapped her dad in the face and hit me with her weighty pillow across the head. We have tried everything we can think of to either help her or encourage her to seek help but she refuses. It is impacting on us to the point we are struggling to function properly.
She believes that people are listening to her and purposely repeating things back that they could not know about and that relate to past trauma, when we deny this and suggest she is confused she yells we are lying. We ask for examples and suggest coincidence but she says it is happening too much to be coincidental.
She doesn’t do anything but eat, sleep, cry, watch tv and play some game on her phone, she has shut herself off from family and friends as she believes they also are lying and contributing,
We know she needs help but are unsure what steps to take to get that help
