My 19 year old son has recently experienced what i am told is a phsychotic epidode and is in hospital, we have been told that it looks probable that he has schizophrenia. i feel that my world has just fell apart and i dont know hope to cope with it all, if anything my son seems to be handeling it better than me, does anyone have any advice or experiences that will help me to understand what is going on?

Nothing i can directly relate to, lemme find some stuff for you to read mebbe that could help.

Wiki Page
Page from Mentalhealth.com
Page from mind.org.uk

Theres lots of info out there, hope you can find something that helps
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my exes brother had paranoid schitzophrenia. it made it very difficult to talk around him or indeed talk to him. he was always under the impression that we were talking about him. but that was the paranoia. the schitzophrenia really didn't bother anyone unless he didn't take his medication.

relax.

it'll all come right in the end. and if your son is taking it well........... so should you. it's his life that's going to be different from now on in a more major way than yours. the doctors will have explained everything in simple terms to him and if he feels confident enought about it...... place some confidence in him.

hope that helped.

Oh gods....I'm so sorry. Essentially, schizophrenia is rather difficult to pin down, there's various shades of it, and it can be layered with other disorders. The main crux of it from a few friends I've had who have had it is their delusive nature with "hearing voices" and so forth. There can also be hallucinations. As a result of this mental upset, the person in question is usually unable to cope with society, may have phobias, or strange behaviour patterns (one of my friends hated to be touched).

I am sort of on the fence with this one, because one person's schizophrenic is another person's artist/mieracle worker/shaman (that may sound hoky, new agey, and even dangerous, but it's the approach of many of the spiritual cultures which make up a part of my own background, and I've used techniques from those to work with people with mental disorders, with pretty good results). The first advice you'll get is to medicate your son senseless. To keep them safe, yes, that's probably sensible, but it isn't the only option, and there are other avenues - feel free to explore those; tai chi, yoga, ayurveda; be skeptical, but try it anyway.

What you're probably feeling is the same to what I felt having my son being diagnosed with autistic spectrum; we suddenly realise our child is broken and somehow we should have been able to prevent it, or notice it, or fix it. It's just not true. Our children have been living with it from the inside and already are coping or trying to. The diagnosis is important because it allows us to get help - but it still feels like being kicked in the stomach.

My own advice? Try and do some homework, talk with you son, but don't boil yourself in it - it can be very easy to make his disability the main focus of your relationship with your son, which I find is more damaging than the fact my son has a disability in the first place. In the end, he's still a kid, and likes doing stuff with me - he just looks at life a bit to the left.

Process for now...it's important you be gentle with yourself, work through your own feelings, and then go from there.

Good luck.

I know someone with it too, i wouldn't have known if i hadn't been told but like mandy says it only really comes out if he stops the medication .

Hi My brothers Schizophrenic he was diagnosed with it when he was 16 I was 10 he's 30 now and I'm 24. I found it hard to believe even at such a young age when I didn't know anything about it. At least now you know he will get the care and treatment he needs thats a good thing. I know exactly what your going through it's really tough. My brothers very intelligent which makes it harder in a way and he seemed to cope better than any of us ironic really. But took my him years to come to terms with it certain things like understanding that he has to take his medication or he gets unwell. It's something you have to learn to live with. It's all about the individual in this case. I'm hoping maybe he has just had one episode that can happen but only time will tell I guess. The person it hurts the most is my Dad it must be really hard for you. I've been at work all night I'm shattered off to bed now. Good luck and the most important thing right now is that your son knows your there for him no matter what

thanks for the replys, its still early days, but this is his second episode which was brought about because they lowered his medication, he is getting better but he is very paranoid at the moment and wont let any of us visit him which is the hardest part for me. having a normal healthy son and then being told that he has this and there is no cure and it wont go away is heartbreaking, my son is scared and not being able to protect him or make it go away is tearing me to pieces, i know that i have to just try to ignore it and to continue to be there for him but its so hard at the moment. i know it will get easier with time which is what is keeping me going at the moment,

the doctors will do all they can for him. and he will be fine once his medicinal needs are calculated properly. for now all you can do is hold on and keep positive. let us know how he is....

today was a week since my son was admitted although it feels like a lifetime, he has improved a lot since then which wasnt hard as he was in a real confused state back then, i saw him today and he seems happy which makes me feel a lot better, he still has a long way to go and i dont think he will ever be what we would class as normal, but part of me isnt bothered because i feel like i can comunicate with him now where as a week ago i thought i had lost him for ever, thanks for all the support guys.

Sorry I couldn't offer any advice..

I was going to ask my mum (as her ex best friend suffers from schizophrenia) but she hates talking about it

so glad you're feeling a bit more confident about the future now. it is a hard thing to learn that your child has an illness that will affect their entire life.

you know where we are if you need to chat.