Help for a Paranoid Schizophrenic?

[MissWitchy]

Hello! I've recently learned that my girlfriend has Paranoid Schizophrenia. She said its only a mild case and is easily controlled by her medication, but on really stressful nights( and for some reason only at her father's house.) she will see shadow people in her room. A pair of legs running up and down the road outside, a man with noose around his neck in the middle of the room, and a man in the corner of the room with a gun lodged in his head. When she was younger she usually saw dragons,fae, and other benevolent things, but they have gotten more malevolent as time went by. She has problems with cutting, depression, and home life. Her father is very violent. He hasn't punched her but has violent outburst such as breaking bottles and losing control and throwing tantrums. She also gets bullied often for being lesbian. These are my questions:

1. How can I help her?
2. Is it possible the things she is seeing are not hallucinations and can be banished?
3. If not, how can I help lessen the hallucinations?

Thank you for reading!

[dreadedpsychopomp]

Be there for her. Love her and accept her for who she is. It seems like you're already doing this so keep being a good girlfriend.

It's entirely possible that what she's seeing are actually there. When you said that she sees shadow people, dead people, and used to see fae, I thought that was odd that those are her symptoms. Of all things. HOWEVER, I am not capable of saying one way or another. I just know because my mom was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, as was my ex-girlfriend, and many others I've met over the years. Insane delusions and actual paranoia where the person does think everyone is out to get him or her, usually related to the reason given by the delusion, tend to mark schizophrenia, that have zero possibility of being true, and IMO seeing what could be spirits in a specific location seems likely to be clairvoyance. Again, though, I am not a doctor. There might be aspects to this that you don't know or that you're not posting about. There are many banishing techniques. A lot of people recommend the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, the Star Ruby, as a basic. There are many others as well. If you can, get a book about protection and defense and take its advice. It can't hurt to try.

I hope this helps. Sorry for run on sentences, I'm on my phone. I hope that you and your girlfriend figure this out.

[Xiao Rong]

Hi, Miss Witchy. First of all, I just wanted to echo what Dread says - you are clearly a caring girlfriend, and she's very lucky to have you in her life. From what you said, this sounds like a few separate issues - the issues with her visions, her difficult home life, and her being bullied for being lesbian.

My question is - how much do these visions bother her? I won't try to guess whether or not they're real, but she says herself she has mild paranoid schizophrenia, she already is taking medication, etc. So my first instinct is that it's less important to try to make her stop seeing visions (which may or may not be possible), but to 1) find ways to avoid these stressful situations in the first place (which I realize may not be possible, based on her home life which you mentioned), and 2) maybe try some grounding techniques to help relax and maybe take her mind off of the visions.

If you're still interested in trying to banish the visions, I would say that first and foremost you should try to get her permission to banish them. But I've had experience with family members who have paranoid schizophrenia, and I don't really believe that it's a good thing to encourage the belief that they are anything more than hallucinations. It seems to me the best thing you can do is to keep supporting her throughout all of this, and helping her with her father, the bullying, and just getting her through the moment when the stressful situations and hallucinations do arise.

[MissWitchy]

Thank you so much for the help and kind comments! I didn't tell her I suspected it was anything more than hallucinations. It didn't strike me as a good idea at all, so I kept it to myself. I did more research and found that meditation has been shown to tremendously help with schizophrenia for science reasons I'm to lazy to type. Does anyone have any good meditation recommendations I can practice with her?

[dreadedpsychopomp]

Focus on the breath. Just sit and begin breathing deeply. Let yourselves relax, don't force thoughts and don't reject thoughts. If you must, count your breaths. That counting will make you focus. Over time, your body and mind will fall into a natural rhythm and your minds will end up quiet and at peace. Good luck to you both with this.

[MissWitchy]

Thank you so much!

[slithering_dragonfly]

There are also plenty of guided meditations you can look up on YouTube. I definitely think it's a wise call not to suggest they could be anything real, as someone who is schizophrenic may have tendencies to become paranoid, and outside suggestions could really make that worse. So good for you in playing it safe. I agree with other posters, can you ask her if they bother her? Any good doctor will tell you that hallucinations are only a problem if they bother you or interfere with your life/cause you/others harm. Reinforcing this to her might help her know it's not anything to be ashamed of. She just sees the world differently and that's ok as long as she keeps safe. Anyway, I'm rambling but you sound very supportive and I hope she feels better.