Voices

I don't know if this is the exact forum to put this under, but here it goes anyway.

A friend of mine, who is a devout Christian and respectable guy has been telling me over the last couple of weeks about this "voice" he's been hearing in his head. I thought he was foolin' around at first until he began to cut himself. He says he was abducted by some alien (he called him Mandoza- or something).

I think my friends off his rocker, and needs the serious mental therapy that he is currently receiving. BUT, could there be any truth to his claim? Is this sort of thing common among "abducts" ?

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Plato986]

Sounds like a demon to me, but if he's already attending psychiatric sessions, I wouldn't take him TOO seriously. Although you shouldn't dismiss it either, 'cuz if he IS off of his rocker you shouldn't keep this in the dark.

The voices thing is common with schizophrenia. Thing is, he probably really does hear a voice inside his head. To him, it is real. But it is an indication that his current treatment isn't working like it should. He may not be taking his meds. That's a common problem. If I were you, I'd check in with his family or his doc, and let them know. You may be saving him and everyone he knows from a lot of pain and sorrow.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by glee]

^Oh, I have. He was FURIOUS with me, he threated me and called me names. It's like he wasn't the same person. He's just a sick friend, I hope he gets better.

It could be a cry for help or it could also be something genuinely paranormal .
When I was a teenager I used to use ouija boards and I cut my arm dozens of times with a razor at the time it felt like I was possessed ,another friend of mine did the same thing he cut his arm from top to bottom with a razor .Nowadays I can't understand why I did it perhaps I was mentally unstable or could it have been something darker and more sinister .
Who knows what foces are at work .
A psychologist would say it is definitely depression but its possible that your friend is experiencing contact with entitys beyond our understanding.I remain open-minded

Sorry Plato but this should be in the Paranormal studies Forum.

Just be supportive of him and try to be a good friend, if he want's to talk about it with you then just listen, but i do beleive that u should not have said somthing about this on the internet.

Originally posted by glee
The voices thing is common with schizophrenia. Thing is, he probably really does hear a voice inside his head. To him, it is real. But it is an indication that his current treatment isn't working like it should. He may not be taking his meds. That's a common problem. If I were you, I'd check in with his family or his doc, and let them know. You may be saving him and everyone he knows from a lot of pain and sorrow.

The clarity of some of your posts amazes me. It's nice to see another grounded forum member. I would have posted this exact thing. Thanks!

My friend is skitzo and he is on medication for it. He has had a hard time going to classes because the medication MADE IT WORSE, as it sometimes does.

Psychotropic medication:

MEDICATION: THE FOUNDATION OF RECOVERY
by Edward G. Francell, Jr.
Ed Francell suffers from manic-depression and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Treatment Advocacy Center.

In traveling the long road from ignorance to knowledge about medication, I found that medication issues break down to about five categories. The main issues as: (1) compliance, (2) coercion, (3) rehabilitation (4) education and support, and (5) medication response.
...
When I got anxious and paranoid a few months before graduating from high school, I did not even know that psychiatric patients took medication. I kept looking for the couch in the psychiatrist's office, but I found out quickly you had to sit up and eyeball the doctor. I moved in and out of the hospital from about age 18 to 22, and "field tested" about 10 drugs in the process, until a second opinion found me a stabilizing medication. It was then that the slow process of recovery actually began.
I have been seen as paranoid schizophrenic, bipolar, and major depressive. I am currently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia, a diagnosis combination one consumer has described as, "Depressed maniac with the heebie geebies."

It goes on to describe ways to help the person, if they have problems...
and goes into 2 major (but not all) side-effects

I once knew a consumer with schizophrenia who had a lot of restlessness, or a side effect called akathisia, who made the greatest statement about side effects I have ever heard. He said, "When I look good, I feel bad. When I look bad, I feel good."
Although I have experienced many side effects from psychotrophic medication, two effects stand out as particularly troubling: dystonia and akathisia. Dystonia is a drug reaction that can be very subjectively unpleasant, where the throat muscles become rigid, like a powerful invisible force grabbing you by the neck and holding you off the ground. Dystonia scared the hell out of me, and made me feel helpless, rather like falling into quicksand. Akathisia is to psychiatric patients what nausea is to cancer patients--it is the worst side effect I experienced. I remember having to get up from the dinner table one night and running three miles as fast as I could just to try to get rid of it. The more severe it becomes, the more you cannot feel the positive effect of the drug, and sometimes it can make a bigger impression on you than the symptoms of the illness.
Both of these side effects are controllable and not life threatening, but they can happen without warning and can feel worse than the illness itself (Van Putten, 1974; Awad, 1992; Kahn et al., 1992). Tardive dyskinesia, on the other hand, is sometimes irreversible and can cause concern among consumers and families.
On the other hand, medications do have positive effects. Antipsychotics reduce or eliminate hallucinations or delusions, and mood stabilizers and anti-depressants can allow persons to live essentially normal lives. I have been helped by drugs in all classes, but overall we should be able to do better. Some effective medications now in use, including chlorpromazine, imipramine and lithium, started out as accidental discoveries.

My friend suffers from, dystonia, I think. The particular form, of which makes the first few monts a living hell--worse than they were without the drugs, but is supposed to be better within 3 months. He gets counseling, talks to friends (I had to actually encourage the boy to talk to his father and teachers about how the drugs affected his ability to sit through classes--he dropped out for the semester, planning to come back in the fall.)

A successful response to medication can be an important point in recovery--it often marks the point at which the process of recovery begins. Indeed, the beginning of my recovery began when I found a medication that finally worked. Although the primary disability was controlled, I had to deal with secondary disabilities, namely, the years lost to the illness, the loss of friends, societal stigma, and the pain of being ill itself. These disabilities can be more heart-wrenching than the illness itself. A consumer once wrote, "Even if medication can free the . . . patient from some of his torment, the scars of emotional confusion remain, felt perhaps more deeply by a greater sensitivity and vulnerability." (Anonymous, 1986).
...
It has been observed that if a person stays on medication after a first psychotic episode, a chronic course may be less likely to develop, particularly in the psychotic disorders (Talan, 1993). Each psychotic episode may weaken the effect of medication. It is speculated that some people who stop lithium no longer respond when restarted on it (Post, et al., 1992). Therefore, long-term compliance may become more important than ever.
...
A neurobiological disorder can be like perpetual childhood, a kind of roller coaster ride that suppresses maturity. Although my family supported me greatly (and still does), at times when I was symptomatic I occasionally heard the phrase, "It's like living with a five year old." I cannot really blame them for that--or myself for that matter. Sometimes interpersonal deficits resulting from the illness make consumers appear selfish or manipulative, but instead of blame, consumers should receive help in these areas (Diamond & Factor, 1994). A psychiatrist said that when clozapine patients respond, "The long-standing immature personality that had been struggling to be healthy, but could not because it kept going crazy--is freed. They start to grow up." (Kotulak, 1993).
...
Recovery does not mean getting rid of the illness, or becoming fully independent, or getting back to the way you functioned before the illness. Its real meaning is not any of those things. What it really means is gaining back a sense of control, a sense of purpose in life, and that means getting up in the morning and accomplishing something every day. Psychotropic medication can play a key role in attaining this stability. The most important quality in facing neurobiological disorder is a persistent belief that things will be better in the future--it is this hope that drives recovery, and better services, including medication, can provide this hope.
Whether we are consumers, family members, providers, advocates, or a combination of those, it is important to keep in mind that many obstacles exist on each individual's road to recovery. It takes persistence from the consumer and those around him or her to succeed at this process, just as it takes persistence to manage any illness. Abraham Lincoln's life illustrates the kind of persistence and faith that is needed in this endeavor; it is the story of a person whose sense of purpose helped him to overcome many obstacles in his way:
He lost his job in 1832. He was defeated for the legislature in 1832. He failed in business in 1833. He was elected to the legislature in 1834, but he lost his fiance to death in 1835. He had a breakdown in 1836. There were no hospitals then and no treatment. He was defeated for speaker in 1836. Then he was defeated for his bid for Congress in 1843. He was elected to Congress in 1846, but then lost the nomination bid for Congress in 1848. He was rejected for land officer in 1849. He was defeated for the Senate in 1854. He lost the nomination for the Vice-Presidency in 1856, and was again defeated for the Senate in 1858. But in 1860, he was elected President of the United States. They did not call him "mentally ill," they called him "Mr. President."
Lincoln once wrote, "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing." Our resolution to succeed will make more recoveries possible. Those who have recovered or witnessed recovery from neurobiological disorder can forge their vision of recovery into a living reality for others. With better medications, services, and lessened stigma, the recovery vision we share will transform darkness into light, pain into joy, and despair into hope. We will all be better because of it.

I pulled out some of the more important parts of this paper, but if you want to really help your friend, you should read the whole thing. It could help him to recover.

www.psychlaws.org...