Posted by bob on March 6, 2000, at 20:13:10
In reply to How to deal with a psychotic person?, posted by putih on March 6, 2000, at 14:54:13
Putih,
I'm sorry I missed the discussion on effexor & mojo (nothing to contribute + not enough time to read everything here), so I don't know the full context.
All the same, your two posts here say quite a lot. I'm with Fred -- good for you! It's times like these that show a person's true character, and what you're doing takes a lot of courage, a thick skin, a ton of patience, and a lot of love.
I haven't *actually* been psychotic, but my first trial on wellbutrin had me stepping across the borderline. I would fly into near-incontrollable rages at the slightest cue ... there was absolutely nothing rational about what would send me as well. While my girlfriend has been tremendously supportive and patient with me, she is also combative and bullheaded (she WAS a lawyer and now is training to be an ANALYST ... that should explain it). The only thing that kept me from hurting her was a thin slice of sanity that I was able to keep a grip on -- the same slice kept me from harming myself when I wanted to start bashing walls and other hard but breakable objects instead of her. It was a very unreal sensation ... 90% of me just wanting to rage and ruin, and the horror in the other 10% being ten times stronger than the rage, keeping it in check. This rage expressed itself early enough, tho, for my pdoc to counter it successfully with an antipsychotic.
[The troubles that led to further down the road is quite another story, but ...]
I don't know if I can suggest anything to do to help in an **active** way. On the sane side of psychosis, we want to fight it by taking reasonable measures. On the other side of psychosis, I don't think reason has any hold. Maybe a gentle stubborness is the best offense and defense against it. For me, that rage was chaos. Give your boyfriend something that is just as steady and sure as his moods and mind may be mercurial. I can only imagine how hard it must be to let the verbal blows bounce off you instead of catching ... but there's a part of him that will need that lifeline out to what he's had with you. Quietly, confidently reaffirming what you've had together may help him get through this as much, or more, than any med the docs give him.
God bless the both of you,
bob
poster:bob
thread:26124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000302/msgs/26162.html