My husband suffers from Schizophrenia, and for the past 5 months he's been hospitalized.
(He was just discharged yesterday) and everytime he's hospitalized atleast for the first 2 months he stops talking to me cuts me off financially.
But this time when he got out he never made an effort to contact me. I think it has a lot to do with his mother, she babies him and she's an enabler. I don't really think she likes me, and I have no idea, I've been their for him through every hospitalization, court date, I even investigagted to get him a specialist. I believe that people with Schizophrenia when they are stable should learn responsibility, and no it is not ok to do whatever you want and use the excuse that they are sick, they need to stay on their medication
Right now my heart is breaking, I do have a lot of support but I could use some advise from an expert
Thank you
Hello gearity1,
You have a lot on your plate with your husband.
Understand that not everyone with schizophrenia shirks their responsibility.
I am sorry to hear how your husband has treated you.
Certainly he needs to be aware that his actions have consequences.
The schizophrenia should not be used as an excuse for doing or not doing something.
By all means, a person with this diagnosis needs to stay on his or her medication.
You have learned that when your husband stops his medication it is an uphill battle for everyone involved.
When you say you have support I take it you're referring to a NAMI family support group that meets weekly or monthly at local NAMI affiliates in cities and towns across America. You may want to attend such a group if you're not. Call (800) 950-NAMI (6264) to find the name and phone number of your local affiliate.
You used the words "every time he's hospitalized" and that leads me to believe he's been hospitalized numerous times, like a revolving door. At this point it seems he has no incentive to work on his recovery or perhaps he doesn't believe he is sick or maybe the medication isn't working yet and he needs to try every drug before finding the right one. I do not know what his story is.
You may need to be firm about what you expect from him although I do not know, you may have already told him what you expect and it fell on deaf ears. However you have the right to tell him what is and is not acceptable behavior.
So I recommend the NAMI family support group.
Regards,
Christina