Hello tmom,

The earlier someone with symptoms of schizophrenia gets treated with medication and therapy the better the outcome will be.

Thus your role is not to convince her that she is sick and needs help [upwards of 50 percent of the people diagnosed with SZ lack the awareness that they have an illness and this is a symptom called anosognosia].

Your mission becomes getting her to take the meds and stay in treatment, thus a good start would be to develop a level of trust with the person by talking about what's going on and listening to her and empathizing and then agreeing and partnering on a solution.  This is the LEAP technique championed by Dr. Xavier Amador at his LEAP Institute web site.

he also has the 10th anniversary edition of I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help (2010 edition, Vida Press) that talks in detail about how to persuade a loved one to seek treatment and stay in treatment.  Essentially, you probe about a person's goals and link staying in treatment with enabling her to achieve her goals, like getting a job, maintaining friendships, having a boyfriend, going to school or whatever it is that she wants right now in her life..

this is going to sound like a different approach however I firmly believe you can listen to what someone who is paranoid has to say, and empathize.  This does not mean you are enabling her to be paranoid.  She is going to be paranoid whether or not you try to convince her that these things are not really happening.

The presence of fixed false beliefs and delusions, and of paranoia, are classic symptoms that people with schizophrenia who are not in treatment often have no control over.  so in the face of evidence to the contrary they will believe what they know in their paranoid mind is true.

if this is your daughter you're talking about, tell her you love her and tell her often and you could also let her know you understand how she feels.

Also join the local chapter of NAMI-the National Alliance on Mental Illness whose family members meet weekly or monthly to talk about coping strategies for their loved one's illnesses.  Ring (800) 950-NAMI (6264) to get the name and number of the local affiliate in your city or town, if you live in the U.S.

Now I'm going to sign off and return with a link to a SharePost I wrote about understanding delusions.

Regards,

Christina