My brother (M 33) has fibromyalgia, which has caused him chronic pain for about 11 years. I posted here about his overall history, but since he frequents that group, I didn't want to get too specific about his current state. He has not been to therapy since he was about 17. He used to have night terrors about his friends and family dying horribly. He has OCD, but uses it to focus and obsess over details, driving himself mad with his overanalyzing.

He is a dog sitter and has a business because of it. He told my mom about a week ago that he is going through it mentally. For example, he got good news from a client, which will lead to him being on a salary & paying off all his debt. Most would be very excited and feel a weight off of them, but instead, this led to my brother having a mental break, spiraling for days.

This week, he has been sitting a family friend's dogs. They can be a little naughty, and he has fair concerns that the owners need to be more strict and train them better. My brother has decided that one dog is the 'problem,' and the other behaves better when she is separated from the other. This escalated the other night, when he said the dog tried to bite him and that she has hostile energy. He uploaded a normal picture of the dog sitting in her crate to ChatGPT, and it spit out all this information about how the dog is aggressive, follows his eyes, and suggests he call animal control.

At this point, we are trying to talk him down without breaking the illusion or completely denying his observations, because we don't want to set him off further. He told a neighbor the dog was an issue, and the neighbor came over and sedated the dog. The neighbor said the dog was acting a bit anxious, but my brother was legitimately afraid for his life. This dog is a 25- to 30-pound cattle dog with separation anxiety. She has been having accidents in her crate, and he thinks it is intentional and that she is showing 'dominance '? My brother is 6'2" and about 170-ish pounds. None of us believe this dog is actually dangerous, and this was emphasized by him sending the ChatGPT chat where he was asking it, 'Does the dog need to be put down, or can it be fixed'

He sent my mom a video of the dog in the crate, just sitting there, not moving or making a sound, saying, 'This is wild; she is in the crate, and she still wants to kill me.' My mom convinced him to take the 'good' dog back to his place for the night and let the neighbor check on the other dog. He said that he wanted to get away from the dog, because if she did anything to him, he 'wouldn't be able to stop [himself] from breaking the dog's neck' and that it is 'second nature' for him to break a dog's neck if he needs to. (He has never killed or harmed any animal in his care as an adult; as a child, he enjoyed taunting the pet cats we had, but nothing alarming).

ChatGPT has validated all of this delusion. Making him feel that all of his paranoia is valid. When my mom told him he cannot trust what AI says, he just says that it is right and he can trust it. It even told him that his chronic pain is my family's fault for not supporting him enough after his injury. He has gone through phases where my mom is the problem, then it's my dad, and it repeats. He even sent my mom a long list of all the instances of 'abuse' in his life, copied and pasted from the chat. Including an instance when he tried to punch/attack my dad, and my dad just pinned him so he would not hurt himself or others.

With his chronic pain and sensitivity, it seems that he is just always on the edge of a cliff, waiting for something to push him off. He never takes responsibility for problems in his life; he always finds someone or something to blame. It is all his OCD making him obsess over events and details, and he has taken small instances of family jokes and has blown them up to the level of a severely abused child.

My mom drove out there to 'help watch the dog', but to really assess the situation and see if she needs to have mental health services intervene (and protect the dogs). My mom doesn't want to totally freak out the neighbors or family friends because, since his business is pet management, if anyone knew how he was acting, he would be ruined. But now he is convinced that my mom is 'not obeying' him, is putting his business at risk, and is asking her to never visit or talk to him again. He says that he is going to let the family friend come home 'to say goodbye' before he calls animal control, for a dog who has never bitten anyone; she was just anxious, pooping in her crate, and is not well leash-trained.

I know it is loaded to say this because he is 5 years older than me, and I haven't lived his life. But this dog is not aggressive at all. He was not abused as a child. My parents have bailed him out over and over, paying for his debts, being there every time he has had an episode, and doing their best to help him. But he is an adult, and if he doesn't want to do go a therapist or doctor, they can't force him. My mom has gathered information for local mental health crisis services and does not plan on talking to him alone; instead, she plans to do it as a group with the family friends after they get home.

This is a long-winded way to say: What do you do as a parent/family member when someone is delusional and using AI to convince themselves everything they say is right? Any suggestions for how to approach him about it?

TLDR: What do you do when someone is mentally ill, possibly in a state of AI-supported psychosis, and they do not want help, but they could be about to harm others and/or ruin their career? How do you approach someone not in their right mind?

I was today years old (almost 28) when I learned that when psychiatrists ask about impulsivity, they're probably talking about actions and not just impulsive thoughts.

Was just a realization I had when I was having impulsive thoughts to go off on someone via text but I was doing what I could to step back from the situation instead. So I looked it up and I might've been confusing intrusiveness with impulsivity. I do have impulsivity as well (usually with accidentally interrupting people).

And that's an issue I think that needs to be discussed. Psychiatrists ask you about XYZ symptoms but don't often explain what XYZ symptoms are. And typically, you - as the patient - are in a very vulnerable position. I'm personally uncomfortable asking for clarification in those situations. Am getting better, but it's a journey. But how can we address this? Should psychiatrists automatically be providing clarification about what the symptom means, instead of trusting their patient's knowledge?

Anyone have any advice on how to navigate a program? I’m kind of excited but also terrified of getting treatment. Likely being treated for bpd and ed along with depression/anxiety. Any tips or experiences to share? I don’t want to mess this up, my goal is to be healthy for my bf and dogs!!

I’ve been struggling with depression for years now, and lately I’ve reached a point where I’m finding it incredibly difficult to see a future for myself. It’s really really dark, and to be honest I’ve decided to disappear

I recently ordered a book called *The Last Book*. It’s designed to help people organize their final thoughts, memories, and important information for the people closest to them after their d4th. Something about having that book made everything feel a lot more real, and it’s been difficult to process.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about disappearing and not having to deal with life anymore. I’ve started to convince myself that the people around me would be better off without me. I know that might sound harsh, but when you’ve spent so long feeling like a burden, it can become difficult to see yourself any other way.

I’ve tried getting help over the years, but I still feel deeply unhappy and exhausted. It’s frustrating to keep struggling when you feel like nothing is making a meaningful difference.

I’m not looking for generic advice or people telling me that everything will magically get better. I just want to be able to talk honestly about where I’m at without feeling judged or dismissed.

Has anyone else ever reached a point where they felt completely hopeless, even after trying to get help? What helped you get through a period when you genuinely couldn’t imagine things getting better?

I could really use some honest, compassionate perspectives right now.

Been struggling with trauma impairment for the last 5 1/2 years. I thought it was a mental illness that I just wasn’t working hard enough to resolve. I just came to the conclusion that I have something wrong with my brain. I did take this test and scored 142 which is I think pretty substantial I don’t know ChatGPT is like you need to get help. I’m like I’m trying to get help. I don’t even know where to go. I asked my Psych Doctor to refer me for neurology so I can get a functional MRI scan done to see if there is anything to see in my brain regarding the function decline that I have sustained for 5 1/2 years.

I suffer tremendously with task initiation impairment that compounds every time I take a break or reset . Every time I take a break at work I have to do Mental gymnastics before I can get myself to start if I can get myself to start. I lose that Battle a lot. My goal is to get a referral for occupational therapy in my home to help resolve through skill development maybe gaining some function back.

I also get stuck in negative thought loops when it comes to an injustice and an inability to predict the outcome of accountability to the person who did me wrong. I get stuck in it for months. I know I’m doing it. I could see I’m doing it. I know it’s not healthy. I don’t know how to stop it.

I have overdone Mental health treatments in an attempt to circumvent the issues. I’ve experienced while my mood has stabilized thank God. My functional impairment remains untouched. But I’m not giving up yet. I’ve worked too hard and too long to not try one more thing.

Any encouragement would be helpful because at this point, something has to change cause I can’t live like this for much more time.

This was after seeing my older brother on event in the ICU after a cardiac arrest event. This was in 2021 during full Covid protocol so we were sent up one by one to go and traumatize ourselves. There was no warning no discussion just go see him and come back when you’re done and I fled the building hyperventilating in tears and collapsed in the parking garage because I just did not have anything to prepare me for that site and the emotions that flooded my brain. That was the day I stopped functioning the way the old me did. I’ve been crushed with identity crisis after identity crisis because of this. I just want answers so that I can process what’s happening or happened and start healing.

I was on autopilot after and in my mind on the fuzzy channel of the TV in my mind for 2 full months. I thought this was treatment resistant depress. because I’m not actively grieving and I’ve done the trauma work. Why am I not getting better? Well I need someone specialized to evaluate and give me strategic tools and resources to circumvent the missing connections in my brain. At least that’s the way that I think of it.

I am very interested to see what my brain scan say when I do get them. I feel like I have a brain injury. has anyone else gone through neurology when their depression is not managed their typical and atypical treatment? Did your scans confirm your suspicions too?

Please don't rip me to shreds but if you want to do it as Ive been told from people you DON'T want mental illness/es I am 16 and have autism and have suffered with mental health for over 6 or so years and I've never gotten actual help with anything mentally wrong apart from a few talks at my school and like an intervention with people to try and stop or calm down my substance use even though I smoke weed daily and have done mdma 20 times I'm 3 months

Suffering from symptoms of mental illness can be extremely exhausting and I don't give myself enough credit for things I have done and gone through in dealing with such symptoms of depression, anxiety, ptsd, bipolar and so on. I was diagnosed as a kid with a learning disability and currently I'm being supported by SSD. So my question is....Does anyone else suffering like I am take credit or give themselves credit for managing everyday life considering the struggles we have?

Hey im new here. Just had a question that google isnt helping me answer. Is there a word for wishing you wouldve k*lled yourself years ago bc now you cant? Or is that just suicidal? Like i cant die and would never do that to my son. But sometimes I just wish I wouldve gone through with it in highschool bc this shit is just too hard.

I want people to take me seriously but they ignore me unless I hurt myself to get them to care about me. Whenever I'm sad it's always "wow you're unbelievable" "why are you like this, I didn't even do anything" and "excuses". It makes me want to kill myself, because then they'll finally take me seriously. And whenever I do self-harm they finally care about me, so it does work. But I want them to care about me anyway. I don't want killing myself to be the first conclusion I come to whenever I feel ignored, but apparently it's the only option. I hate it. I hate everyone around me and I just want to kill them all and then myself so they'll finally know how serious I am about how I feel. I just don't get why nobody will look at me or take care of me unless I hurt myself. Not even crying and screaming helps, they just leave me when I'm in distress. I don't wanna be abandoned. I'm just a kid, why won't anyone take care of me???