Current Events > I'm afraid my closest friend might be losing or has already lost her mind.

(+) Yeah! (+)

She spent all night last night rambling almost nonstop about sin, souls, world changes, conspiracy theories, signs, meanings, and connections that made absolutely no sense, and this is after 3 nights without sleep, according to her.

From what I was able to gather from her technically-coherent but unintelligible tirade, apparently if she doesn't go to a concert that this Dutch DJ named Nils Rondhuis is going to be at, and form a partnership with him to save humanity, then the world's going to end sometime around May 20th.

She was also having a full-on meeting with an entire group of people that only she could hear.

I really wish I was making any of this up.

I finally convinced her to get some fucking sleep, and I told her to message me when she woke up so I could find out if sleeping was able to clear her head. She was legitimately terrifying me last night, and I'm still worried sick. I don't want to call someone about her if I don't have to, but if this continues she's going to ruin her own life, and she's got kids to think about.

She sounds manic, I honestly dont know what can be done to help her except expressing your concerns. I know my friends and family felt powerless to help me when I went manic, what eventually turned things around was hitting rock bottom and getting the help I needed.

Maybe it was just caused by the lack of sleep. That can really fuck with your mind

Hopefully that was the result of sleep deprivation and not something worse, because that sounds insane.

This hits home... A close friend of mine also went off the deep end. She was sending me between 50 and 100 text messages every morning with secret info on how the COVID vaccine was killing billions, about how 5G controls your mind, how lizard people rule the world, and how clones are everywhere.

Tried everything I could for 6 months to help her but I failed. Cut contact with her as a new years resolution because I was getting severely depressed.

I feel guilty as fuck, especially because she has a daughter who is going to be screwed up beyond belief... Some people can't be helped.

Do you know why she was three nights without sleep?

Does she abuse substances? If this is just her without them you should tell her that her lack of sleep is literally making her ramble insanities

Tell her that maybe she should really consult a therapist.. psychiatrist.. doctor of some sort if she doesnt believe you

Yeah, sounds like a classic manic episode.

Turns out that there's mostly nothing you can do because of how the medical system works. The two outcomes are really: they start to come down before they do too much damage to themselves and you're there to talk them into help, or they become a threat to themselves or others and you can call the police and have them admitted to a hospital psych ward on temporary hold.

David1988 posted...

She sounds manic

This, TC. Is she bipolar? Does she have any family or personal history of mental health disorders, namely depression?

Sounds like she's doing meth , it's legit hard to stay up for 3 days sober. And it's known to cause schizophrenic like symptoms , including hearing voices , delusion, and paranoia

Sounds like mania. Not much you can do tbh.

still recovering from the drained, post-episode period from a manic episode myself, this sounds very much like one. you can't convince her to get help in this state until she acknowledges it herself, and only time or emergency medical support are really going to help that, and I'd leave the latter for cases you are convinced she's going to hurt herself. Sleep is important, though she'll likely only get a couple of hours at a time. don't lie to her, but don't try to convince her out of delusions; if that were possible, they wouldn't be delusions. Keep her company when you can, it's an incredibly isolating experience, but make sure you're taking care of yourself; if you're drained, you're drained, and that's of no help to either of you.

David1988 posted...

She sounds manic, I honestly dont know what can be done to help her except expressing your concerns. I know my friends and family felt powerless to help me when I went manic, what eventually turned things around was hitting rock bottom and getting the help I needed.

I've tried expressing, but every time I told her she was scaring me, she immediately assumed I was scared of these "world changes" that are coming, and wouldn't listen when I told her otherwise. I don't want to see her hit whatever rock bottom is for her, but I don't know how to help.

Zikten posted...

Maybe it was just caused by the lack of sleep. That can really fuck with your mind

PMarth2002 posted...

Hopefully that was the result of sleep deprivation and not something worse, because that sounds insane.

I really, really hope so. This is a completely foreign situation for me, and it's made me more scared than I've been in a very long time.

ComfortablySad posted...

This hits home... A close friend of mine also went off the deep end. She was sending me between 50 and 100 text messages every morning with secret info on how the COVID vaccine was killing billions, about how 5G controls your mind, how lizard people rule the world, and how clones are everywhere.

Tried everything I could for 6 months to help her but I failed. Cut contact with her as a new years resolution because I was getting severely depressed.

I feel guilty as fuck, especially because she has a daughter who is going to be screwed up beyond belief... Some people can't be helped.

I really don't want to cut ties with her, but I also hate seeing her like this. She has gone without sleeping for days at a time multiple times in the past, but it's never been like this, to my knowledge.

Alteres posted...

Do you know why she was three nights without sleep?

She didn't say, but I'm assuming she was hanging out with other friends of hers, trying to be productive, and possibly doing a bit of cocaine.

David1988 posted...

She sounds manic, I honestly dont know what can be done to help her except expressing your concerns. I know my friends and family felt powerless to help me when I went manic, what eventually turned things around was hitting rock bottom and getting the help I needed.

Zikten posted...

Maybe it was just caused by the lack of sleep. That can really fuck with your mind

combination of these 2 things imo. I've gone that long without sleep also and I do get manic when that happens. It's less extreme than that for me, but sleeplessness and mania go hand in hand.

Youve known her long enough to know if she goes in cycles. If its mania as other people are saying, it tends to have a pattern in her behavior.

Personally I would hope it was simply lack of sleep and drug use, I would expect this to be something you would have noticed about her before if it was a major psychological issue.

Lets hope shes showing symptoms of being manic because of sleep deprivation instead of being sleep deprived from being manic

Alteres posted...

Youve known her long enough to know if she goes in cycles. If its mania as other people are saying, it tends to have a pattern in her behavior.

Personally I would hope it was simply lack of sleep and drug use, I would expect this to be something you would have noticed about her before if it was a major psychological issue.

People with bipolar often present with a big manic episode without any prior symptoms. Usually it's the first manic episode that leads to the diagnosis (and can be the only manic episode they ever experience).

Being manic is a medical emergency. People here are really downplaying it.

COVxy posted...

People with bipolar often present with a big manic episode without any prior symptoms. Usually it's the first manic episode that leads to the diagnosis (and can be the only manic episode they ever experience).

Also this or with one or a few prior episodes of major depression.

Llaeto7 posted...

Being manic is a medical emergency. People here are really downplaying it.

It is, but there's still nothing you can do unless the person agrees to go into treatment (which a person in a full blown manic episode wont), or you get the police involved and they seem violent in some way.

Heartomaton posted...

She spent all night last night rambling almost nonstop about sin, souls, world changes, conspiracy theories, signs, meanings, and connections that made absolutely no sense

This happened to a guy I used to know. He was pretty out there to begin with and did a lot of psychedelics (though wasn't on anything at the time), so when my other friend was like "you need to talk to Dave" I was expecting something but he was full blown schizophrenic. Talking about hidden messages in words. He had cut out words from magazines and pasted them all over his room. He had to go to the local cemetery to meet someone that had died.

I didn't know what to do about it at all. I did see him a while afterward and whatever it was seemed to have passed though.

Maybe Bob has taken over her mind?

Heartomaton posted...

I really don't want to cut ties with her, but I also hate seeing her like this. She has gone without sleeping for days at a time multiple times in the past, but it's never been like this, to my knowledge.

I hope, hope, hope, it's just mania like others have said and she'll crash soon.

I spent literal days listening to my friend while gently pointing out things that didn't make sense. I used my yearly free pysch sessions provided by my insurance to get advice from a professional to guide me on what to do but nothing worked...

Best of luck random CE poster. Mental illness is a bitch.

RedLuigi posted...

Does she abuse substances? If this is just her without them you should tell her that her lack of sleep is literally making her ramble insanities

Tell her that maybe she should really consult a therapist.. psychiatrist.. doctor of some sort if she doesnt believe you

She smokes weed like I do, but she also does cocaine from time to time. I don't think she has ever done meth, but I can't confirm that.

COVxy posted...

Yeah, sounds like a classic manic episode.

Turns out that there's mostly nothing you can do because of how the medical system works. The two outcomes are really: they start to come down before they do too much damage to themselves and you're there to talk them into help, or they become a threat to themselves or others and you can call the police and have them admitted to a hospital psych ward on temporary hold.

Her own 16-year-old son called the police on her one of the other times she was kind of like this, and she spent almost a week in jail. She seemed mostly fine after that, until this happened.

I really hope sleeping helps enough to allow me to try and talk some sense into her.

Llaeto7 posted...

This, TC. Is she bipolar? Does she have any family or personal history of mental health disorders, namely depression?

I don't know any of her direct family other than her younger brother, and while I haven't seen him in years now and he could be really annoying/sad when drunk, he never behaved anything like this.

Keith_Valentine posted...

Sounds like she's doing meth , it's legit hard to stay up for 3 days sober. And it's known to cause schizophrenic like symptoms , including hearing voices , delusion, and paranoia

God I hope not.

AngelicRadiance posted...

Sounds like mania. Not much you can do tbh.

This is disheartening.

Neoconkers posted...

still recovering from the drained, post-episode period from a manic episode myself, this sounds very much like one. you can't convince her to get help in this state until she acknowledges it herself, and only time or emergency medical support are really going to help that, and I'd leave the latter for cases you are convinced she's going to hurt herself. Sleep is important, though she'll likely only get a couple of hours at a time. don't lie to her, but don't try to convince her out of delusions; if that were possible, they wouldn't be delusions. Keep her company when you can, it's an incredibly isolating experience, but make sure you're taking care of yourself; if you're drained, you're drained, and that's of no help to either of you.

I did finally get some sleep for myself after listening to her all night. Slept from about 8am to 3pm, then went to go check on her to make her go to bed if she hadn't already. She hadn't, but she had by the time I left.

I don't know if she'd hurt herself or her children, but I'm still incredibly concerned.

COVxy posted...

People with bipolar often present with a big manic episode without any prior symptoms. Usually it's the first manic episode that leads to the diagnosis (and can be the only manic episode they ever experience).

Is that common for individuals in their 30s? (~)

Admittedly my experiences with bipolar people were with those that were previously diagnosed and having continuing issues.

Alteres posted...

Is that common for individuals in their 30s? (~)

Admittedly my experiences with bipolar people were with those that were previously diagnosed and having continuing issues.

I don't think it's uncommon. I think average age of diagnosis of bipolar is mid twenties.

Machete posted...

combination of these 2 things imo. I've gone that long without sleep also and I do get manic when that happens. It's less extreme than that for me, but sleeplessness and mania go hand in hand.

I just want her to be okay. This woman is one of the most important people to me, and I don't have many.

Alteres posted...

Youve known her long enough to know if she goes in cycles. If its mania as other people are saying, it tends to have a pattern in her behavior.

Personally I would hope it was simply lack of sleep and drug use, I would expect this to be something you would have noticed about her before if it was a major psychological issue.

She claims that she goes into "psychosis" every year around December-January, and that was the last time anything similar to this happened, but I haven't been exposed to her in situations like this often enough to form a definitive pattern.

Llaeto7 posted...

Being manic is a medical emergency. People here are really downplaying it.

I'm really considering calling 911 if she's still going just as fervently when I go and check on her later.

theAteam posted...

This happened to a guy I used to know. He was pretty out there to begin with and did a lot of psychedelics (though wasn't on anything at the time), so when my other friend was like "you need to talk to Dave" I was expecting something but he was full blown schizophrenic. Talking about hidden messages in words. He had cut out words from magazines and pasted them all over his room. He had to go to the local cemetery to meet someone that had died.

I didn't know what to do about it at all. I did see him a while afterward and whatever it was seemed to have passed though.

I really want her to be okay. She's one of the only friends I have left, and absolutely the only one I see more often than once a week.

ComfortablySad posted...

I hope, hope, hope, it's just mania like others have said and she'll crash soon.

I spent literal days listening to my friend while gently pointing out things that didn't make sense. I used my yearly free pysch sessions provided by my insurance to get advice from a professional to guide me on what to do but nothing worked...

Best of luck random CE poster. Mental illness is a bitch.

I just want her to be okay and safe. I can't lose another important person.

Heartomaton posted...

This is disheartening.

Do you have any contact with her family? They can possibly do something

AngelicRadiance posted...

Do you have any contact with her family? They can possibly do something

The only members of her family I've ever met is her brother, but he and I haven't spoken in years, and her two kids, but I doubt either of them could do anything other than call the police again.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


How often does she get like that? What do you usually do?

Does she have a therapist or anything?

AngelicRadiance posted...

Does she have a therapist or anything?

She can't afford it. She can't even afford the house she rents to live in with her kids. As far as I know, she only gets money from DoorDash, which isn't very effective because it's a smallish town, and from her amateur PH videos, but I don't know how much she gets from that.

Last I heard, she was months behind on rent. I do try to help where I can by getting her essentials like toilet paper or a bit of food or other things like that, but I'm on a fixed income, so I can't help nearly as much as I wish I could.

I went through that with my mom once. The cause was dehydration. Once that was treated she went back to normal.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Man, that does sound horrifying and overwhelming.

I don't just want to help her, but I also want her to want help for herself. But as is typical for people in situations like this, as others have said, she doesn't seem to think she needs it.

I just can't help but feel like a child here. Powerless to help or influence things in any way.

It's even more sad that she has kids. Hoping they're of an older age.

I went through this multiple times with my mom. We suspect her to be bipolar (she won't get diagnosed) and she has insomnia as well. Worst time was when the A/C broke one time and she ended up trashing the house, before we got her to a hospital. I was always anxious when I saw her not sleeping. Oddly enough weed was the most effective for helping her sleep, but she didn't always have it so yeah...

Do what you can to encourage her to get help but accept that it's largely out of your control.

It can be poor diet (especially if it's long term), especially with some existing dietary medical conditions - For example this women who ate Gluten (and having Celiac Disease) started having delusions (totally unrelated to any mental health issues) - https://www.livescience.com/55166-celiac-disease-gluten-psychosis.html

And I remember a woman, who was undiagnosed with a certain dietary medical condition, ate loads of Tuna Sandwiches because they were cheap - and developed Psychosis due to her poor diet - and it was just down to poor diet, nothing else. No pre-exisiting mental health conditions, or a new one developed.

Update. I'm at her house right now, and she was awake and coherent when I got here. She's getting a little more sleep now.

I'm still more than a little concerned, because she still believes everything she rambled about made perfect sense, but for the moment she seems okay, if a little drained.

Sounds like mania and schizophrenia. She needs a wellness check and hopefully admitted to a hospital

Glad she seems to be doing a little better.

I think most people have been taught that involuntary psychiatric treatment is inhumane, and I think we only really come to confront that belief once we see a loved one going through an episode like this, with no societal recourse to get them help.

Heartomaton posted...

Update. I'm at her house right now, and she was awake and coherent when I got here. She's getting a little more sleep now.

I'm still more than a little concerned, because she still believes everything she rambled about made perfect sense, but for the moment she seems okay, if a little drained.

I don't have any meaningful advice to offer, but could you possibly convince her to see a doctor at least?

I hope she recovers though.

Time to call CPS.

KogaSteelfang posted...

I don't have any meaningful advice to offer, but could you possibly convince her to see a doctor at least?

I hope she recovers though.

I can try, but like I said before, she definitely can't afford to see professional help.

I'm thinking about asking my case worker from the local MHMR if there's anything they can do for her at all, since I'm with them and haven't paid for anything other than medication.

<_<

It's really nice that you are helping out. Hopefully she can get some help. As someone who goes through these issues sometimes I don't realize how scary it can be to deal with stuff like this from another person.