I am going to get right to the point since I really feel scared for my friend right now. My friend Craig is in the middle of a huge episode right now. He has been halucinating off and on for several days. Or maybe it is delusional. I am not sure. He has a long history of mental illness and drug abuse. I believe he was on meth from about 16 to age 35-36. He has not done anything harder than marijuana since I have known him and I don't think he has relapsed as heather would have walked out by now if he had. I know for sure he is bipolar. I am not sure if he is Schizo-effective or not but his behavior seems schizophrenic to me.
I need to know at what point to call for help for him. and I need advice about it. I know from those who have commented on my previous diaries that there are mental health professionals in this community and it is to you I am appealing for advice since I do not know where else to go.
He thought for a while that his wife is president and my partner is a mafia boss. He thought he was having a hearth attack. Heather called an ambulance and by the time they arrived he thought they were police and were taking him to prison. At the hospital he pushed a doctor but they drugged him and sent him home anyways. Since then he has again had some delusions, held a knife to his own throat and may have threatened heather.
I know that he can be held if he is a danger to himself or others but I do not know how to tell that. I would hate to be the one responsible for locking him up because putting him in against his will could mean his being stripped naked strapped to a table and drugged forcibly which he has been through before and greatly fears. He has had several very bad experiences around being jailed and hospitalized and could have some ptsd around it by the way he talks about it.
I am not really qualified to say that but it is my opinion. This is a very good person who is deeply troubled. This is a person who has fought against his inner demons and turned to budhism to help deal with this and tried very hard not to become the kind of person that does the things he has done lately. For example throwing out his and heathers personal belongings, tearing up library books(there goes that resource until he can pay for the books).
I am crying now and don't know what else to say. I do not want to lose my friend and need to know when to call for help for him even if it is against his will.
Update: Thank you all for your kind help and advice. As of right now I have gotten the right numbers to call for emergency and non-emergency, non police intervention. I talked to craig and to heather and will update if anything happens and ben just cut himslef fixing the door so I have to go for a while.
Update: Heather had all the sharp stuff in a cabinet and I just brought it all home and went through the kitchen and living room for anything that could be used as a weapon. You would be surprised at how little they have as they were homeless for years and are very low income like me. I very bluntly told him that I care a great deal and that he is much better off going to the hospital willingly then risking being put there against his will and he agreed. He is still hearing voices but in between is lucid and understands. He promised that if he gets any other violent urges that he will go to the hospital. The only drugs in the house are for anxiety and high blood pressure. Craig also has medical marijuana as he is afraid to use other pain killer because of his drug history. I would not take that away from him as that aslo is a great help with the anxiety he is feeling right now. He acknowledges he is hearing voices and understands that that is not real and is very distressed right now about having the voices. Ben went to the doctor. He cut a neat little slice off the pad of his thumb. Luckily it was his left thumb and he is right handed. He will be okay but lots of blood and I had to vacuum up the bit of his thumb with the wood chips.
Update #3: Okay on further thinking I talked to the police and the dispatcher said they could only send around uniformed officers to do a mental health transfer and even then they would only do so if he were a threat or danger. I really think adding police to the situation would escalate it. I mean with borderline diabetes and high blood pressure in an agitated state if he gets tazed it could kill him. I have everything he could use to hurt himself in my apartment. Craig does not know where it is. He is up and down trying to rest and recognizes that what he is experiencing is not real and that it is temporary. The group that I thought could come over and help him only works within the city limits of eugene.
Update #4: So my friend is now in jail being drugged but no one was hurt. Craig told heather that he thought he was having a heart attack and to call 911. By the time the ambulance got here he thought they were the police and would take him to jail so he took a swing at them and they took him down and called the police. The police will give him a citation for a class c misdeminer (screw trying to spell right now) and if he can avoid fighting they will drug him and send him to the psychiatric unit at the local hospital. His doctor called right after the police left with him and said it might have been a reaction to the new high blood pressure medication. That means they could actually drop the charges. I am glad that it all ended without violence but am afraid for what he will go through.