My 17 year old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia just over 12 months ago. After several trials of different medications and doses, he has been relatively stable for the last few months. He says his voices have gone ( although after his last hospitalisation in May, he may avoid telling us about voices to avoid future hospitalisation), and his motivation and moods appear to have picked up. He is functioning, attending school and generally doing well. On this basis, it seems I should be grateful and have nothing to worry about.
however, I often find myself worried and confused about his behaviour. I struggle to tell the difference between normal teenage behaviour and his schizophrenia symptoms. He hardly talks to me unless he wants something. He says he hates ho e, but knows he has no money to move out. He tells me the next best thing is to stay in his room. He frequently yells at me and abuses me if I ask him questions or if I seem to irritate him. He usually does this when we are alone and I can get frightened. I have anxiety and get scared. His anger is very sudden and loud. He swear a me and says some dreadful things. He knows that I do a lot for him, but says I criticise him all the time and he can't do anything right. That isn't true. What he thinks is criticism is actually what I see as normal parenting, e.g asking him to clean up his room, have a shave etc. he takes these very personally.
i am feeling very sad about our relationship. I feel so disconnected and just want to have a good relationship. I feel like a failure. He is my only hild and I feel errified that he hates me. My husband has 2 other children from another relationship and doesn't quite understand my heartache.
does anyone have any similar experiences with anger and schizophrenia or MI?
