r/Bestof Is My Friend Literally Going Nuts?

Dude, that cop that didn't want to take the statement needs to not be a cop. There are so many stories of people not being taken seriously before being murdered.

First story: if you EVER experience anything like this, the person needs a psychiatrist ASAP. The psychiatrist needs to be informed of any drugs the person is on. The psychiatrist also needs to be informed if the person won’t stop taking the drugs or won’t take the medication. This is grounds for involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. OP and the kids are in danger. Most people having a psychotic break are not dangerous, but this sounds exceptionally dangerous.

The problem with psychosis is the patient doesn't believe they're mentally ill and need the medication, and they often stop taking it and slip back into the delusions which they completely believe are real. And it's sometimes a condition for the rest of their lives, not something you can put behind you and consider it over and done with. Not everyone becomes violent during a psychotic episode, but in this case OP's best solution was to leave and create a safe environment for herself and her kids.

Re: that first story: I work as a therapist and have worked alongside psychiatrists who can confirm the science: In some people, THC in cannabis can trigger anxiety and psychotic symptoms in people already predisposed to those symptoms. He may have either had an anxiety episode brought on by the THC and chose fight instead of flight, but considering the depth of detail in the paranoid delusions, a psychotic disorder is more likely.

First story: psychotic break, 100%

Oh dear, that first one sounds like schizophrenia. I'm not even at the update, but that already sounds like schizophrenia, or some sort of psychosis. That means his brain is seriously malfunctioning, which isn't meant to be mockery, he's genuinely falling apart. Update response: Lady has poor self-preservation with those actions, getting into a car with a guy clearly having problems. But she did the right thing in the end. Final update: The cynical tone is not right, understand he's living in a completely different world to everyone else. This is very complicated. Not to say OP shouldn't be doing what's right for her, but that's not really very good advice at the end, though also not really bad, just overly simplistic and not quite reflecting the full reality of these situations.

She could've used the $2000 to hire an actual violinist...

Speaking as a musician... After a year, of weekly lessons and daily hour long practice sessions, you could be good enough to play in front of others but it would be like "Look at what I learned." not something someone would pay to listen to. To do what the Bride asked for... That takes years and even then may be beyond what anyone could actually pull off.

1st story: Could definitely be weed induced psychosis. The overly exaggerated scare ads from the 90's about weed were, indeed, overly exaggerated. But unfortunately a bunch of people think that because they were so exaggerated, that means weed induced psychosis isn't a real thing. It is. Just like some people can't handle alcohol, some people can't handle weed. And it can have some insane effects on those people. The weed makes them insane, but they think they're finally seeing the truth. So they smoke more to continue seeing the truth, furthering their delusions. The husband got better because while he was in a psychiatric hold he couldn't smoke weed. So the psychosis wore off. But then, one day, he decided to just have a puff to relax and that was all he needed to restart the psychosis again.

Story 2: They're called "Dream Weddings" for a reason. They're generally unrealistic and it's pretty unwise to try and chase them. That being said the friend needs to get checked out because her behavior isn't healthy, heck throwing her student loan money at wedding stuff before she even confirmed that the wedding is possible is already a bad sign