He needs a doctor as soon as possible, in my opinion.

In my own, very non-expert, opinion, this is physiological. If it was me, and if we weren't in this virus hell situation, I'd drive there and take him to a hospital.

It is a hard situation to be in for sure. Calling the authorities could exacerbate the psychotic episode. But something has to be done to get him help so you are kind of in a catch 22 situation.

Hopefully, he is lucid enough to accept help from the police as that may be the only option.

I wish there was more we could do.

He'd get over it when he's stabilized, I'm sure.

I was married for a few years back in college to a great guy who was later diagnosed as bipolar. We have a son together. We were both pretty young and the marriage didn't last, but of course I saw him a lot because of our son. One time I drove up to Winnipeg, where he was living at the time, to visit. When I got there, his roommate met me outside and told me something was wrong and I needed to do something. He had been in a mania phase for several days. It took me most of the day to convince him that we needed to go to a health center to get his blood checked. When we got there, I explained everything and asked that they not force him because he was at a point where he would accept help. Didn't work out that way. Two orderlies came in and got him. It wasn't good. I was furious, and also upset that he wouldn't forgive me for "tricking" him into going there. I went to see him as soon as I could after that, a few weeks later after he was stabilized. He wasn't angry with me. He understood.

We're still pretty good friends. He's a good guy. Brilliant, really. But his disorder has been difficult to manage. It makes me so sad that such an awful thing has to happen to such a good person.

Period. I would feel compelled to do that much. He obviously needs immediate medical care.

Then, make a plan to take care of him after he’s released from the hospital. He gains nothing if he is just shuffled back into the same abusive relationship that he is obviously trying to escape.

Just my 2 cents. You must do what you feel is right, of course.

-Laelth

My friend didn't think it was possible to do anything because he's an adult, but he's obviously in crisis.

She did call his partner in Florida, but I don't know how that conversation went. I'll call her tomorrow, if she doesn't call me before then.

She is very upset. I asked if he had any mental issues on an ongoing basis, and she said it really started when he fell and hit his head. He could have a tumor or something, and if he's not managing his diabetes, that just makes it worse.

Everybody is spread out all over the place, which doesn't help either. She's in North Dakota, he's in Louisiana, and his partner is in Florida.

Thanks for your input. I hope tomorrow something gets resolved so he can get help.

the proper route. He needs help and they should be able to provide it. The alternative is he’s there alone and that would not be good in his situation.

If it were me, I'd already be in my car driving there. My friend's health is not that great, and if she were to get the virus, it might kill her.

I hesitate to flat out advise her to call the police. I've learned through experience that authority figures don't always handle things the way we'd like, even when they know what they're walking into. If my friend's brother got combative, I worry that they'd take him to jail instead of to a hospital, and possibly even hurt him. I just figured the best thing that I can do is to give her all of the information I can find so she can decide. And DU is full of very smart people. Thanks for your input.

They might be able to send proper medical help.

These things don't even occur to me.

She told me the name of the town where he is, but of course I've already forgotten it. I'll call her right away in the morning to find out. Hopefully nothing will happen in between now and then.

Thank you!

that will go to him. That way there will be trained mental health professionals there to help.

I'm going to ask her tomorrow what town he's in and make some calls. Thank you!