I just heard an awesome french version of My Sweet Lord by (g. harrison) on the Memory Lane infinite mixtape. Cannot find it anywhere at all.
Was approximately at 10:05/10 utc+1
The arrangement and the singing were si cool. I'm obsessed.
This is a transation of a post made on a French sub, but the French-speaking Reddit community is not very active when it comes to psychiatry and schizophrenia, so I’m posting it here. Sorry if the phrasing comes odd, it's late so I used chatgpt for most of the translation :
I don’t know if I’ll find help here, but I needed to talk about it and ask for advice in a space at least somewhat dedicated to these issues.
My cousin is 30 years old. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia around the age of 18. Between several hospitalizations, he was manipulated multiple times by malicious people (he paid for everything, people squatted at his place, stole from him, hurted him, etc.). Delirium, alcohol, and weed — which he never managed to quit — pushed him into violent or threatening behavior. To the point that he was committed by court order to a high-security psychiatric unit for difficult patients for 5 years. Year after year, the board postponed his release because the symptoms (hallucinations, paranoia, etc.) were still too severe.
He eventually got out and was placed in a small-scale reintegration facility where he could come and go freely. He was happy, transformed. His symptoms had completely disappeared, even though he was mentally slowed down by the medication and those f*cking electroshock treatments. So happy to have his freedom back that he went back to bars and to sharing bottles with patients from the center and the nearby retirement home (that was actually kinda cool). And of course smoking weed again.
The nurses and psychiatrist warned him several times that they couldn’t keep him there if he continued. He kept going. He ended up in the ER. He lied to everyone about what he had done — we still don’t really know the details. He was kicked out today.
The psychiatrist who discharged him said this was no longer a psychiatric issue, but a behavioral one. To the point that he said he would not sign any certificate stating diminished responsibility if my cousin got into trouble. So much to say here, but let's move on.
My cousin refused placement in every institution that was offered to him, even the more progressive ones, because he wants nothing more to do with the medical world. He was also offered rehab, which he refused because he explicitly wants to keep drinking.
He wants to live the life of a young man after losing so many of his best years. He wants to go out, “have experiences.” Which basically means drinking and smoking joints with random people. And those people will almost certainly be unstable themselves. He is absolutely not prepared for that environment).
His parents love him, but they absolutely refuse to take him back home. They’ve already given too much.
They got him his own apartment. He has no life plans (which in itself is fine), no passions or interests that could give him structure. He has never worked. He is extremely naive, and for now he seems interested in nothing except compensating for his deep lack of self-esteem by forcing himself into situations that will destroy him. The future does not look open or hopeful right now.
Part of me knows this is his life and his choices, and I hate the paternalistic reflex I have toward him. But at the same time, he is both extremely vulnerable and potentially dangerous.
His parents have more or less given up. They still support him as best they can, but they no longer fight. They’re just waiting for the next catastrophe.
I know this is an English speaking sub and most people here probably don't know French institutions but what can I do? What should I do? Who can I turn to? Other than staying close to him, talking to him as often as possible, trying to trust him, and waiting to see how things evolve.