So my husband has sz symptoms as well as his epilepsy . He gets strange ideas and I said to him I trust him but not his illness. He said that means I don’t trust him. I do but not when he’s gone all strange in thought. It’s hard being a caregiver when one has to deal with one’s own sz as well. Can szs be trustworthy? Or is trust always going to be an issue when there’s sz in the picture ? I don’t know how to save my marriage. It’s so unhappy sometimes. Always some drama. I’m sick of it. I’m losing my motivation to carry on.
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That doesn’t mean you don’t trust him. It would be cool if he could separate himself from the illness, that’s important for a lot of people. Like saying I have schizophrenia but schizophrenia doesn’t have me or some such statement. Lots of us recover our personalities when we get better, I know I did. My brother is a much more recent case and I find myself having to be very patient with his paranoia. It’s easy to forget what it was like to have delusions and paranoia.
How long has your husband had the illness? Has he tried different antipsychotics? It took me 2 years of trial and error to find medicine that worked for me.
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He’s had epilepsy for over 20 years. And sz like symptoms for over half that. He takes antipsychotics only sporadically and usually mine when needed.
Before schizophrenia, I had PTSD and alcoholism. Before I had recovery from schizophrenia, I had recovery from alcoholism. I also have Hazel colored eyes.
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I think Sz/SzA people can be trustworthy. We are capable of telling the truth and having integrity. We can have irrational thoughts, though. I don’t think that makes someone untrustworthy, just means you have to take a step back and try to understand why they are thinking that way.
When your husband is having delusional thoughts, it’s the illness doing that, not really him. I don’t know him, but as a general statement, you should be able to trust in him that he is honest and genuine. The delusional thoughts are not him.
Kinda like @agent101g said. You have to try to separate the illness from the person.
My mom has SzA. She takes an antipsychotic, yet she is very, very delusional and hallucinates every day. She denies that she is sick. I have to separate the illness from her. I know who she really is and I know the illness is its own thing. It’s one thing to have insight about yourself, but it’s important to have that same mindset for others. Recognize that they are ill and be willing to see their true self, through it all.
I’m sorry your marriage is struggling. I wish you the best.
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