Maintaining relationships with crazy people

Couldn’t sneak upon anyone either.

 

~ That may have been your guardian angel

 

Psychosis and similar are a very different kettle of fish.

Meantime, the inability to live like a grown up is definitely 'crazy', in that there's almost always a diagnosable personality disorder behind it. IOW, mental illness. They do know they're ****ing up, but they can't or won't stop it. That's the proverbial definition of insanity! These are the people you need to stay away from. And if they dislike abandonment as much as you fear they will, they'll change their ways. That's another way of saying that if they continue with the behaviour, you know they're not really suffering. And if they put their bad behaviour ahead of the relationship with you, then you know exactly how much they care about you 'abandoning' them.

 

The average person should not be expected to deal with it. We should not be ruining our health and sanity for people who themselves don't care enough about our health and sanity, to shield us from their self-inflicted chaos.

Abandonment only comes when we fail to preserve our relationships.

 

~ Most people with mental illness do not have the realization of their own situation. They have difficulties the rest of us do not.
It sounds like you are referring to immaturity and irresponsible behavior - not really a psychological disorder.

 

This thread mixes up true psychosis and personality disorders (borderline, schizotypal, paranoid) and even throws in substance abuse in the mix. It employs laymen definitions of "crazy." Anyway, regardless of the degree of mental illness experienced by people described in this thread, the answer to the question in the original post is simple. Get the troubled person some professional help, and keep compassionately supporting him/her. Mental illness in many cases is treatable, and the mentally ill are human beings in need of love, compassion, and support like everybody else. They just happen to suffer from a brain disease, like other people suffer from a variety of diseases in other organs (pancreas -> diabetes, lungs -> asthma, etc.). No need to be prejudiced against the mentally ill. They are just people.

 

And sometimes you have to accept that there is nothing you can do.

 

@Le Chef I have difficult family members yes, but I manage to keep good relationship with them, I don't know why, but globally I don't "trigger" craziness.

I think part of the key of that is to take distance when you need it, to respect yourself and them. I suppose it's quite different for your family members, because family members remain your family forever, you grew up with them. It can be the case for very long term friends also, that are in a way part of the family also.

I don't have a lot of advices to give, except, take care of yourself, don't feel guilty, I'm sure in any case you're doing your best and I think you can already feel proud of you for that. You're not a doctor, if your friends have mental issues, they need the help of trained professionnal. You can't save them, however you can bring them sometimes a smile or a good mood. The problem of people who are in those issues is that they can grab you into their despair. If you're not solid yourself, you can't help them.
Good luck to you. I don't know anything about you, but from what I red, I'm sure you're a sincere trustworthy friend that deserve to be praised as such. I hope you the best, take care of yourself.

 

Okay. That's obviously unusual behavior, but you sound completely and objectively self aware, and aware of your surroundings, and of the law of gravity, so based on that incident alone, I wouldn't call you crazy.

Now if you had said "I had nothing to fear because I am actually a Canada goose," then I might say otherwise, especially if you had tried to convince me that I am a Canada goose as well and just don't know it.

Did the shrink put a label on you?

 

Yes, that's exactly the problem, for me anyway. I appreciate your insight and your support. It'll be okay.

 

You can't sneak up on anyone anyway because the CIA is watching and listening to everything we do via tiny sensors in our televisions, and anyone who doesn't know it has been drinking from the public water supply that is filled with mind altering chemicals. The government taxes us to pay for the chemicals, of course, and the money goes directly to the plutocrats who use it to make more chemicals. It's a vicious cycle.

 

Yes, he said I share the thought process of a psychopath. My brain can experience fear but not register it as a threat. Essentially I have no fight or flight response.

 

jesus christ that insane!!!!

 

wow. just wow

 

sorry to hear that.

but damn!!

 

True, which is why I said that these conditions are treatable in some cases, implying, not in all cases.

 

Okay. I have other questions but I'd better stop. I do think that even shrinks have to shrug their shoulders sometimes and just conclude that "this is very odd."

 

You can ask. The point is that there has been very little research into this so they know very little. That was only one issue he found.

 

Okay.

Do you feel compassion for anyone or anything, like an abused animal?

 

Sure.
Well kind of.

 

~ Thrill seeking dangerous behavior can be an addiction .

 

More for a young suffering animal, like a puppy, or more for a suffering adult?

 

No, there was a bird that fell out of a tree at work and broke it's wing and this is Arizona so I knew I should kill it because it was going to suffer. But I can't kill anything so I let it live and I felt bad I couldn't kill it. I watched it for three days still thinking I should kill it but I still couldn't. Then a maintenance came by and snapped its neck.

I felt bad for not killing it but not that it suffered. I have zero empathy for people for some reason. I just don't.

 

Maybe.

 

To Spooky: big of you to share your experience. I'm sorry that there are some among us who will take advantage of your candor to insult you.

HereWeGoAgain needs to apologize.