Muck, you turn away help that is tossed to you.. I don't need to tell you what to do. You can figure that out for yourself... I've told you i'm more then willing to talk.. But if your mind and heart is hard as a rock and you don't want to come off it or try to get help.. there's honestly nothing anyone can do for you until your willing to accept the fact that life will never be perfect.. Trust me as soon as you get $$$ and say i'm RICHHHH BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... well you know the rest... that high only lasts for a minute (in terms of longevity of life) and it won't be long before your right back where you are now in terms of state of mind... I used to think if I had money, a beautiful house, and all the toys I wanted my life would be perfect and i'd never complain again... WRONG... you have to find that inner peace.. I'm not gonna get all religious here because that just starts wars on 2+2 .. all i'm saying is if you can't find that inner peace.. no amount of anything will make you happy.. I hope the best for you and as always.. I got an open ear.. and i'm not gonna tell you what your supposed to do.. I can lend a hand.. and be happy to listen.. your the only one that can truly make life what you want it to be... and like I said money won't get you there... pm me if you like.. I got skype.. if your not interested thats cool too... just wish you and everyone else the best... theres good in everyone including you... so everyone chill on muck as well... life just plain sucks sometimes... rambling on now... gl

I'm glad to hear that he's locked up and being forced to take meds before anything really bad happened. If he can't tell the difference between what he thinks, knows, and believes then he's not in the right condition to be a part of free society and anyone who doesn't call the cops on him is doing society, and him, a huge disservice if Ed can't differentiate these things. I think you should keep being his friend in whatever capacity you can handle. Friends are an important connection to reality that such people need, especially since his sister seems like the only family he has. Many people with this condition become stable and are released without medication. It's not your responsibility to make sure that he takes his meds, but it is your responsibility to at least call in a wellness check if he seems psychotic. I guess with Ed "psychotic" is a relative term, so you should use discretion when calling the cops. Don't call the cops everytime he eyes a passing car, but if he states theory as fact, doesn't aknowledge that he's sick, and is unable to be reasoned with then it's time to step in. If you're not comfortable doing these things because you feel guilty, then maybe you're not cut out to be Ed's friend no matter how much you care.

And to Muck, taking a walk, petting some goats, or just plain doing SOMETHING to take your mind off of things is a good way to deal with depression. When depressed, being isolated and sedentary are the worst things you can do. This is why that's what everyone gave you as advice in your thread. What was good advice for you is not good for Ed, unless he's also depressed.

Look him up in the hospital, that'll really make him happy I think. It's lonely in those places.

I don't think you'll ever find a decent amount of satisfaction come forth out of helping your friend.

The more you help him, the more sympathy you will start to feel for his condition.
It'll become a one way relationship. Meaning that you can't expect anything from him in return for the time & effort you put into helping him.

I'm not telling you to abandon him. I'm telling you it's hard work with little/no reward.

It sucks, and there's nothing you can do to change it.
It's a lose/lose situation imo, and you should probably let the following question answer wether or not to help him.

'Do I owe him something?"
It sounds cold, but this is a situation that can't be solved in such a way that you and Eddy will benefit from.

There's this concept called loyalty. If you add it to your life you may see some unexpected benefits. Would you give up on a friend with aids? You're right that friendship will not solve Ed's problems. That's not how friendship works. Friendship gives us something to look forward to. For some people it's a reason to get up and take a shower and brush their teeth. For others it's a shallow means of obtaining favors like money or sex(a conversation that we've already had.)

I never told him to give up on his friend though.
Stop twisting my words (for the 2nd time)

I agree that my word choice was poor, but your conclusion from it is very biased.

What makes 2 individuals friends? Memories & trust imo. Can you guarentee that either of one remain in Ed's delusioned mind?

I was trying to say that if OP decides to remains Ed friend through this difficult time that the relation will be based on a bridge solely build by OP.

When you respond to this, show a little respect.
I don't want to start a meaningless flame war, in which we pretend we know each other and talk **** about each other's personality.

drugs can physical change your mind permanently. the son of a friend of mine is living in his own reality ( seeing people ) because the way he reacted to recreational drugs. the op's friend needs someone around who cares for him and is accepting of his problems

If you consider quoting and responding to be twisting words then how might I respond that you wouldn't feel slighted? You provided nothing but arguments against being Ed's friend like "lose/lose", and "hard work with little/no reward". The only thing in your post that suggested otherwise was when you said "I'm not telling you to abandon him", which doesn't outweigh all your other arguments so I stand by my conclusion.

I guess I suggested that you're not loyal. I wanted to point out something that I felt was missing from your post since you said "little to no reward". Friendship itself is rewarding emotionally because of loyalty and trust. Sometimes Ed might be so far gone that the rewards are little or none, but that's not all the time in a lot of cases. Many people experience psychotic breakdowns in their late teens and early twenties, then become stable afterwards. The op suggests that this is Ed's age bracket, so there's a lot of hope for improvement.

I can't guarantee that memories and trust remain in Ed's mind, nobody can. If they're gone and he's stuck in a padded room then you're right that the rewards are gone as well. How could asking for a guarantee from me help anyone in op's shoes? I'm just some prick with strong opinions that I hope will shed some light on the matter. You seem to assume the worst case for Ed. While putting a gun to someone's head is incredibly far gone, it's not worst case and improvement is very possible especially if Ed has friends that will help him rebuild his trust in humanity.

definitely he must get inspected by doctors. its no joke, he can harm himself, but more badly, he can harm those, who surrounds him!

You sir, are an enormous moron. I have a legitimate question. How does an individual get this ignorant? I wonder if he genetically predisposed to ignorance?

And LOL at reading or walking your way out of bout with schizophrenia. What an idiot.

its very simple i just regurgitate the advice given to me.

It is a big difference between schizophrenia and depression.

Like the other posters said this was a very immature comment. I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia about 6 years ago. Although my actions may be viewed as me being a loser, I had no control over them. I have been to rehab 3x, dually diagnosed as a schizo and substance abuse. I am currently on a LOT of meds, and as much as I hate taking them I really have no choice. I can tell you numerous stories of my paranoia and you would probablly laugh and says I'm a nut job , so I won't post them. Enough ranting, schizophrenia has ruined my life, and I can totally relate to the story of Ed. Schizophrenia ruins relationships, the best you could do is research the disease and try to understand where he's coming from. Also, what kind of schizo is he?

OP how things are going?

Do you really want to help ur friend?

First lets look at what happens with schizophrenic. Its not treatable disease with meds. Meds just stabilize it and while ur organism gets older, the disease gets stronger. There are great results with ayahuasca but im not going to concentrate on that here.

u know his mind is occupied with issues. delusions, thoughts, fears, paranoias. he is dealing with them constantly. my solution is - ur friend needs obsessive hobby.

introduce him an online poker. i think with high IQ and paranoia (great against slowplayers) he could be great there.