Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
Okay, instead of writing a lengthy, detailed post that'll probably be full of inconsequential info, I'll just try for brevity here..
[edit: post IS lengthy, my apologies, I tried to be succinct but guess I failed, tho I believe all info is relevant..]
A family member's friend, who's also 'friend-ish' of mine, is a 23y/o male (let's call him 'Mike' for now)
I've known mike for quite a while (years); mike has always been a quasi-quiet, collected, smart, poised, rational kid. Mike plays guitar, mike is a chef (both academically and vocationally*), mike lives w/ a parent+grandparent, and mike has been more in the 'level-headed' crowd as long as i've known him, ie i've only seen him be kinda 'off-the-wall' while drinking, and even then well within the bounds of ppl drinking (as-in, he's more composed while drunk than many more that i know, like he'll get drunk/high and be more grounded than most)
SOOooo, maybe 4d ago, mike got fired from his job. He came to my home unexpectedly to tell me this, and, after telling me, it was clear he didn't know what was going on.. he was in great spirits tho, and i was getting an uncomfortable feeling he was in a manic episode that was going to tip over to crazy/angry/depressed at some point.... I talked w/ him about the details, he was very, very rational/understanding** about direct questions, and after like 15min of me getting the scope of it, he just....'lingered' at my place for a while (he's never hung w/ me solo b4, only w/ my sibling who he's close w/)
So, fast forward til today- he's come here every day since, and he's been getting progressively..'weirder'. He's in good spirits, he's not any sort of noticable 'manic'/hyper, but he's... OFF. By that, i mean that he's just not understanding human:human interaction, like:
- half the shit he says, is utterly random/irrelevant/nonsensical (eg.: 1) "My dad was telling me about lizards" "what about lizards" "they use shadows.......(trails off)" "they use shadows for what?" [no reply, as if nothing was said] 2) Is *constantly* doing weird movements/motions, not 'stereotypy' in any sense, but will just randomly stand and stretch, or start massaging himself, in ways that're (not sexual lol)ways that're just weird and draw everyone's eyes (in fact, I went to store yesterday and brought him w/ me; today, when i was there, they were asking me wtf was up w/ 'that kid' I brought yesterday; while there yesterday, i was..ahem..embarrassed/awkward cuz, while in line, he's basically doing stretching/breathing/etc that's simply out of place for normal scenarios...) 3) He's doing other 'meta' behaviors, such as having been wearing swimming/biking shorts for days, and has several times mentioned he's going to be trying for the navy or army soon (this kid is practically a hippy, i mean to imagine him wanting to, or being competent in, any sort of military discipline is just unfathomable)
I'm sorry this turned out longer than wanted, i did try to keep it to the most essential parts.. basically, i'm figuring manic episodes (which this completely seems(ed) a strong case of) typically only last the day, i've never experienced or seen one that lasted through sleeping but we're at like 4days now; he's clearly not on drugs, and i know he wasn't using anything habitually beforehand that he may be coming off of***.
So, w/ all of that, what does this sound like? Someone being 'catalyzed' by losing their job, into a genetically-determined schizophrenia? That is, sadly, my go-to thought now. I'm posting here in hopes of opinions and, further, of actions i should/shouldn't take. I know there's zero way to convince him anything's wrong w/ him right now, the kid clearly thinks he's fine and happy, but anyone aruond him knows he's acting ridiculous and everyone's worried and talking when he's not around about wtf is going on... Thnx in advance for any thoughts/opinions/etc
*vocationally=his job was related to food, which he's also a student of. When he told me this, he explained that it was a social thing at his job. I found out yesterday that, the day before he was fired, that he was a no-show, no-call the day before being fired, so clearly he was lying OR, as I expect, he's just (wrongly)convinced himself that some comment he made to an employee, and not his no-show, was the cause of this
**he's ONLY been "socially-expectedly lucid" when directly being engaged by others; when just 'chilling', he is constantly bringing up random shit, not explaining/elaborating, and not making sense. Not jibberish rantings or incoherence, but just mentioning/starting really, really random ideas/topics, then not elaborating when ppl hesitantly try to engage said topics
***he has not been an addict or even 'continuous' user of anything, including alcohol/marijuana/caffeine, excluding tobacco, since i've known him. While I cannot be sure, my (very, very close-to-sure) understanding is he hasn't been, and wasn't on recently, any sort of 'mood stabilizers' or any daily stuff. Honestly, the best two conclusions i've made are that he's either gone off an anti-psychotic or something (very unlikely given we've known him and his siblings/family and have all but verified this isn't the case), or he's a 23y/o who, after losing his job&being pre-disposed, is having a steep spiral into insanity/schizo/etc...
Thanks to anyone who's read the entirety and thnx a milllion times more to anyone who gives thoughts (aside from 'it's okay' and the like ;P )
[edit: post IS lengthy, my apologies, I tried to be succinct but guess I failed, tho I believe all info is relevant..]
A family member's friend, who's also 'friend-ish' of mine, is a 23y/o male (let's call him 'Mike' for now)
I've known mike for quite a while (years); mike has always been a quasi-quiet, collected, smart, poised, rational kid. Mike plays guitar, mike is a chef (both academically and vocationally*), mike lives w/ a parent+grandparent, and mike has been more in the 'level-headed' crowd as long as i've known him, ie i've only seen him be kinda 'off-the-wall' while drinking, and even then well within the bounds of ppl drinking (as-in, he's more composed while drunk than many more that i know, like he'll get drunk/high and be more grounded than most)
SOOooo, maybe 4d ago, mike got fired from his job. He came to my home unexpectedly to tell me this, and, after telling me, it was clear he didn't know what was going on.. he was in great spirits tho, and i was getting an uncomfortable feeling he was in a manic episode that was going to tip over to crazy/angry/depressed at some point.... I talked w/ him about the details, he was very, very rational/understanding** about direct questions, and after like 15min of me getting the scope of it, he just....'lingered' at my place for a while (he's never hung w/ me solo b4, only w/ my sibling who he's close w/)
So, fast forward til today- he's come here every day since, and he's been getting progressively..'weirder'. He's in good spirits, he's not any sort of noticable 'manic'/hyper, but he's... OFF. By that, i mean that he's just not understanding human:human interaction, like:
- half the shit he says, is utterly random/irrelevant/nonsensical (eg.: 1) "My dad was telling me about lizards" "what about lizards" "they use shadows.......(trails off)" "they use shadows for what?" [no reply, as if nothing was said] 2) Is *constantly* doing weird movements/motions, not 'stereotypy' in any sense, but will just randomly stand and stretch, or start massaging himself, in ways that're (not sexual lol)ways that're just weird and draw everyone's eyes (in fact, I went to store yesterday and brought him w/ me; today, when i was there, they were asking me wtf was up w/ 'that kid' I brought yesterday; while there yesterday, i was..ahem..embarrassed/awkward cuz, while in line, he's basically doing stretching/breathing/etc that's simply out of place for normal scenarios...) 3) He's doing other 'meta' behaviors, such as having been wearing swimming/biking shorts for days, and has several times mentioned he's going to be trying for the navy or army soon (this kid is practically a hippy, i mean to imagine him wanting to, or being competent in, any sort of military discipline is just unfathomable)
I'm sorry this turned out longer than wanted, i did try to keep it to the most essential parts.. basically, i'm figuring manic episodes (which this completely seems(ed) a strong case of) typically only last the day, i've never experienced or seen one that lasted through sleeping but we're at like 4days now; he's clearly not on drugs, and i know he wasn't using anything habitually beforehand that he may be coming off of***.
So, w/ all of that, what does this sound like? Someone being 'catalyzed' by losing their job, into a genetically-determined schizophrenia? That is, sadly, my go-to thought now. I'm posting here in hopes of opinions and, further, of actions i should/shouldn't take. I know there's zero way to convince him anything's wrong w/ him right now, the kid clearly thinks he's fine and happy, but anyone aruond him knows he's acting ridiculous and everyone's worried and talking when he's not around about wtf is going on... Thnx in advance for any thoughts/opinions/etc
*vocationally=his job was related to food, which he's also a student of. When he told me this, he explained that it was a social thing at his job. I found out yesterday that, the day before he was fired, that he was a no-show, no-call the day before being fired, so clearly he was lying OR, as I expect, he's just (wrongly)convinced himself that some comment he made to an employee, and not his no-show, was the cause of this
**he's ONLY been "socially-expectedly lucid" when directly being engaged by others; when just 'chilling', he is constantly bringing up random shit, not explaining/elaborating, and not making sense. Not jibberish rantings or incoherence, but just mentioning/starting really, really random ideas/topics, then not elaborating when ppl hesitantly try to engage said topics
***he has not been an addict or even 'continuous' user of anything, including alcohol/marijuana/caffeine, excluding tobacco, since i've known him. While I cannot be sure, my (very, very close-to-sure) understanding is he hasn't been, and wasn't on recently, any sort of 'mood stabilizers' or any daily stuff. Honestly, the best two conclusions i've made are that he's either gone off an anti-psychotic or something (very unlikely given we've known him and his siblings/family and have all but verified this isn't the case), or he's a 23y/o who, after losing his job&being pre-disposed, is having a steep spiral into insanity/schizo/etc...
Thanks to anyone who's read the entirety and thnx a milllion times more to anyone who gives thoughts (aside from 'it's okay' and the like ;P )
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