Hello doctor, My issue or family issue is how to deal with my sister to get her out of the room and act normal again. I have been praying. I also went to a psychiatrist once but that one session is not enough to answer all my questions about my sister. She is 30 years old. She is not normal and it is breaking our hearts. She literally locks herself in the room the whole entire time, the few times she gets out (she times it while we are asleep) so I did not see her the first three days during my visit to my family. After that, I saw her when she got out to take food from the kitchen. I followed her and I greeted her and asked her to greet me back and give me hug, but she ran back to her room and locked herself. Other two times I followed her and touched her arm softly and I said "I need to tell you something dear", to try to grab her attention to talk solutions but she did what she has been always doing lately which is walking back fast to the room and locked herself. I could not have time in those moments to even give her the gift I got her and some magazines for her to see the outside world through because she does not have a TV in her room nor any technological gadgets nor a mobile or anything of that sort. Whenever she goes quickly to the kitchen she takes food back to her room and when she opens the room, she locks it back so no one enters her room but we could smell how bad it is because she has been isolating herself for the past seven months in this manner. I do not know what to do. It has been easy for many people, family, friends to tell us that she needs to see a doctor but we all know that. But how can we do that when she refuses to talk to us? One doctor my family went to, urged them to take her by force to the doctor but I refused thinking it is an extreme measure. She has had hallucinations and was on anti-depressants too.
Hello. I can understand your concern. She is 30 and has isolated herself socially. She is not at all interacting with others. She is showing inappropriateness of emotions. You have mentioned that she once told you that she had hallucinations. What kind of hallucinations she had? I mean what were her complaints at that time. Did she complain that she is hearing some noise or hearing some conversations? She has a history of inappropriate laughter too. Did she ever show symptoms like someone is going to harm or kill her or family? Even she blamed some family member or friend that he or she might be conspiring against her? Does she accept food given to her by family members or she refuses and takes food by own? She is very guarded and is not at all interacting. Sometimes she showed positive symptoms like inappropriate laughter, hallucinations, etc., but the history is not clear. So based upon the information you provided if we make a provisional diagnosis then this goes towards two main possibilities. The first and most common possibility is some psychosis. This might be schizophrenia too. But as I have said the information to make the diagnosis is not adequate. Individuals remain guarded, socially withdrawn to a great extent in schizophrenia. The other possibility is some mood disturbance. She might be severely depressed and having associated psychotic symptoms. If legal issues permit then better to take opinion from a psychiatrist for her. If she does not agree to visit a psychiatrist then you and your family members can take an opinion. So antipsychotic drugs like Olanzapine, Risperidone, etc., can be given to her by mixing with food without her knowledge and she will become compliant to visit a psychiatrist after sometime. You should not delay her treatment and should consult a psychiatrist immediately.