Hearing Voices

[Bertie4]

I'm looking for advice on what to do to encourage my partner to speak to a doctor regarding the voices that he hears.  It's been happening on and off for around 1.5 years and generally the voices he believes are real he thinks are coming from neighbours or people we have briefly met and he thinks they are all conspiring to torment him and it's gotten a lot worse over the last 24 hours, I'm concerned he is going to get into trouble, I don't believe he would hurt anyone but he may scare them.

What do I do if he doesn't settle down and how long do I wait until I make him get help - and can I make him get help?

He is ani-doctor and hates hospitals, and there is a history of mental illness in his family.

[Ru-bee]

Hi @Bertie4 

Welcome to the forums.

It can be really difficult to support a loved one when they are going through something like this. I imagine it quite scary and confusing for both of you.

It is very tricky to force an adult to seek help if they are not willing or ready to. The only way this generally can happen is through involuntary hospital stays, though the main purpose of this is to keep the individual, and those around them, safe. This is for cases when they do pose a serious risk to themselves or others.

I wonder if you have reached out to any other services for support? You can call the SANE support line for some guidance and support on 1800 187 263. Alternately, you may want to call the mental health triage service who can help you assess what action to take from here. You can find the numbers for each state here .

Lastly, here's a factsheet on psychosis which may be relevant to what your partner is experiencing Psychosis (sane.org) 

[Bertie4]

I nearly called the mental health triage service last night but thought am I making too much of big deal about it, I have confided in my husbands brother but I've never spoken about it to anyone else. It's feels like a big step and would make it feel like a real problem...

[Ru-bee]

I understand @Bertie4 it is scary to reach out to these services

Perhaps calling SANE could be a smaller step to take, you could talk to them about what's been going on and they can give you some guidance on whether calling mental health triage is a good next step or if it might not be needed at the moment.

It can be so hard to know what to do, but you don't have to do it all on your own, there are others who can help to guide you through this