falling apart.

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I know im not the parent of a child with Autism. But i am a sister. I need help. I'm thirteen and my brother is fifteen. My name is Grace. My brother has suffered from Autism and who knows what his whole life. I have just found out he might possible have schizophrenia. I have been reading up on it. His symptoms are there. My family is falling apart. My dad and mom are divorced and both refuse to believe it's true. Im on the verge of a break down. What if my borther thinks im out to get him? what if he kills me? ive only read a little about it but i know that they get it in their mind that someone is not who they say they are. what if he thinks im JORDAN. ( the boy he is terrified is gonig to steal his girlfriend.)



please help me.

First off, what do you mean by 'might have schizophrenia'. That could mean anything from 'my brother acts funny and talks to himself' to 'my brother is paranoid, delusional, and violent'. If it is just the former then you may be over diagnosing him for simply being weird. If it is the later, then you have a more serious problem.

You may want to contact an adult you can trust in your area who could help out with this sort of thing. Perhaps a guidance counselor at your school? While I wish I could give you advice, dealing with somebody who is paranoid and possibly physically violent is not something you can talk your way out of.

For now, if you are afraid for your safety, I would find some way to separate yourself from your brother until he gets some help. Could you stay at a friends house for a few days?

yeah. thanks . i mean he is all of the above. my parents think he might have it. they are getting him tested. yes i am going to stay at a firneds house until school starts. thankss again

Well, whatever winds up happening, do try to stay safe. I really dont know what the situation is, but it doesnt do you any good to get yourself hurt.

Please do try to remember that your brother may be going through some hard times, but he isnt a monster. It isnt your responsibility to take care of your brother, but do try to give him the benefit of the doubt. Often times having a neurological problem is difficult enough that you dont need your own family rejecting you.

Also, if you feel comfortable, please do tell your parents about this forum and ask them to come on. We may be able to give them some help and advice about how to handle this situation in a way which is beneficial to everybody in your family.

i kindof came onto this this forum so that i could tlk to someone other thaan my parents. i dont want them to worry abotu me too.. they have enough stress. My mom and step dad are obth phyciatrists. so they are pretty educated.

i know he's not a monster it's just hard to see my brother like this.

thaanks for the advice.

As a parent, I'll say this: your parents WANT you to talk to them. Don't hold back out of fear of worrying them; it is their job to help you through these things, and they would much, much prefer that you share with them than that you don't. Parents can see when something is bothering their kids, so you can't keep them from putting you onto their plate of troubles; if you don't tell them what you are thinking, they'll be worrying about how to get you to open up, or assuming you have some other issue and trying to solve that, or ... Well, it comes down to this: it is much better for everyone to just put it on the table than to allow everyone to speculate, and speculate they will.

If it helps you organize your thoughts and helps you feel better to chat here first, great. Forums like this can help quite a lot. But I still hope you'll stop trying to protect your parents and will share your feelings with them.

thank you. i know they should know. but its extremly hard to open up to them. they wory alot and they have enoguh on thehr plates as it is.

thankss for the advice.

From the prospective of a parent with both a NT child and a very austic one it's not being a bother to tell your parents how you feel. They spend alot of time trying to guess whats going on with your brother and might find it very helpful if you told them whats on your mind so they aren't guessing about you as well. They love you and don't want you to feel like you have to bottle yourself up in order to be the "easy" child.