Hello everyone. I am afraid that a friend of mine is developing schizophrenia. Myself and another worried friend have called a helpline to get some advice and I am posting the situation here in case someone else has gone through a similar situation. The story is pretty long, but I feel like due to the complexity of it it would be hard to summarize it. If anyone is able to help I would greatly appreciate it.
My friend, we'll call him Bob, shows signs of extreme paranoia; he is absolutely convinced that there is a network of people conspiring against him for the purpose of ruining his reputation. At the same time, he also appears to show signs of extreme pronoia; he is absolutely convinced that there is another network of people conspiring to help him.
I am not entirely sure when Bob's paranoia began, but I think that he has certain personality traits that make him more susceptible to different forms and levels of paranoia. I can provide some background information on his personality so that perhaps we would be able to have an idea of where paranoia fits in. Since before I knew Bob he was the type of person who would dwell on things; the more that he were to dwell alone on a contentious issue that may have upset him somewhat the more paranoid and suspicious he became of those involved. It came to the point that one could expect a follow up call/email from him after a minor dispute, even after it was resolved in person. Bob told me that when he smoked marijuana (he stopped doing that after he became religious) he was the type of person that while in an altered state of mind would become extremely paranoid and suspicious. Perhaps this is a sign that he is susceptible to paranoia. Moreover, I believe that schizophrenia runs in his family as one of his cousins suffers from a severe case of it. Another one of his personality traits is that he is likes to be the center of attention. He had a reputation as a well-known and talented musical artist. He has performed many times and developed quite a fan base, which he enjoyed talking about.
I understand that stress can encourage the onset of schizophrenia. I believe that there were some incidents that were greatly stressful to him after which greater and greater symptoms of paranoia started to emerge:
Up until the point that Bob had a job, although it was a contract position, and was in a relationship with a girl for over two years who he intended to marry, everything seemed fine. However, her parents were uncompromising on their position that they would not allow it. This was due to cultural reasons that masqueraded as religious reasons despite the apparent hypocrisy. He had attempted to change their minds for a long time but it was of little avail. The father appeared to have relented somewhat and had established some conditions that Bob must meet if he wished to be considered, however in the end the father declined, which we understood was due to protest from the mother. Eventually Bob gave up and he and the girl had ended their relationship. He was emotionally hurt quite significantly; I recall times when we would talk and he would suddenly and randomly cry. We did all we could do support him throughout this time.
Bob could no longer tolerate the routine of working at his job due to the depression that he felt and entertained the thought of quitting quite frequently. At this point he began complaining about how his work environment was becoming increasingly toxic and therefore it was in his best interest quit, thereby justifying quitting. When asked how it was becoming toxic, he would explain how his coworkers would secretly among themselves discuss him, most probably spreading slander. When questioned how he knew of this, he would explain how if he were to mention a certain topic, or song, or anything to his manager in privacy, he would later hear that same topic or name of song in a coworkers passing speech. Sometimes he would talk about how the tone of their voice was meant to patronize him. Later on he began to mention with increasing frequency and concern how a government spy agency was spying on him, or coordinating with his managers in order to keep an eye on him. He would justify this assertion with two reasons 1) during university he was involved in activism, nothing illegal or very controversial, although some of it did involve incidents concerning law enforcement agencies. He worked with human rights groups and lawyers and it was regarded as a healthy community campaign 2) the place that he worked at was closely related to the police and so ties with the spy agency was therefore highly probable. Eventually he just randomly quit without telling employers, he just left.
While unemployed, Bob started talking to me about how people in the religious community know what happened between him and the girl and her family. He would explain to me how it was most likely because the girl's dad talked to the more conservative members in the community who consequently began spreading it. Ever since then he has been developing an increasing mistrust in any religious member of the community. When asked how he knew that people knew about his situation, he would refer to people?s facebook or twitter statuses as evidence. The contents of some statuses were related to marriage and others referred to culture, religiosity, and so on. Because these people were friends with one another and belonged to the same conservative sub-grouping, Bob thought it apparent that they were colluding with one another by separating the theme of his situation among themselves through indirect messages. I explained to him that such statuses have always been typical and consistent among this group of people. Bob also mentioned that because the person who delivers the sermon at the religious place of worship gave a talk that was related to his situation he believed that the speaker was someone who directly heard about his issue from the girl?s father. Again, I would be able to explain it away saying that "these are usual topics, they come up from time to time. It does not mean they are talking about you." He appeared to accept such explanations, however after short period of time of dwelling on the matter he would bring it up again, sometimes with more conviction.
Some months later he had gotten into a physical altercation with a mutual friend. It wasn't a severe altercation, nobody was hurt, but it happened in his own home among friends. Although I was not present I was told what had transpired. Everyone, including Bob, was making jokes and as usual the brunt of the jokes fell upon a specific individual (we?ll call him Tyler). I suppose that the jokes had gone too far and Tyler became upset and lashed out at his nearest target, who was Bob. After that incident, Bob indicated to everybody that he just wanted to be by himself and that nobody should try to contact him. After around 5 months of no contact with any of his direct friends, he started hanging around with some close mutual friends (one of who was present at the incident, but they have always been exceptionally close since school, we?ll call him ?Sam?). Slowly he started opening up and would exchange email messages with the rest of us, but was still adamant about not meeting in person. After a few more months he was open to meeting up to go to events and such. By the time 9 months had passed Tole had finally apologized and Bob had accepted. Ever since then all of us have been hanging out again. However Bob does seem different from before. He appears to have lost much of his confidence, his sleeping patterns appear harmful as he stays up until 5 or 6 am on the computer, sleeps sporadically during the day, gets little rest at night and depends on caffeine to function. He has started doing some web based work with some organizations, but does not appear to show much interest in settling down into a permanent and regular sort of employment. He has been more outgoing, attending different events, has gone back to school to upgrade his marks as he had shown interest in pursuing grad school, and has joined the student union where he was well know.
After a number of months of school work and working for the student union, his interest in grad school, and therefore his course material, had been reduced significantly. The only interest that he had shown in school was with whatever activities he was involved in at the union despite the fact that he had spent squandered a large amount of money on courses. More concerning was the developing issue with his neighbours. He would tell me how his elder neighbours have begun annoying him by raising the volume of their TV or radio at late hours of the night, which is on the other side of his bedroom wall as he lives in an attached townhouse complex. In order to deal with this issue he had approached his neighbour and requested that the volume be turned down during such hours as it was disturbing his sleep. Despite this however they persisted with the loud volume. Bob resorted to calling the city and acquiring its by-laws and threatened legal action if the volume persists. The son of the neighbour had shown an aggressive attitude towards Bob, however ultimately complied. All of this appeared completely believable to me, I did not see any reason to suspect otherwise. However, soon after his stories started to become quite bizarre; he made the claim that his neighbours, because they were upset at him, were spying on him by implanting a listening device in the ceiling. I asked him how he could be certain of this, to which he replied that he would notice that if he were to talk about a certain topic or use a specific yet uncommon phrase or word in the privacy of his own room, he would then hear that same word or phrase uttered by a random stranger. Moreover, he had said that he had heard his neighbours drilling in their complex and that the sewer in front of their house had been worked on by contractors. Therefore, the only explanation could be that this work was for the installation of a listening device which is how the details of his conversation were known to others. He would no longer allow any friends to visit his house for fear that neighbours would watch and gather information. It came to the point where Sam, without warning, visiting the city and needed a place to stay. Naturally because of his close relationship with Bob he had assumed that he could stay at his house as has always been the case in the past. However, Bob would not allow it and Sam was thus forced to sleep in his vehicle somewhere in the city. When I confronted Bob about this indicating that he was wrong to have denied this request from Sam simply because he was afraid of his neighbours, Bob became angry explaining that his situation is extremely serious and because Sam would make light of his situation he may say something that would give away information to his neighbours. Since that incident Sam has been somewhat upset with Bob, particularly because he believes that Bob is just acting like a selfish fool with self-induced delusions in order to seem important.
This suspicion of his neighbours expanded to now include his wider neighbourhood. To him, this would explain why random people on the bus or at the mall would be repeating things he had said in his own home; these random people were colluding with his neighbours and following him around the city. Bob had indicated that his neighbours were part of a local church group that he considered fundamentalist or extremely conservative. Because he is of a minority ethnic group and of a different religion than them they targeted him. When asked why other people in his neighbourhood, especially those who were also of the same minority background, would work with such venomous neighbours, Bob would indicate that his neighbours have been portraying him as a hoodlum and a trouble maker, the sort of person that a community watch would be wary of. Because of this perceived threat the wider neighbourhood had taken action against him by keeping an eye on him and following him around the city. When we would be somewhere in the city, he would point out random people as spying on him and that we should keep an eye on that person. When asked how or what they do, Bob explains in detail how they would coordinate when and where to stand in order to, most often he uses the vague expression ?troll?, him by saying a word or acting in a way that alludes to a conversation he may have had in his own room. For example, he once told me that he opined about being on the news. Later on that day, or the next day, as he was walking through the downtown core he saw people setting up a camera, perhaps a news camera. To him that is proof that people are ?trolling? him. When asked what the objective of such indirect actions against him was, he would simply respond that it was to ?troll? him, to show him that he?s being watched.
I see a pattern among his conspiracies, which is that they tend to expand and encircle more and more people and groups further alienating himself, especially when he seeks to leave something that he is currently invested in. Like his work, he began to talk about how people in the student union were colluding with his neighbours. This occurred after he took a comment by someone in the student union as potentially offensive, as if they were deliberately mocking his religious commitment with an off the hand comment. When I heard the comment it did not appear offensive or mocking in nature unless one was to assume that the commentator was extremely prejudicial. In any case, he eventually quit saying that he did not want to deal with the ?BS?. When he provided a formal reason to the student union, and to friends within it who he did trust, he simply said that it was conflicting with his homework schedule. When asked how he could mistrust them all, especially since there are people in the union who he has known and worked with for years, he said that those people (we?ll call them the Spanish friends), are also involved with the neighbourhood action against him. But after they learned about its true nature they have been secretly trying to stop it from the inside. When I asked what his proof for that assertion is, he would say that he talked to them. At that point I was fairly shocked because I thought that now he has proof that would vindicate his conspiracy. I asked him if he directly talked about the details of his conspiracy, he replied that he did not talk about this issue with them, but he could tell by their body language, tone, and words that they used, that they were trying to hint to him that they were protecting him from the inside but could not say much because they didn?t want to alarm him. When I commented that it was impossible to tell such details by indirect body cues he would become exasperated and request that I not question him, saying that I do not see what he sees and therefore cannot know what is going on.
From then up until now his conspiracy has widened significantly. He has shown anger at his own religious community claiming that they were involved in the slander against him. When asked how this was so, he would indicate that they knew about what was going on but using their ?passive aggressiveness? did not prevent it nor protect him. When asked about the ?Spanish friends?, who were also from the same religious community, regarding their support for him behind the scenes, he indicated that he had never said that the ?Spanish friends? were helping him. After I provided proof that he had in fact said that they were helping him, he indicated that they were now untrustworthy.
He has also discussed getting back into the music-artist community where he was once an avid artist who had connections that have now since then become more well known, perhaps almost mainstream according to him. He would also talk about how the religious community dislikes the music-artist community and it discriminates against anyone who doesn?t fit the typical ?good person? or ?religious? image.
Moreover, whatever relatively little feelings of pronoia that he had before, as observed in the case of his ?Spanish friends? secretly helping him, has escalated beyond measure; he now absolutely and definitively believes that people in the music-artist community know about the slander, the neighbourhood action against him, and the involvement of the religious community. He explains that the music-artist community is taking action and has begun ?pushing back?, but does not elaborate on details such as how or what. I asked if they were going to confront the slanderers to which he responded in the negative, indicating that they were simply spreading it amongst themselves in order to raise awareness. When asked how he has come to know of this he would reply that he has spoken with a friend of his who is a well-known artist. Much like the prior incident, he indicated that he could tell by his friend?s body language and tone of voice what they were intending to do and how they were going to act. When questioned whether or not he enquired about this directly in order to get conclusive answers, he would respond that he could tell that his friend does not want to alarm him, but rather just wants to assure him that they have his back and are protecting him. He would constantly tell me how his old friends who he has begun talking to again after five years or so have connections with more prominent artists, who in turn have connections with even more prominent artists, and therefore those artists who are quite established are well aware of his situation. Bob describes the music-artist community as a deeply interwoven and tightly knit community that ?does not tolerate BS? and are thus looking out for him. Even further, he is almost now convinced that prominent artists, not mainstream, yet still prominent are seeking to sign him. When questioned how he knows this, he indicates that these artists are hinting it through their facebook and twitter updates. Sometimes Bob will contact me, excited at the prospect of getting a one year contract, asking if he should accept or not. Often he will contact me saying ?It?s legit? excitedly and with such enthusiasm that one cannot help but feel that it was true all along. Yet his answer is always the same when questioned about the accuracy of his understanding, which is that he can tell, he just knows, and that I should not ask for details. He tells me to wait and see because everything will be out in the open soon enough.
Regarding his religious community he has now begun naming figures within it, telling me not to trust them because they were involved. This is particularly worrying because now he is actually selecting individuals as part of the conspiracy. He has even begun naming individuals who we both have known since the beginning of school, nice people, now regarded as untrustworthy because they were aware of the slander against him all along. When asked why they are untrustworthy, he says that they don?t fess up to him about their involvement, that none of them will admit to him that they knew about the slander. Whenever I say that the reason for them not admitting to you anything is because they don?t know about it, he would either ignore that, or say that he knows for a fact that they know. Of course, he won?t say how he knows, and will often tell me not to ask for specifics. Any time that I ask for details he says that he ?cannot say right now?, and that ?all will be uncovered soon?. I suspect that soon I will be included in his circle of untrustworthy people. Lately he has been asking me if anybody has been talking about him to me, and gets me to swear that such is not the case. Even after doing so he would still continue to ask. He would also make it clear to me not to let anybody ?infiltrate the group?, which is merely our circle of friends. Sometimes he will tell me to tell whoever is talking about him to back off. He constantly talks about how despite not being involved in music-artist community for 6 years, they still show so much loyalty to him by helping him out and protecting him, and now even show interest in signing him. Although he is angry at his religious community, I believe it is primarily at those who overtly don the appearance of religiosity due to their obvious superficiality. He says that the only thing holding the music-artist community back from ?ripping at? the religious community is him. He says that the religious community is embarrassing itself by trying to engage the music-artist community.
In terms of attitude and plans, he has indicated that everything is now out of his control; the music-artist community is taking care of everything. I wonder if this is reflective of his mental state, which is that he is hoping to achieve something meaningful through pursuing a direction in music; he finds potential comfort in this, which is in itself a source of comfort. I have encouraged him to get back into music as he was very talented and well received, but that he should also pursue a stable job just in case. However, with his irregular sleep patterns, unhealthy preoccupation with distractions such as video games, a large consumption of caffeine, combined with his mental state and susceptibilities, and keeping in mind the path of his mental state and conspiracies, we see this situation getting worse and worse. The wider his conspiracy theory becomes the more aliened he becomes. The circle is widening and I fear that soon it will encompass his closest friends. We are not sure what we should do. Anytime we question him he becomes increasingly annoyed and angry, sometimes accusing us of not supporting him.
My friend, we'll call him Bob, shows signs of extreme paranoia; he is absolutely convinced that there is a network of people conspiring against him for the purpose of ruining his reputation. At the same time, he also appears to show signs of extreme pronoia; he is absolutely convinced that there is another network of people conspiring to help him.
I am not entirely sure when Bob's paranoia began, but I think that he has certain personality traits that make him more susceptible to different forms and levels of paranoia. I can provide some background information on his personality so that perhaps we would be able to have an idea of where paranoia fits in. Since before I knew Bob he was the type of person who would dwell on things; the more that he were to dwell alone on a contentious issue that may have upset him somewhat the more paranoid and suspicious he became of those involved. It came to the point that one could expect a follow up call/email from him after a minor dispute, even after it was resolved in person. Bob told me that when he smoked marijuana (he stopped doing that after he became religious) he was the type of person that while in an altered state of mind would become extremely paranoid and suspicious. Perhaps this is a sign that he is susceptible to paranoia. Moreover, I believe that schizophrenia runs in his family as one of his cousins suffers from a severe case of it. Another one of his personality traits is that he is likes to be the center of attention. He had a reputation as a well-known and talented musical artist. He has performed many times and developed quite a fan base, which he enjoyed talking about.
I understand that stress can encourage the onset of schizophrenia. I believe that there were some incidents that were greatly stressful to him after which greater and greater symptoms of paranoia started to emerge:
Up until the point that Bob had a job, although it was a contract position, and was in a relationship with a girl for over two years who he intended to marry, everything seemed fine. However, her parents were uncompromising on their position that they would not allow it. This was due to cultural reasons that masqueraded as religious reasons despite the apparent hypocrisy. He had attempted to change their minds for a long time but it was of little avail. The father appeared to have relented somewhat and had established some conditions that Bob must meet if he wished to be considered, however in the end the father declined, which we understood was due to protest from the mother. Eventually Bob gave up and he and the girl had ended their relationship. He was emotionally hurt quite significantly; I recall times when we would talk and he would suddenly and randomly cry. We did all we could do support him throughout this time.
Bob could no longer tolerate the routine of working at his job due to the depression that he felt and entertained the thought of quitting quite frequently. At this point he began complaining about how his work environment was becoming increasingly toxic and therefore it was in his best interest quit, thereby justifying quitting. When asked how it was becoming toxic, he would explain how his coworkers would secretly among themselves discuss him, most probably spreading slander. When questioned how he knew of this, he would explain how if he were to mention a certain topic, or song, or anything to his manager in privacy, he would later hear that same topic or name of song in a coworkers passing speech. Sometimes he would talk about how the tone of their voice was meant to patronize him. Later on he began to mention with increasing frequency and concern how a government spy agency was spying on him, or coordinating with his managers in order to keep an eye on him. He would justify this assertion with two reasons 1) during university he was involved in activism, nothing illegal or very controversial, although some of it did involve incidents concerning law enforcement agencies. He worked with human rights groups and lawyers and it was regarded as a healthy community campaign 2) the place that he worked at was closely related to the police and so ties with the spy agency was therefore highly probable. Eventually he just randomly quit without telling employers, he just left.
While unemployed, Bob started talking to me about how people in the religious community know what happened between him and the girl and her family. He would explain to me how it was most likely because the girl's dad talked to the more conservative members in the community who consequently began spreading it. Ever since then he has been developing an increasing mistrust in any religious member of the community. When asked how he knew that people knew about his situation, he would refer to people?s facebook or twitter statuses as evidence. The contents of some statuses were related to marriage and others referred to culture, religiosity, and so on. Because these people were friends with one another and belonged to the same conservative sub-grouping, Bob thought it apparent that they were colluding with one another by separating the theme of his situation among themselves through indirect messages. I explained to him that such statuses have always been typical and consistent among this group of people. Bob also mentioned that because the person who delivers the sermon at the religious place of worship gave a talk that was related to his situation he believed that the speaker was someone who directly heard about his issue from the girl?s father. Again, I would be able to explain it away saying that "these are usual topics, they come up from time to time. It does not mean they are talking about you." He appeared to accept such explanations, however after short period of time of dwelling on the matter he would bring it up again, sometimes with more conviction.
Some months later he had gotten into a physical altercation with a mutual friend. It wasn't a severe altercation, nobody was hurt, but it happened in his own home among friends. Although I was not present I was told what had transpired. Everyone, including Bob, was making jokes and as usual the brunt of the jokes fell upon a specific individual (we?ll call him Tyler). I suppose that the jokes had gone too far and Tyler became upset and lashed out at his nearest target, who was Bob. After that incident, Bob indicated to everybody that he just wanted to be by himself and that nobody should try to contact him. After around 5 months of no contact with any of his direct friends, he started hanging around with some close mutual friends (one of who was present at the incident, but they have always been exceptionally close since school, we?ll call him ?Sam?). Slowly he started opening up and would exchange email messages with the rest of us, but was still adamant about not meeting in person. After a few more months he was open to meeting up to go to events and such. By the time 9 months had passed Tole had finally apologized and Bob had accepted. Ever since then all of us have been hanging out again. However Bob does seem different from before. He appears to have lost much of his confidence, his sleeping patterns appear harmful as he stays up until 5 or 6 am on the computer, sleeps sporadically during the day, gets little rest at night and depends on caffeine to function. He has started doing some web based work with some organizations, but does not appear to show much interest in settling down into a permanent and regular sort of employment. He has been more outgoing, attending different events, has gone back to school to upgrade his marks as he had shown interest in pursuing grad school, and has joined the student union where he was well know.
After a number of months of school work and working for the student union, his interest in grad school, and therefore his course material, had been reduced significantly. The only interest that he had shown in school was with whatever activities he was involved in at the union despite the fact that he had spent squandered a large amount of money on courses. More concerning was the developing issue with his neighbours. He would tell me how his elder neighbours have begun annoying him by raising the volume of their TV or radio at late hours of the night, which is on the other side of his bedroom wall as he lives in an attached townhouse complex. In order to deal with this issue he had approached his neighbour and requested that the volume be turned down during such hours as it was disturbing his sleep. Despite this however they persisted with the loud volume. Bob resorted to calling the city and acquiring its by-laws and threatened legal action if the volume persists. The son of the neighbour had shown an aggressive attitude towards Bob, however ultimately complied. All of this appeared completely believable to me, I did not see any reason to suspect otherwise. However, soon after his stories started to become quite bizarre; he made the claim that his neighbours, because they were upset at him, were spying on him by implanting a listening device in the ceiling. I asked him how he could be certain of this, to which he replied that he would notice that if he were to talk about a certain topic or use a specific yet uncommon phrase or word in the privacy of his own room, he would then hear that same word or phrase uttered by a random stranger. Moreover, he had said that he had heard his neighbours drilling in their complex and that the sewer in front of their house had been worked on by contractors. Therefore, the only explanation could be that this work was for the installation of a listening device which is how the details of his conversation were known to others. He would no longer allow any friends to visit his house for fear that neighbours would watch and gather information. It came to the point where Sam, without warning, visiting the city and needed a place to stay. Naturally because of his close relationship with Bob he had assumed that he could stay at his house as has always been the case in the past. However, Bob would not allow it and Sam was thus forced to sleep in his vehicle somewhere in the city. When I confronted Bob about this indicating that he was wrong to have denied this request from Sam simply because he was afraid of his neighbours, Bob became angry explaining that his situation is extremely serious and because Sam would make light of his situation he may say something that would give away information to his neighbours. Since that incident Sam has been somewhat upset with Bob, particularly because he believes that Bob is just acting like a selfish fool with self-induced delusions in order to seem important.
This suspicion of his neighbours expanded to now include his wider neighbourhood. To him, this would explain why random people on the bus or at the mall would be repeating things he had said in his own home; these random people were colluding with his neighbours and following him around the city. Bob had indicated that his neighbours were part of a local church group that he considered fundamentalist or extremely conservative. Because he is of a minority ethnic group and of a different religion than them they targeted him. When asked why other people in his neighbourhood, especially those who were also of the same minority background, would work with such venomous neighbours, Bob would indicate that his neighbours have been portraying him as a hoodlum and a trouble maker, the sort of person that a community watch would be wary of. Because of this perceived threat the wider neighbourhood had taken action against him by keeping an eye on him and following him around the city. When we would be somewhere in the city, he would point out random people as spying on him and that we should keep an eye on that person. When asked how or what they do, Bob explains in detail how they would coordinate when and where to stand in order to, most often he uses the vague expression ?troll?, him by saying a word or acting in a way that alludes to a conversation he may have had in his own room. For example, he once told me that he opined about being on the news. Later on that day, or the next day, as he was walking through the downtown core he saw people setting up a camera, perhaps a news camera. To him that is proof that people are ?trolling? him. When asked what the objective of such indirect actions against him was, he would simply respond that it was to ?troll? him, to show him that he?s being watched.
I see a pattern among his conspiracies, which is that they tend to expand and encircle more and more people and groups further alienating himself, especially when he seeks to leave something that he is currently invested in. Like his work, he began to talk about how people in the student union were colluding with his neighbours. This occurred after he took a comment by someone in the student union as potentially offensive, as if they were deliberately mocking his religious commitment with an off the hand comment. When I heard the comment it did not appear offensive or mocking in nature unless one was to assume that the commentator was extremely prejudicial. In any case, he eventually quit saying that he did not want to deal with the ?BS?. When he provided a formal reason to the student union, and to friends within it who he did trust, he simply said that it was conflicting with his homework schedule. When asked how he could mistrust them all, especially since there are people in the union who he has known and worked with for years, he said that those people (we?ll call them the Spanish friends), are also involved with the neighbourhood action against him. But after they learned about its true nature they have been secretly trying to stop it from the inside. When I asked what his proof for that assertion is, he would say that he talked to them. At that point I was fairly shocked because I thought that now he has proof that would vindicate his conspiracy. I asked him if he directly talked about the details of his conspiracy, he replied that he did not talk about this issue with them, but he could tell by their body language, tone, and words that they used, that they were trying to hint to him that they were protecting him from the inside but could not say much because they didn?t want to alarm him. When I commented that it was impossible to tell such details by indirect body cues he would become exasperated and request that I not question him, saying that I do not see what he sees and therefore cannot know what is going on.
From then up until now his conspiracy has widened significantly. He has shown anger at his own religious community claiming that they were involved in the slander against him. When asked how this was so, he would indicate that they knew about what was going on but using their ?passive aggressiveness? did not prevent it nor protect him. When asked about the ?Spanish friends?, who were also from the same religious community, regarding their support for him behind the scenes, he indicated that he had never said that the ?Spanish friends? were helping him. After I provided proof that he had in fact said that they were helping him, he indicated that they were now untrustworthy.
He has also discussed getting back into the music-artist community where he was once an avid artist who had connections that have now since then become more well known, perhaps almost mainstream according to him. He would also talk about how the religious community dislikes the music-artist community and it discriminates against anyone who doesn?t fit the typical ?good person? or ?religious? image.
Moreover, whatever relatively little feelings of pronoia that he had before, as observed in the case of his ?Spanish friends? secretly helping him, has escalated beyond measure; he now absolutely and definitively believes that people in the music-artist community know about the slander, the neighbourhood action against him, and the involvement of the religious community. He explains that the music-artist community is taking action and has begun ?pushing back?, but does not elaborate on details such as how or what. I asked if they were going to confront the slanderers to which he responded in the negative, indicating that they were simply spreading it amongst themselves in order to raise awareness. When asked how he has come to know of this he would reply that he has spoken with a friend of his who is a well-known artist. Much like the prior incident, he indicated that he could tell by his friend?s body language and tone of voice what they were intending to do and how they were going to act. When questioned whether or not he enquired about this directly in order to get conclusive answers, he would respond that he could tell that his friend does not want to alarm him, but rather just wants to assure him that they have his back and are protecting him. He would constantly tell me how his old friends who he has begun talking to again after five years or so have connections with more prominent artists, who in turn have connections with even more prominent artists, and therefore those artists who are quite established are well aware of his situation. Bob describes the music-artist community as a deeply interwoven and tightly knit community that ?does not tolerate BS? and are thus looking out for him. Even further, he is almost now convinced that prominent artists, not mainstream, yet still prominent are seeking to sign him. When questioned how he knows this, he indicates that these artists are hinting it through their facebook and twitter updates. Sometimes Bob will contact me, excited at the prospect of getting a one year contract, asking if he should accept or not. Often he will contact me saying ?It?s legit? excitedly and with such enthusiasm that one cannot help but feel that it was true all along. Yet his answer is always the same when questioned about the accuracy of his understanding, which is that he can tell, he just knows, and that I should not ask for details. He tells me to wait and see because everything will be out in the open soon enough.
Regarding his religious community he has now begun naming figures within it, telling me not to trust them because they were involved. This is particularly worrying because now he is actually selecting individuals as part of the conspiracy. He has even begun naming individuals who we both have known since the beginning of school, nice people, now regarded as untrustworthy because they were aware of the slander against him all along. When asked why they are untrustworthy, he says that they don?t fess up to him about their involvement, that none of them will admit to him that they knew about the slander. Whenever I say that the reason for them not admitting to you anything is because they don?t know about it, he would either ignore that, or say that he knows for a fact that they know. Of course, he won?t say how he knows, and will often tell me not to ask for specifics. Any time that I ask for details he says that he ?cannot say right now?, and that ?all will be uncovered soon?. I suspect that soon I will be included in his circle of untrustworthy people. Lately he has been asking me if anybody has been talking about him to me, and gets me to swear that such is not the case. Even after doing so he would still continue to ask. He would also make it clear to me not to let anybody ?infiltrate the group?, which is merely our circle of friends. Sometimes he will tell me to tell whoever is talking about him to back off. He constantly talks about how despite not being involved in music-artist community for 6 years, they still show so much loyalty to him by helping him out and protecting him, and now even show interest in signing him. Although he is angry at his religious community, I believe it is primarily at those who overtly don the appearance of religiosity due to their obvious superficiality. He says that the only thing holding the music-artist community back from ?ripping at? the religious community is him. He says that the religious community is embarrassing itself by trying to engage the music-artist community.
In terms of attitude and plans, he has indicated that everything is now out of his control; the music-artist community is taking care of everything. I wonder if this is reflective of his mental state, which is that he is hoping to achieve something meaningful through pursuing a direction in music; he finds potential comfort in this, which is in itself a source of comfort. I have encouraged him to get back into music as he was very talented and well received, but that he should also pursue a stable job just in case. However, with his irregular sleep patterns, unhealthy preoccupation with distractions such as video games, a large consumption of caffeine, combined with his mental state and susceptibilities, and keeping in mind the path of his mental state and conspiracies, we see this situation getting worse and worse. The wider his conspiracy theory becomes the more aliened he becomes. The circle is widening and I fear that soon it will encompass his closest friends. We are not sure what we should do. Anytime we question him he becomes increasingly annoyed and angry, sometimes accusing us of not supporting him.
