Dear Pete,
My 22 year- old son, Zac, has schizophrenia, the paranoid type. Since February, he has phoned emergency services five times to ask for help for problems that he’s imagining. Sometimes it’s a heart attack, sometimes his throat is closing, and yesterday, it was to report a gunshot wound to his head.
He was certain he had been shot because earlier in the day, he’d heard a leader in his psychiatric rehab program say, “Who wants directions to Zac’s house?” That comment upset him and by night time, it had translated into him thinking that he’d been shot in the head.
He phoned 911 to report it.
I was worried when I found out what he’d done. The police have weapons and there is no shortage of news articles about tragic encounters when police are called to intervene during a psychiatric crisis.