And here we go again..bugs, bugs, bugs in the attic.

I wonder if you step on em if they go squish or if they crunch?

People change through out life, at different rates of change.

What makes a "friend" is common interests........... when those go away, they are but mere memories and the reason for the friendship evaporates. They become acquaintances.

I try to be civil to acquaintances, no reason to invest anything more.

Life goes on, for some.............. move on.

I think the old expression we used to use as kids was "it takes one to know one" but in this case I would adapt it to say it takes one to communicate with one :p

Sorry to hear this, Mike.

You've taken this to heart. The guy you knew is gone. Say a prayer for his family and move on.

Have been in the same spot.

You are absolutely right if it were otherwise I wouldn't waste my time talking to the likes of you.

The lack of compassion in this thread is puzzeling to me.

Having spent a bit of time over the last couple of years, in the care home where Mom is now. And seeing the struggle to maintain some dignity while dealing with mental problems amongst the residents there has really opened my eyes to how devastating mental illness can be.

It's not a laughing matter to see how impactful it is when one cannot manage ones thoughts, or understand what is happening around them.

In the case of most other sorts of illness the normal reaction is sympathetic, supportive. Why is mental illness seen so differently?

Cheers Richard

Man some of you guys are really hard hearted.

While these people have a form of dementia that affects logic and reasoning they are not really that dangerous. And this has happened to people for ages. The only difference today is the huge amount of BS that is more accessible.


My nephew years ago had a next door neighbor that wrote a huge manifesto about how he was being watched and "They" were beaming microwaves into is home to slowly kill him. Despite the neighbors extreme paranoia my nephew did a few small things to be neighborly was non-judgemental basically helping him rake his yard or just being interested and helpful when they happened to be outside at the same time.

Nephew had a plumber out to remodel his shower. The neighbor was over curious. In chatting with the neighbor nephew found the neighbor had a sink leaking. Nephew had the plumber also go fix the small leak for the neighbor. In the neighbors mind that action put the nephew and his family on the "us" side of his "us" vs. "them" dementia. Nephew said he was a great neighbor after that, especially watching their house while they were away. And said he didn't hear about the manifesto again.


At our old house we had a lady move in on our block. My Mom being a really nice person, bless her, she went and greeted the new neighbor, giving her our phone number and telling her if she needed any help to just call. She called and my nephew and myself went over and helped her move her heavier furniture around. Didn't think much of it then but she made the comment that the house had a 2nd story on it when she bought it, but is was gone now.

She would come for neighborly visits on occasion. Seems we were the only neighbors that offered to help. We learned this lady was really out there. "They" were recording her thru her TV and making millions posting it on the internet. All the other neighbors were part of a conspiracy spying on her. And yes she wrote a manifesto.

When she found out I did internet stuff she asked me what I was going to do with all the millions I got from putting her on the internet. Told her all I was allowed to do was to try to keep "them" from getting into the company I work for. Then I went and got an extra power strip and told her it had a device in it that if she put it between the outlet and her TV would keep them from watching her. She was so grateful and even let me fix her car they had installed a device that kept her from using it (the battery was dead).

There were lots of things that happened to this demented old lady. Once we got called because she was in a mental hospital 50 miles away. She did not trust anyone including police and finally gave them our phone number. Mom went and got her. They put her in because she refused to tell them who she was. It was sad that we found she had passed. Her next door neighbor called because the lady usually come out and yelled at her when she got home from work every day telling the neighbor she was peeking in her windows. The neighbor said she didn't really mind because it was only when she got home from work she got yelled at. Said she could come back out 5 minutes later and wouldn't be bothered. She called because she noticed she hadn't gotten yelled at for a week and didn't answer the door. We had the police go check and she had passed.

A good ( past) long time friend of mine has been a high functioning opiate addict for at least 18 years+. The only reason he was able to fully retire from Verizon is he kept injuring himself on purpose to keep from going to work.

Also because he had great medical coverage ( union guy) he doctor shopped for years. His wife ignored it, we offered to assist in intervention.........but nothings happened. He has become an agoraphobic afraid to leave his house for anything other than going to the next doctor or to the pharmacy.

He calls and talks about all kinds of crazy stuff, I usually play along until my patience runs out. Often when he talks he doesn't know what day it is or the weather.........

You fellows may be right. IF in fact the OP actually was posting seeking help rather than having a cool story to get attention, then I would say you have a genuine gripe.

That said, there are two reasons for delusion: medical or emotional but neither one can be fixed long distance. My wife and I cared for a MIL that became delusional from strokes and a FIL that had middle and then late stages Alzheimer. The best we could do was make sure that medical things were attended to, love them, keep them calm, and comfort them as much as possible. Also, in my line of work I deal with elderly people on the phone all day long. Some of them are forgetful and some are just bat-shoot-crazy. My experience is that there is not much you can do to help a delusional person long distance. At best, you can survive the communication.

If the OP wants help rather than attention, he needs more than Internet psychoanalysis advise. The first step is to get his friend to real professionals who can determine if this is a medical or emotional issue.