October Novel Prep Challenge

My stepson is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (which basically means he has both schizophrenia and bipolar symptoms). I remember the first really weird thing he said to me and his dad. He told us he was eating dinner with his mom at a restaurant, but he had to get out of there because the people at the next table kept staring and talking about him. So he left, but when he stopped for gas, the person pumping gas next to him was staring at him because those people from the restaurant had told that guy whatever it was they were saying about him, so he had to get out of there, too.

After a couple stints in the behavioral hospital, he's been medicated and was doing well at his job for about two years, then he stopped going to work, and we discovered he hadn't taken his meds in awhile. We used to monitor his meds but he'd been doing well so we let him take over, which was obviously a mistake. By the time we realized how long he'd been off the meds (it was at least a month, maybe two), he almost lost his job, and he moved out of our house and in with his mom (he's 26), because he wasn't comfortable living with us anymore. He thought I hated him and wanted him to be put in jail or rendered no longer alive.

With his mom's help, he got back on his meds and started working again. At that point he had requested medical leave and therefore lost his supervisor promotion but not his employment overall. He's been back at work and doing okay. But to your point, he has to be monitored constantly. And to your other point, he doesn't have split personalities; just severe paranoid delusions.