I’m sorry if this is the wrong sub but I don’t know what to do.
I am traveling with a friend and her bf to Japan for a month. I knew slightly that my friend had schizophrenia but she never elaborated what that entails because she refuses to tell anyone about it. I’ve never seen her have an episode, and for the years I’ve known her, she’s seemed 100% okay. She never mentioned if she’s had an episode recently, never mentioned what induces an episode, nothing. All I knew was that she had this. So when we were planning out this trip for months, she seemed 100% on board with everything and nothing seemed uncomfortable for her.
We’re not necessarily even doing anything adventurous, but I think she’s having a schizophrenic episode for two reasons:
– traveling is stress inducing by itself
– her and her bf have been fighting this entire trip because ever since shes came here, shes been uptight about following cultural etiquette and not liking everything her bf does and acts because it’s offensive to Japanese people or something (its small things even like how his posture is)? I’ve tried to explain to her that we are probably being more respectful than the average gaijin, and that people make mistakes traveling abroad due to cultural differences, but she is extremely keen on trying to appear as respectful as possible.
She seemed okay (except for the fighting parts) for the first week but now we are in a diff prefecture, and I think she has gotten worse. We went to visit our best friends in Japan (just her and me, not her bf cause they were fighting) and she was just a total complete opposite person. Barely talking, no eye contact. I try to play it off to them as “shes just nervous about cultural differences here”, and just carried on normally. But then she went to the bathroom and was gone for 30 mins. I tried searching for her and she was nowhere to be found, and it made me nervous, and I was explaining to our Japanese friends that we may need to ask the police for help. I got her bf involved over text and he told me that she even left her passport even though I asked if she had it before we left and she said yes. She came back but she was speaking in nonsense. I don’t know what to do because I’ve never dealt with schizophrenia.
Also, I want to be a friend, but ultimately, this trip was my dream trip, and the constant fighting and now suddenly becoming a psychiatrist is freaking me out and makes me want to cut the trip short and leave myself… The only way I was able to go on a trip like this is because the government recognized my dad’s death from cancer being military-related, so I received financial compensation as a dependent. I come from a poor family so traveling like this is out of the question usually. I don’t think it’s fair to me to induce all of this fighting and now suddenly caring for someone who didn’t bother to tell me her history of schizophrenia and what that entails for her. I try to ask her what to do to help her but its just staring and nonsense. I don’t get angry with her cause I know that it’s not her fault but like, what do I do… Her bf says she refuses to take medication cause she wants to “explore this part of her” (I’ve been learning all of this today, didnt know ANY of this prior to the trip). I also know that Japan doesn’t have any mental health care either.
Ideally, I think it’s best that they just both leave to go back to our homecountry because it’s obvious that her bf is fed up with her and she would most likely be mentally better in a place that is familiar and comfortable to her. It might be selfish thinking on my part, but I did not sign up for this prior to the trip… But I also know it might be impossible to convince her while shes in this state of mind.
Anyone have experience with dealing with schizophrenia while abroad? Please help I’m struggling with knowing what to do.
by anonymouslyanonanona