Is this schizophrenia or some form of it?

I do not know enough about this illness, but I have heard about it from time to time and have some idea. I have a friend whom I've known since highschool.

In Highschool she was always a little...eccentric in her ways but nothing that seemed to alert me to anything dramatic as such. She was always very health orientated and seemed to suffer with what she believed was candida, food intolerances etc. So she was always on a special diet. Nothing wrong with that. I just accepted that she was not well and that this diet was helping her.

However, I do recall her saying certain things now that I feel were signs something was not right. I remember she would tell me that when she was in class that she felt that people could read her thoughts and i said "what do you mean???" and she said "if I think something, I feel like they can read my thoughts because they look at me funny and it makes me really uncomfortable". when she would say this, she would get a strange look in her eyes.

Anyway, I would tell her not to worry about it that there is no way they coudl read her thoughts! But she was convinced of it. However it was not done often, so I thought no more of it. But in recent years things with her have esculated and taken a turn for the worst.

I do not see her these days but have found out she's been in treatment. She was under the impression that the guy down the road (who has never met her) was using his stereo (no joke) to tap into her stereo and gain information on her. Or that he had the power to change the electronics in her room, so she would often adjust things as a way of 'preventing this". THen she decided that her Mother was wanting to kill her. ON top of this, it just gets weirder. Even spirits were trying to get her (rape). I mean I had her on the phone one day sharing with me something personal that someone did to her and I remember thinking "but what if this isn't true nad this is part of the paranoia?". The poor person often gets wrongly accused, but she is dead convinced.

It was never told to me what she suffered wtih and I assumed it "may" be a form of schitzophrenia but wondered if someone here who is familiar with this might shine light on this.

I have heard that people have said that even her face changes and they become unnerved by being in the same room as she paces up and down looking annoyed or taken up by something. She will get an intense look on her face out of the blue and seems that she's decided that there is some other "conspiracy" against her. Medication apparently helps but she often wont take it. She has attempted suicide also, but luckily failed.

I cannt quite believe that this has happened to her and this is the same person....she was always a bit eccentric but not like this. anyway, just hope someone might help me with this illness and whether they feel this is the same thing or something else.

Thanks Tweet