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- Be yourself. This will help the person trust you and perhaps listen to your suggestions.
- Give yourself and the person emotional and physical space. Respect the person’s physical space. Avoid touching the person without express permission, even to give comfort. If the person becomes hostile or aggressive, suggest a cooling off period, emphasizing that you plan to return to the issue at hand when everyone is calmer. Leave yourself an avenue of escape if the person is agitated.
- Calmly but firmly suggest that you take the person to see a doctor, therapist, case worker, or counselor for evaluation. Do not confront refusals or delusional material and do not argue, but continue to listen and to reiterate your suggestion. It may help to sit or stand beside the person while discussing this, rather than in a face-to-face posture.
- Go with the person to the doctor or mental health center to provide additional information about when the symptoms started, what medications the person is taking, and to answer any questions that may arise. In a crisis, the ill person may not be able to answer these questions clearly, so your input will become very valuable.
- If the person threatens or becomes violent, especially if there is a history of violence in the past, get help from the police or the Sheriff as necessary. Though hostility, threats and violence are very upsetting, it may be useful to remember that in many cases, these behaviors are a result of the illness and do not reflect the person’s true feelings.
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