My daughter struggles with hallucinations as well as voices (approx 27 of them). I am slowly learning how to help her, but a recent event (I had a mild heart attack) has brought more fear into her life and now she is terrified of loosing me. This changed the dynamics of her hallucinations. She still has her regular hallucinations, but now she will also have "attacks" where it's almost like she goes into a different world where she thinks all of her hallucinations (at the time they are real to her) as well as new ones will hunt her down and try to kill her. She had another one tonight and this time she thought they were trying to kill me too. I am SO lost as to how to help her. If I touch her, she goes ballistic thinking it is a hallucination trying to kill her. When I talk to her, there is no effect whatsoever. She might acknowledge that I am talking to her, but I can't get through to her. The longest these episodes last is 1/2 and the shortest one is 5 min. On average they last 10 min. Her therapist has given me a crisis number to call when this happens, but I have been put on hold, and when I have a terrified daughter needing me, I can't wait around with a phone to my ear. She said to call 911 if I can't get a hold of anyone, but based on my experience, I just need to get her through the experience and then she is ok...we have things we do after an episode such as I fix her a calming cup of tea, we sit and talk and I hold her until she feels like she is ready to move on. I know if I call 911, the crisis will be over before they arrive. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might be able to do to help her DURING one of these episodes? Also, has anyone experienced something like this or heard of it? I seem to be having trouble finding information about it.
Thank you for your input.