I told my GF that her uncle is probably schizophrenic, she's furious, was that wrong?
When this man is concerned that his girlfriend isn't taking the right steps to take care of her uncle, he asks Reddit:
'AITA for telling my gf that her 'demon possessed' uncle is probably just schizophrenic?'
propainaccessories writes:
During the middle of the night my girlfriend's uncle posted a farewell message on facebook. It wasn't very long but it was alarming. She quickly went over to his house with her family to go check on him.
At first he wouldn't answer the door but then somehow they managed to get inside and found him sitting in a chair in the living room, alive and conscious but heavily drugged out, or so it appeared.
They tried getting him to go the hospital but he refused, to the point he started getting angry. My girlfriend's mother didn't like how aggressive he was getting so they decided to leave.
A few days after the incident my girlfriend started explaining to me that her family told her not to see her uncle anymore. They said besides him being very depressed that he might also be possessed by an evil spirit.
My girlfriend's family are very religious and so is my girlfriend to an extent. I'm not trying to knock them or their beliefs but sometimes I think they're a little blinded by their faith.
When my girlfriend described to me what happened she told me that she could sense a 'dark aura' around her uncle, and that he looked at her and her family very strangely, and that he would go from looking very glum to then suddenly smirking, and basically didn't seem like he was all there.
She admitted herself that it could've been because he was drunk or on drugs but she also just felt really uncomfortable in his presence, and she had never seen him behave like that before.
Today she told me her family invited her uncle to dinner and that he was still acting strange.
When her grandparents went to say grace he looked very angry and was still mumbling to himself, which made her grandparents very uncomfortable praying around him.
Her mother told her something similar the night of the incident; about how she felt like she couldn't pray for him when she got home.
Anyway, this all has my girlfriend convinced that her uncle is being possessed by an evil spirit. But I think the real elephant in the room is her uncle is having a severe mental breakdown and possibly developing schizophrenia, or some other form of mental illness.
When I tried to tell her this she told me that I wasn't listening, I was only trying to challenge her, I didn't understand how she felt, I was just 'brushing her off' and I wasn't being supportive.
I told her that I thought her and her family were being superstitious, and that chalking him up to being possessed is more of a brush off than anything.
The one thing I said that was probably not called for was, 'It's not like you saw his eyes roll to the back of his head and he started speaking in tongues, he was just drugged out.'
I really wasn't trying to challenge her belief system, I just wanted to make sure her uncle was getting the proper kind of help but now she won't speak to me. I don't think I'm the asshole here but you tell me. AITA?
Let's find out.
kathalysa writes:
NTA. I'm sad knowing that his family will undoubtedly ostracize him instead of seeking help for his deteriorating health. What a way to spend your latter years. :(
tinyrascalsauraus agrees:
NTA. It's either mental illness or a substance abuse crisis. Either way he needs professional help, and the church is not going to be able to provide that.
rannray writes:
NTA. Schizophrenia and other severe mental illness has historically been attributed to demon possession among religious groups. It’s quite counter productive and often times very detrimental to the person experiencing symptoms.
I think it’s astute of you to point out that her family’s labeling the uncle’s behavior as being demon possessed is a way of dismissing it, and much more so than your pointing out that he may be having mental health and/or addiction issues.