Hello

I am a nursing student and am on here looking for information on behalf of my brother. Anyone opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. My brother is 23 year old and exhibits 8 major signs of schizophrenia. He began having seizures around age 18, the neurologist has never really been able to give a definitive cause or reason for the seizures, other than possible frontal lobe damage when he was young. For several years he has always done weird things like make clicking noises and do weird flicking movements with his hands, and he was very much into conspiracies. Within the last year or two, he had become very violent and clearly suffers from some sort of psychotic problem, I think schizophrenia. His symptoms are as follows:

1. Delusions (he has false beliefs that the refuses to give up, even after my family and I give him the facts); he believes there are tunnels under his apartment that girls get raped in, he thinks someone is trying to break into his apartment and hurt him, he thinks Mac and cheese in his brain!!, he thinks his food isn’t going into his stomach and is under his skin, he thinks he’s being eaten by flies and decomposing, he thinks his room mate poisons him and makes him eat his own meat, he talks to ppl that aren’t there!!, he thinks he has a rash because the devil is in him, and that’s just what he talked about today, there is so many more.

2. Hallucinations (he sees, hears, and feels things not real): he thinks he’s being eaten by flies and decomposing, he thinks he has Mac n cheese in his brain and says he can feel it, he says he dreamed about getting pinched and woke up w bruise, talks to ppl that are not there

3. Disorganized speech ( he never makes sense and often skips from one topic to another

4. Odd or strange behavior such as pacing or walking in circles (he paces, uses weird hand gestures and finger gestures, makes weird clicking and popping noises, snaps his fingers, burps)

5. Lack of energy (he always says he feels like he’s dying, he mopes around)

6. Poor hygiene and grooming habits: my mom needs to beg him to get hair cut, when he did the girl asked him last time he shaved (his face) and he was convinced she was asking about his bush, he is very inappropriate, he doesn’t do his own laundry, sleeps outside, room is destroyed

7. Loss of interest or pleasure In life: severely depressed and suicidal

8. Withdrawal from family friends and social activities: can’t make friends, bad relationships w girls and has gotten arrested for stalking and has gotten restraining orders against him, barely works

There is so much more, but do the symptoms suggest schizophrenia? He will not get help and I do not know what to do at this point, he is like a child and makes my mother ill with stress.