> How were you convinced that you were hallucinating? To be honest, some things were easier to spot than others. I used to have olfactory hallucination and it

> How were you convinced that you were hallucinating? To be honest, some things were easier to spot than others. I used to have olfactory hallucination and it drove on ex girlfriend nuts cause I was always smelling things that were not there. I just invited she was not smelling anything. I also have closed eye visions. These appear as faces and scenes when I close my eyes, mostly in the evening that are quite visually crisp. Most of the faces are frightening. I did not know I was dealing with this till I started Zyprexa and they stopped. The visual hallucinations were easier since I would say "Did you see that cat?" and I would get strange looks or someone else there would not see them. And seriously, watching "A Beautiful Mind" helped me with this. The thing that helped me most was Buddhism and meditation. Buddhism lead me to thinking more about the nature of perception and meditation allowed me to perceive without reaction so I can judge things better. A also have perceptual changes, like being on psychedelics, but these are not hallucinations. I feel like I can see around things or everything has light trails or colors are really intense. When I was early in mediation the floor would always start waving like an ocean. When I was young I saw the faces of people on the TV change and I thought I was seeing them as they really were. I get a lot of the talk that your girlfriend has, and that is hard an I still deal with it but mostly by ignoring it. It is by far the most difficult. Its base is paranoia I feel because those voices are always saying negative things, like I did not pay for my coffee right. Ha! Just happened today! By the way, COVID threw me into my worst psychosis ever. I do not know what to say about helping her. I was in her space and I know how it feels. No one could convince me of anything. I thought the water was "too blue" coming out of my faucet that I called the water department twice for them to check it. 1) Don't take things she does personally. That eases your stress. 2) Do not directly contradict her hallucinations but try guided questioning about them. That is what 30 years of therapy taught me. I question everything now. 3) You can call her doctor and leave a message. 4) I do not recommend ever having her involuntarily committed unless she is a serious danger. But this is not something anyone else can force her into, it is a process of self discovery, a Shaman's journey. And maybe phrase it as that; A Shaman's Journey. I lost my whole family, but frankly they were not good for me anyway. And I still have episodes, as you can see if you go through my history here, but I am much more stable now than ever and no longer need medications. Good luck and if your want to email me: followingdao@proton.me