paranoid schizophrenic neighbour-is he dangerous?

Despite the current politically correct environment, persons with schizophrenia are four times more likely than the general population to commit violent acts, including murder. What the politically correct will tell you is that any person is highly unlikely to be harmed by someone suffering from the disease. A contradiction? Not at all. Schizophrenic individuals represent less than 1% of the population. Therefore this 'all the nut cases are harmless' love-in is essentially the same as saying that one armed wheelchair bound serial killers with a body count of 1000 are harmless because the chance of them getting you is essentially zero. Simple statistical BS piled on by the nutcase lovers. Want to stand on a train platform in front of someone carrying on a one-sided conversation as the train pulls in? Be my guest.
Lock 'em up, give them video games and lot's of drugs and throw away the keys.

I agree. A women who worked at the grocery store in my neighborhood was murdered by her son, who had paranoid schizophrenia. It is indeed the "PC" culture that denies the awful truth.

Thank God someone that is not ignorant to mental Illness and the real facts answered here! A person has an illness that is called schizophrenia. They are still a person that has feelings. Imagine how they feel, how difficult their life is. And they have to deal with ignorant neighbors or others who are more likely to abuse these people. They did not ask for this brain ailment. They are not automatically dangerous because they have this illness. This is the Stigma that is caused by the media. Have some empathy. Talk to the person.

The short answer is yes, paranoid schizophrenics are dangerous. My late brother had this disease, and growing up with him was about as much fun as a box full of scorpions. There was simply no telling when he would beat the c**p out of somebody because he thought they were the devil or something like that. What makes it all so sad is that when he wasn't acting out on his delusions, he was a pretty fun guy to be around. But thanks to the disease, being around him was like walking around in a garden that was sown with anti-personnel mines and patrolled by rabid dogs.

I believe my friend may be undiagnosed. He's in his sixties. His son committed suicide after murdering someone about 3 years ago. Today, he called me to come over and check his TV because he believes his neighbors have hacked into his TV via the internet connection. So, I go over to his house. When I get there he shows me his arms and asks me if I see all the red spots on his arms and on his face. I see nothing out of the ordinary and say so. He said well it's cleared up some. He then walks me over to the side of his house and points to the neighbor's A/C unit. He asks me if I see that it's running. Yes, it's running. He says but the fan blades aren't turning. I walk over and look into the unit and the blades are turning and tell him so. He says but they weren't earlier. I'm confused over the point of this but we then go into the house to look at his TV. I confirm that there is no internet connection setup for his TV and that I don't understand how any one could hack into his TV to pipe in sounds he'd been hearing. He claims that his neighbors are piping in sounds to his TV (voices and dogs barking) to harass him. He says his wife can't hear the sounds because she's deaf in one ear. He goes on to say that they're generating "electro-magnetic waves" and sending them across his house. That explains the red spots on his arms and face (that I didn't see). He shows me video footage of his back yard from his surveillance system. He points out a blurry light from nighttime footage and says that's evidence of the "electro-magnetic" waves they're shooting across his property. I tell him I don't understand how they could do any of that and didn't see how I could help. He could tell I was skeptical and said that he knows that I think he's crazy but they're not. He claims that his neighbors broke into his house and stole his TV manual. He claims that they've damaged his car. I ask him how he knows they're doing this and all he can say is "I know". I finally tell him that I think he should see a doctor, a psychiatrist. He then tells me to leave NOW! He was immediately angry with me. As I walked out the door he told me that if I told anyone about this he would "put me on my backside". He has guns. I'm most concerned for his wife. I believe she's playing along with him because she's afraid of him. At the same time, I don't want to interfere because he knows where I live with my family (wife and 3 daughters). I really just want to keep my distance from him.

Agreed danger is more likely to himself. People can be so narrow about schizophrenia. I never saw a schizophren as a threat but picture as you say that can be hell in their head so first to protect is themselves. I would add knowing a few schizophrens - I had stay in mental hospital as I was diagnosed bipolar- they can be very caring and creative person. Respect that a diagnostic doesn't define a person

I have lived in the same house (renting) for three years and my next door neighbor "M" has lived in her home for 30+ years. M has always seemed different. She lives alone (widowed 10+ years ago) and doesn't work. She has a song, daughter-in-law and grandson that used to visit once every week or two, but lately I haven't seen them. She works in her yard almost non-stop. When she starts talking to you, she won't stop, even ignoring verbals cues like "I really need to get to work" or "I have something on the stove". You pretty much just have to go inside and shut the door mid-sentence. Also, many of the things she says are a bit strange and overly familiar.

Having said this, my boyfriend and I have always been generally pleasant to her, and up until now things have been fine. A month ago there was a snake on our porch, and this came up in conversation with M. She was very upset that we didn't kill the snake and also wanted us to pour bleach down a small hole near the front of our driveway (which directly borders her driveway). We refused and eventually became short with her because she wouldn't let the issue drop over the next few days. After that, she didn't speak to us at all, which was strange but not distressing.

This past week she began building a barrier between our driveways, focusing particularly on the spot next to where my boyfriend parks, so now he can't open his door because of the barrier she built there. She has also put up multiple "no trespassing" signs despite the fact that no one, as far as I know, trespasses on her property. This morning when I was leaving for work, she was outside working on her barrier, and I decided to ask her if anything was wrong. I could only assume this was a reaction to the disagreement about the snake situation, but it seemed a bit exaggerated, so I wanted to see if maybe it was something else. I called her name three times from about ten feet ways, so I know that she heard me, but she didn't respond. Then I asked her if she was ignoring me. At this point she looked right at me, kind of smiled, went to her door and said to me, in a very hostile and sarcastic voice, "Have a nice day!" and then slammed her door. I went to the door and knocked a few times, because at this point I really wanted to know what was going on.

The snake disagreement wasn't an argument. Voices were not raised, and nothing insulting was said, so I couldn't believe her hostility was based just on that. She didn't answer so I gave up and went to work.

I did contact my landlord to ask if she has any history of strange or dangerous behavior. She clearly had some sort of anger toward us and I knew from past behavior that she wasn't entirely stable. We have a dog and three cats that we sometimes let out in our fenced in backyard that borders hers. I was concerned at this point that she might try to hurt one of them, or damage our property. It was at this point that the landlord told me that she was schizophrenic and sometimes goes off her meds, but that she has never caused any harm in the past. I am worried that if she has stopped taking her medication that this could be the beginning of a bad situation. We are about to renew are lease for another year, and aren't in a position to move right now. What can I expect moving forward, and what can I do to ease her agitation toward us?

So true, I agree!

I would say be friendly and polite towards him but careful at the same time. You don't know whether he is taking his medications or not. Paranoid schizophrenics that don't take their meds and refuse treatments CAN be dangerous. The ones that take their medications regularly are not dangerous. Good luck!

COUNCILS ETC SHOULD PUT THESE PEOPLE IN UNITS,MY LIFE IS JUST LIKE U HAVE DESCRIBED AND THATS JUST LIVING ABOVE ONE,CONSTANT STRESS AND WALKING ON EGGSHELLS,VERY DRAINING.ALSO WHY IS NHS PRESCRIBING SOME OF THEM MEDS IF THEY DONT TAKE THEM,MONEY SHOULD BE USED ELSEWHERE,CANCER ETC

Get out as soon, as you can. Nothing and no one will help. Its life or death situation. We suppose to have equal rights, sick people have much more.

I came across this forum because I just had an encounter with my neighbor who is schizophrenic.
He lives below me with his mother and brother. He is around 45 years old and I have always noticed odd things about him...
Tonight he was out of control. He was screaming and slamming doors. He beats his mother up when they fight and has had the cops called on him several times. He also does not take his medicine regularly.
My other neighbor said she saw him killing baby birds that were nesting outside of our apt.
I have a three month old baby and am very frightened.
Any advice? :(

Absolute c**p, MENDY25366!

The vast majority of schizophrenics are actually less dangerous than the rest of the people in the world!

You're not correct. While not all people with schizophrenia are dangerous, many are. My experience with people who have paranoia are often triggered by engagement. The last thing you should do is to try to engage with paranoid person who has verbally or otherwise abused you before. It has nothing to do with rudeness.

I agree. It's actually quite sad to see someone going through this. One of my housemates has paranoid schizophrenia. He is such an intelligent man, very funny, caring, and again he is very well educated. Yesterday he asked me to help him get the best life insurance policy and to find the best solicitor to write a will for him. He was very irritated, getting more and more worried and he started to scare me a little bit. But i know that he believes he will die in March, the people he talks to in his head are a man and woman who are a couple, and they have told him this before. All he was concerned about was to make sure that his body gets sent to his home country in March when he dies and he asked me to make sure this happened. Of course i know its not real, but he was so distressed i just said "Of course i will help you, and where would you like your body sent to?" He is not a danger to anyone else but himself. This is most cases with paranoid schizophrenics, they are a danger to them selves not others.