Why Does My Flatmate Talk to Himself and Barely Sleep?

Question by Sierra: Why does my flatmate talk to himself and barely sleep?
We helped a friend out by giving him a place to stay, and he has been living with us for several months now. He is an ex-heroin user and is on Subutex (Buprenorphine). My partner and I have never been into the stuff, and met him after he moved into the apartment next to us and was at that time on Methadone. This was several years back and he somehow found my partner’s number and asked if we could put him up for a short time, while he found somewhere to live

In the last 6 months of living with us he has shown that he is unable to perform basic tasks of self-care. He has been getting progressively worse and worse, especially over the last month and a half. He often fails to dress properly, and will often go out into the street wearing just his boxers (underwear) which he will wear for days and days without changing. Other times he will change his outfit every 30 mins before reverting back to his underwear. We supplied him with a spare mattress and linen ($ 350 spare linen, which he has never washed) “until he buys his own in preparation for moving out”. But he has made no attempt to purchase any basic necessities, even clothing. There are two spare bed frames in the garage that we told him he could choose from, but he has made no attempt to set them up. We provide him rent and food for free and although he has stopped working a 3-day a week job he is still in receipt of a pension that should be enough to save up.

He also talks to himself, which has increased significantly of late. The things he says are random but he expresses malice towards others. He probably doesn’t realise people can hear him when he is doing it. I haven’t seen him do this when he is around a group of people, but he does do it when he might be down the hall and only me and my partner are home. When he does interact with others his contributions to the conversation are consistently off-topic and he will make random partial statements. When we ask what he means he will repeat exactly what he has said, as though he expects us to know what he is on about. Eg. the group might be talking about a tv show and he will say “might try the microwave next”, referring to a plan he has for making a meal that he has traditionally used an oven for. The odd part is that although he makes these statements he would otherwise appear to be paying attention to the conversation. He always stands when he is around others, even if we’re all sitting on the lounges. Sometimes he will try to sit down but will stand up moments later and cross the room as though he isn’t comfortable.

He rarely sleeps, and can never sit still or commit to a task for long. He often walks from room to room doing random tasks of no consequence, often also going out the front door before returning a minute later. And will do this for hours. He has also started taking money, cigarettes, food, clothes, etc from our room. When we confront him about this he insists he wasn’t stealing, although it is evident that he intentionally did it and was just ashamed. I believe that sometimes this may be more of a security thing, whereby he collects things from around the house to save for a rainy day (often on his random walking from room to room missions). But in other cases its just outright stealing.

His appetite is increased at night. He will spend half an hour making a small snack like a toasted sandwich, employing many utensils. Eat said snack. Walk into his room, and then half an hour later repeat the process. And again and again throughout the night, while talking to himself at random about random things. I once asked him to please keep the noise level down at 2.45am as I had not been able to sleep because he was consistently banging pots and pans, then stomping through the house, slamming doors. He apologised and then the next night did the same thing while talking to himself about how I had told him to keep the noise down; only the way he said it was very malicious and then he proceeded to make more noise as though he intended to wake me I heard more mumbling and then loud scraping noises. The next morning I found that our rice cooker had been intentionally scratched quite deeply with a knife or similar sharp object. The large knife from the kitchen was also missing. When I asked him what had happened to the rice cooker he became aggressive and defensive and insisted he had not done it. I didn’t react and said I believed him then walked away. After about a minute he started shouting loudly at me from the kitchen. My boyfriend then confronted him and the matter was resolved. I have not confronted him further about this. I honestly believe that if I had not walked away he would have attacked me.

I am often afraid to be alone in the house with him as I know he dislikes me and I feel that this is not because of anything I have done but because he generally dislikes women. He often makes cynical comments to other women and goes out of his way to
Okay my question was too long and it cut it off 😛
My partner is interstate for the weekend and I’m home alone with this guy and I’m scared. I’m going to a friends tomorrow and may stay the night until my partner gets home. But if I feel my safety is legitimately threatened (ie he threatens to hurt me) then I guess I can call the police, right?

my main questions are:

a) would this behaviour cause police to schedule a person to hospitalised care? or if i called the police to remove him from my home would they just release him? I am in Australia.

b) do these symptoms fit the description of any particular mental illness that i can read up about to better handle the situation?

Best answer:

Answer by Keereamm, Renzereal
Okay, has he had any documented mental illness, if so look specifically for Schizophrenia, Multiple personalities (If he seems different at different points and time or if he “blacks out” in his memory.) It may also be Bipolar disorder. The heroin may also of just mucked up his brain, but that is just a guess. I would definitely make note of this and see if he can be tested for any mental illnesses.

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