Schizophrenia or something else?

[MolleyG]

My dad had a stroke 16 years ago and almost 2 years ago had fallen and hit his head. He seemed to be fine but we later found out that he wasn't. He had bleeding in his brain and had surgery to remove the blood. Since that surgery (Aug of '06) he has become very angry, and violent. He has been delusional and believes that my mother is carrying on an affair in their home and says he can hear them. Of course this is not the case. Most recently he grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer to take care of the supposed man in their home who is messing with his wife. He ended up throwing the knife at my mom and thankfully missed her. He is currently undergoing a psych evaluation at a local hospital. My question is...is it possible that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia? Can that be brought on from a trauma and surgery to the head? I was under the belief that schizophrenia was a condition that a person has from adolescents and not from a blow to the head. Please advise....Thank you!

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

You are right, this can not be a case of schizophrenia, but that does not mean he does not have a paranoid psychotic reaction due to brain trauma, or premature senility,or some other neurological disorder.  He should be seeing a neurologist as well as a psych evaluation.

[MolleyG]

Thank you!!! This helps me in more ways that you know. I appreciate this forum and the time you took to answer my question.

Blessings to you!

[tafai]

My grandfather showed the same type of behaviour you're describing; he became agressive towards my grandmother (she sometimes had to lock herself in the bathroom), but also didn't want to be left alone at all by her, seeing things that weren't there etc.
With him it was probably caused by a series of mini strokes.
Unfortunately they kept happening so his situation became worse.

With your father it may have to do with after effects of the operation and i hope they can do some more research on why and how to treat them.
Schizophrenia doesn't seem a likely diagnosis to me.

good luck,
tafai

[MolleyG]

Thank you for your words of encouragement and comfort. What a difficult road this has become! The doctor who was evaluating my father diagnosed him with Paranoid Schizophrenia which I felt sounded completely impossible since he had no other symptoms prior to his head trauma and surgery. I was so relieved to hear Dr. Gould confirm my suspicions. I was never able to reach the doctor but I did speak to a social worker who also believed the diagnosis was incorrect. They supposedly had changed his diagnosis which didn't give our family much comfort since it was given in the first place.

Thanks again for taking your time to respond....it really does help to know your not alone!