My 42-year-old nephew stopped by to visit me last night. He has serious problems having been diagnosed as both bi-polar and suffering from a form of psychosis. He likes to talk to me because, for one, he can’t talk with his parents, and second, because he knows I’ve struggled with depression all my life. Also, my late wife was bi-polar and there were others with mental illness on her mother’s side of the family. All things I knew and had dealt with for years, so he trusts me and values my opinion.

My nephew hears voices and sees visions. He believes these come from opening his “third eye” via intense meditation. He sees aliens, their space vessels, and mystic triangles in the sky, all of which communicate with him. He believes in the Illuminati and that Jay-Z is a powerful member thereof. When he is driving and listening to Jay-Z rap on his streaming service, he believes he is being communicated with directly within the rhymes. He also believes he and Jay-Z trade free style riffs during the song.

He sees black cars, helicopters, and aircraft shadowing him wherever he goes. He believes his parents property is filled with buried gold, silver, and powerful gemstones. All of these call out to him to come and dig them up.

He insists he is taking his anti-psychotics. Color me skeptical. He doesn’t believe he has a chemical imbalance in his brain that is making him ill. Rather he believes these chemicals are a positive attribute like a superpower or enhanced sensitivity and awareness. He’s not sure if the voices are aliens, spirit creatures, or future humans from an alternate timeline/universe. But whatever they are he believes they are benevolent. He believes he has been shot and killed several times by agents of the world government who don’t want him to discover the truth. He believes these benevolent beings restored him to life each time. He has a big scar on his forearm where he removed a tracking microchip that these foes implanted. He told me he watched the wound close in a matter of seconds as if by nanotech.

If I just tell him he’s bonkers he’ll get angry and not talk to me anymore. I try to propose alternate solutions. For instance, for the multiple times he says he was shot and bled out, I suggested perhaps he’s seeing alternate realities where he was shot in another universe. I tell him to take the rocks he digs up that are worth millions, to someone with the knowledge to evaluate them properly. I suggest he not talk about these things with just anyone, especially his parents, because they won’t understand.

Am I helping him or perpetuating his illness? He’s no danger to himself or others so he can’t be institutionalized involuntarily. He’s fully capable of functioning so that if you didn’t know him well you would have no idea what goes on in his head.

Dealing with him is exhausting, but he’s family. I’d like to know if I’m doing the right thing. Any thoughts?