I have a 21 year old niece that I believe has schizophrina. I am terrified right now for her safety. What is involved in getting an adult committed to a hospital? How do we convince her parents that they need to take action? Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Do voice your concerns to her parents. Hopefully her parents are responsible and will take action. If your niece is not on medication for schizophrenia and needs to be, her immediate family should ideally be the ones to help her make the decision to see a psychiatrist and start taking the meds. She may not need to be put in a mental hospital at all, but I would leave that decision to an expert. When I first became ill with schizophrenia, I only spent four days in the hospital before my paranoia subsided and I was free to go. Since then I have gone on to graduate from college on time and with honors. I was even younger than your niece when I got the diagnosis. There is a lot of hope for your niece. If she does have schizophrenia, I wish her the best and hope she finds one of the different kinds of antipsychotics works for her, so she can be as symptom free as possible and lead a fulfilling life.

Thanks for the response. It is very encouraging to hear how well you are doing. My niece does not have a diagnosis. She is so paranoid about everything I do not think she would take medicine. I am afraid in order to get her to even see a doctor she would need to be hospitalized. I don't think her parents realize how serious her situation is. She thinks they are plotting against her so she doesn't talk to them much except to get money.