Hi all, perhaps this question is irrelevant and the answer does not matter, as he does not wish to be treated and believes "labels are bullshit".

My father was recently diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 49.

My father has a history of alcohol abuse from approximately ages 14-35. During my childhood notable symptoms he presented with were anger problems, impulse control, erratic behavior, and depression (in addition to the alcohol abuse). He went to rehab at 35 and experienced a period of sobriety until approximately age 45. During this period he did not present with any delusional or paranoid behavior (as far as I'm aware). The emotional/behavioral issues persisted.

He began to smoke marijuana and relapsed on alcohol at 45, at which he began to experience paranoia and delusions. The content of his thoughts were that his job was plotting against him to get him fired and "set him up". He believed police were spying on the house to arrest him for smoking weed, and that his job sent the police there. He experienced short periods of sobriety from marijuana spanning about 2 weeks each time, but the paranoia and delusions persisted (and he still believes to this day that his job was trying to get him fired/arrested).

He changed jobs after working there for 20 years and began working as a welder. He would come home and talk about how his current workplace is "testing him" and "setting up traps" but he has remained at this job since.

Last year at 49 he presented with another notable episode of paranoia/delusional thinking, in which he believed that my brother, aunt, grandma, and mom all "conspired" against him to cover up my mom cheating on him. In reality, she just went to her job for 1.5 hours. He then "developed clarity", and "realized" she didn't actually cheat. We just "plotted" to make him think she did, so that he would be forced to show us all "this side" of him.

A year has passed, and he still truly believes in these delusions. I am the only person in our entire family who still talks to him. It is difficult to maintain a consistent relationship with him, as he misinterprets statements, movie/music suggestions, and can be verbally abusive.

He has also begun to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs with the intent to give him "insight and clarity" (this was after his diagnosis though).

As far as I'm aware, he does not experience any organic hallucinations.

As per my mom's wishes, he saw a psychiatrist once who diagnosed him with alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder, naturally.

Shortly after, he began to see a psychologist and despite them knowing he is actively using substances, he received the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

Do you have any thoughts? Please let me know if there is any information I left out that may be relevant. Thank you.