I’ve had this happen. I was at a friend’s apt. and we were getting ready to go out for the evening. She began talking about the blood on the wall and I asked what she meant. She said “Don’t you see it? It’s all down the wall coming from the top. It’s running down.” I said “No, I don’t see anything.” She continued in this vein for a while longer, saying someone might have been murdered in the apt above her and should we call the police.
Because of my own issues and having been in a psych hospital, I figured she was hallucinating and was either bipolar or schizophrenic. To be honest, I was a little scared; I was in my mid-late 20s. I asked her if she wanted to call her doctor and she said no.
Basically I just gently denied seeing what she was seeing, but acknowledged that she did see it. Some part of her seemed to be lucid because she agreed that it could be a halIucination. I asked if she had any meds she was supposed to take, and when she said yes I urged her to take a dose. I don’t remember if she did or not. We talked a minute about her diagnosis (bipolar), and in a few more minutes we went out as planned. I was nervous and thinking she shouldn’t be going out, especially to a bar, that she should probably call her doctor or go to a hospital, but didn’t want to argue or push her.
How do you know your friend has no diagnosis or isn’t on meds? not questioning you, just wondering if something is going on that you don’t know about Could you call a psych hospital and speak with someone to help you figure out how to deal with it? Would you feel comfortable giving your friend’s name if they asked for it? They could set up a police or mental health visit to your friend and your friend isn’t apt to know who called about them. Unless your friend is in their teens or 20s, they probably do have a diagnosis and may be supposed to be taking meds but either aren’t or they need a dosage adjustment. People just aren’t able to go through life being psychotic at times without it being detected and handled. The person needs help.
I hope something I’ve said here helps you handle it. Like others have suggested, perhaps you could just not visit them. I’m not sure if they would even notice that you didn’t. I think if it were me, I would probably call a hospital and get their thoughts, but you need to do what you feel comfortable with.
The questions you asked in the OP can’t really be answered, especially by a layperson. I would guess that each person, even each psychotic episode can be different and the only person who would really know what to do would be a professional Even they would be going on past experience dealing with this, education, and guessing what this particular person might do.