I'll try to give a brief outline of our situation. We have been married for 17 years. My wife is Thai and 47 years old, though she is an Australian citizen. We are currently in Thailand, largely due to her first symptoms occurring some 5 years ago whilst living in Australia. At that time I did not recognize the severity of the situation and she insisted on returning to Thailand, I believed this would answer the problem. I followed her to Thailand and she seemed to gain comfort from being home. Being unable to sustain ourselves forever without income I took to returning to Australia to do seasonal work in 2 or 3 month stretches. It was the second of these work trips when her mental health took a turn for the worst. She received local treatment of drugs that had a dramatic impact on her physically but on my return to Thailand gradually came back to normality.

Fast forward a couple of years during which I made 2 more work trips that went without incident though a lot of patience and phone 'cuddling' was required. Recently her mother has been diagnosed with end stage kidney disease and has been in our care since, this has coincided with my my father being diagnosed terminal cancer. We were both planning to visit my family, yet mother in law was very upset that she may never see her daughter again and was unhappy that her care would be passed to other family members, so, we decided I visit my family alone. I waited a fairly long time before I made any bookings for the trip, hopeful that my wife could accompany me, though this was not possible.

At about the same time I had confirmed my trip the first symptoms of the current episode started. My wife, after a couple of weeks of my subliminal encouragement agreed to visit the local psychiatric hospital where she was prescribed drugs in mild dose. a different prescription to the previous that she was plainly fearful of. I have little faith in the local practitioners as they seem only to hand out prescriptions, and I personally have not been present at the consultations and no matter how I try to convince her, my wife does not wish me present (this is, I believe, because she is fearful that I will reveal the full extent of her symptoms).

I had a very difficult time whilst away visiting my family dealing with my wife, and she, I and her family believed there would be relief on my return to Thailand. This is sadly not the case, and it now seems to me at least, to getting worse.

The symptoms - hearing voices telling her all kinds of outlandish conspiracies that include myself, my family and nearly anybody that passes through our lives. These conspiracies seem mainly focused on our relationship and money. She spends a fair amount of time talking to herself, a language I speak very little of. Family members around us who do understand her chatter only threaten to take her back to the hospital. She is emotionally shattered, often sobbing for no apparent reason.

I have been back two weeks now. My whole life is dominated by constant repetitive accusations and questions. She is impulsive, everything she decides has to be done of this minute. She is like a dog with a bone once an issue enters her thinking. In more rational times we have discussed returning to Australia. She is happy with this idea, yet wishes to do so immediately, fails to understand that we cannot live without income and that she would spend significant time without support if I am working, and, that our return requires planning and more importantly her health restored.

I feel that my own mental stability is being affected and very saddened that my beautiful and once happy,hard working and reliable wife is being broken on a daily basis. I feel like I am treading water in a strong riptide.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.