It's interesting what you say about my friend with delusions (relatively mild and relatively harmless delusions) and avoiding recreational drugs, including pot. My friend has taken drugs quite a lot, but much less in the last few months, she is even cutting down on sugar now. But the problem is that most of her friends are into drugs, and she still smokes pot at times. It is very difficult to tell someone that they SHOULD NOT smoke pot. It's very difficult to try and tell someone else what they should or should not do. But she trusts me a lot now, and I am just able to suggest things from time to time very sensitively, when it seems appropriate.

I was never in a home, I just had a difficult time at secondary school (not a bording school). But the seeds of my friend's illness were, like you, sown when she was young. She was abandoned by her mother as a baby and then the parents who adopted her were abusive, and she ran away from home at 15.

It's also interesting that you say "especially not to OVERDO helping others and in doing this giving themselves away with nothing left over" - that is exactly what my friend was saying to me on the phone earlier today, that is what she said she did which contributed to her problems, and she is concerned now that some of her friends may be doing this. I'll pass on some of your comments to her, as she is in a very receptive frame of mind these days, and it may reinforce some of the things she is realising herself now. She is not a premie, nor particularly interested in Maharaji or Knowledge, but I have told her about me being on this board (and actually she is the only person I have so far told) and she has been very sympathetic and concerned that I don't get too much abuse here. So that's nice and helpful.

[I've deleted a bit at the end of this now - like I said I was going to do!)