Hi there 9m2w,

Thanks for the question.

To clarify, when you say "committed", you mean to say that his family had wanted to admit him into an institution?

Based on my understanding of your post, you are asking if his behavior is indicative of schizophrenia or a behavior which is otherwise normal (but not considered good behavior according to societal norms, such as being manipulative).

While it may be difficult to ascertain if he indeed fits the diagnosis of schizophrenia or is otherwise manipulative, as I believe this should be done in-person by either a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist, what information I can provide here is instead about schizophrenia. With better understanding of schizophrenia itself, perhaps it gives you a better understanding of his behavior.

Schizophrenia

Oftentimes, when people think of a person who is "crazy" or "mentally ill", this is what they have in mind (although, there are way more common mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety).

The diagnosis of schizophrenia is characterized by a combination of either:
1) hallucinations (e.g. perceiving with your senses things that aren't there, such as seeing or hearing things that others don't),
2) delusions (a belief that isn't real, e.g. a paranoid delusion could be something like aliens are trying to send secret messages to me through the TV),
3) disorganized speech (e.g. incoherence, derailing from topic)
4) catatonia (e.g. rigid movements, such as staying in an awkward position for long periods of time)
5) negative symptoms (e.g. a "lack" of emotions, speech, or thoughts)

These symptoms are termed psychotic symptoms. Psychotic symptoms may also occur under different circumstances, such as while under the influence of drugs or occurring along due to other mental health issues, such as being depressed.

Why could he still function "normally" if he has schizophrenia?

On to your question: if it is indeed true that he has schizophrenia, these psychotic episodes may come and go. Or, they could be in varying degrees of severity. While there could be people who have severe psychosis and have to receive ongoing support their whole lives, there are many schizophrenics who are able to live normal lives just like you and I with the right treatment or environment. Or, there could be people who have had a psychotic episode at one point in their lives, and it went away, never coming back.

In mental health, we expect that a person's functioning improves or deteriorates due to a variety of factors, such as the stressors that they are facing in day to day life, the coping skills that they have, or their physical health. What we are more concerned about is in improving a person's functioning so that they are able to participate in society and live meaningful lives.

In short, he could very well be "normal", or he could be "not normal". This could change at any point in life, as life itself is never constant. But if the person or people around him are distressed, what can be the focus is on everyone's mental health instead. What could be the actions needed to make things better? How do we learn to cope being around one another? What's the best step needed to eventually live a life that we are able to enjoy? Perhaps these questions are worth investing effort into.

Hope my sharing gave some insight!