AIBU to worry as my husband thinks zombies are coming?

I would guess ops dh isn't too worried about snails. As a Biologist there are plenty of insect parasites that feed off insects that modify their behaviour then leave them dead. But I guess the traditional zombie story is about human living dead attacking on mass. Realistically that's way off possible atm. It's easier to keep insects hearts beating as it's a single open circulatory system.where as ours is a closed double.

Part of my biology A level was chopping of off a locust head, wigs, legs. Then cutting it's thorax open to look at it's heart beating in different temperature ranges. I doubt many human hearts could still beat after that 😅 so try not to panic about it crossing through species barrier. I refused to do that experiment. My teacher had to do it for me. So nasty on so many levels. So basically insects happily beat on with no virus, no medication or chemicals when you chop them up anyway. As long as they don't dry up.

Get him some help OP, even if it means sectioning for his own good, and your family’s

My ex has schizophrenia, he lives in over 55's sheltered housing now. His illness started with him thinking the phones were being tapped, and that he was being sent coded messages in the junk mail. I could usually get through to him and the paranoia would calm down and seem to go away, but then stressful situations would bring it back. Sometimes he would answer me when i hadn't said anything, that's how i knew he was hearing voices. Apart from these few strange behaviours he lived a perfectly normal life, working and looking after kids, no one else noticed anything wrong. It hit crisis point when he suffered a really stressful event, that's when his paranoia became full-blown schizophrenia.

Your dh needs to get help for his paranoid delusions - that's what this is. It won't necessarily turn into psychosis or schizophrenia, but it could if he suffers a traumatic event or prolonged stress. Paranoia is a natural self defence mechanisim, but it can become overactive and turn into psychosis, i'd say that your dh is already halfway there. He needs to get professional help to get control of it.

A psychotic break isn't normal to crazy. It's little things building over time which is why it can be missed for so long before the behavior becomes more extreme.

This.

One of my friends had always had some slightly odd ideas, which got more odd over time, but it was only when he stuck tin foil over all his windows to stop some un-named organisation monitoring his every move that we realised that he had actually become very unwell. He also removed the doors from the toilets and bathrooms in his house, because "they" were going to send remote controlled weapons up through the sewers to kill him.

He'd worked out the scientific proof that god didn't exist, which would mean the downfall of the monarchy because they only rule by divine right, so "they" were out to get him.

He spent a few weeks in hospital and is fine now, btw, and has been for years.

Has he specifically said zombies? YouTube is awash with prepping videos that predict that the world order will crumble and you will need to live off the land. I watch them because following covid, Katrena etc it's possible that a disaster may occur.

But. And it's a big but, order will be restored. You need to be able to cope for a week...in your own home. If your husband doesn't realise that you need to get him to watch videos from Future Proof Survival which points out the bollocks in most of the other videos.

Personally, I have full food cupboards, torches and candles, a camping stove and a bag packed in case we do need to leave the house (almost flooded 20 years ago due to flood water..water was flowing under the house).

The messages these channels send out are repetitive and doom filled. Plus once you've hit the algorithm that's all you see. Like you need to carry a key to turn on water hydrants to get home safely. And an axe to break down doors. So you're going to take days to get home in the UK and you'll need to forrage for water in the centre of London? Madness.

I thought you just had to cut the spinal column.

OP - Do you have somewhere to go with your children while he gets help? Or can you persuade him to leave the family home?
Believing that Zombies are real is not normal

If you are serious I would be looking for mental health intervention of some sort.

Assuming this isn’t a joke, you need to seek urgent mental health support for your husband. He seems to have delusions of persecution. So phone your GP, or phone his mental health team if he has one, or call 111 in out of hours if you’re in the UK.
he has had the children in unsafe situations now because of it so you must take action. (Leaving children in a hot car windows up & leaving child in a running car)

You need to remove him from the internet and get him help. Or leave.

I don't think this is as unbelievable as it first sounds; society is awash with conspiracy theorists, and whilst I think a lot of it is indicative of mental illness, some of them are, or at least start out as, a bit of fun or harmless eccentricity, and I can see why it would be easy to miss the point where that escalates into something concerning enough to meet the bar for medical intervention.

OP, in your DHs case these sound like more than quirky but harmless beliefs. Your DH sounds like he is in psychosis. It is quite common for people suffering these delusions to start becoming suspicious of their own partner and children, and there have been cases where people, particularly men, have harmed or killed their own families either to protect them or because they believe their family are part of the conspiracy against them.

It has gone beyond the level where you can dismiss it as weird but harmless. Please have a word with your DHs GP or contact the mental health team.

This is very true and I was thinking the same but didn’t want to say. If he ends up thinking his family are zombies, he could turn on them. No fault of his as he’s unwell but he needs urgent intervention.

This sounds very much like schizophrenia or psychosis. Appreciate this is difficult but you're doing him a disservice by downplaying it. He needs medical intervention urgently and should not be looking after children right now.

He’s suffering from paranoid delusions, no doubt exacerbated by reading conspiracy theories on the internet.

You should have pushed this much harder at the time but that’s done now.

But you now need to wake up and face up to how serious this is. He probably needs to be sectioned under the mental health act. If you can’t get him to a GP you need to do something more radical.

But please don’t let more years go by without dealing with this.

You need to start thinking about your children's mental, emotional and PHYSICAL safety. Men who suffer MH breakdowns often harm their families in the belief that it's better for them...

Sorry OP, but this isn't a sign of being 'perfectly sane' - a friend had similar delusions and ended up being sectioned. Medication is now helping to control the pyschosis and they are back home but some of the things they still believe are a bit like your Dh and the zombies. crackers but not dangerous now medication is helping.

I hope you are on a wind up tbh because the alternative is that you are someone who is failing her children by not removing them from living with a mentally unwell father who is delusional.

You can have a mild form of schizophrenia where you can still work or whatever and have periods where you seem fine and then others where it gets much worse. I'd be incredibly concerned OP, this isn't going to go away by itself.

Does he smoke weed? Either way, he needs help. The fact you think this may be normal shows how long you have lived with this. Your poor children. Please get him to a GP urgently (if it escalates A&E) He sounds psychotic.

OP my aunt was like this. Perfectly normal conversation, then she’d just drop into the conversation that we needed to be quiet because the witches had arrived and were flying around the room on their broomsticks listening to us. Once she started antipsychotic medication she was much better, but it did need controlling.

OP get on the phone, explain that his behaviour is endangering your children. It sounds like his delusions are ramping up.

Don’t be fobbed off, the sooner he gets help the easier it is to treat him.

He is definitely unwell and has been for some time. Is there a history of mental illness in his family, OP?

He needs serious help. Now.
Stop tolerating his nonsense and get him to a doctor.

You can remove their jaw and keep them on chains dotted around your home, then they will deter other zombies from attacking 👍

Ok well either you get him help or you don’t 🤷‍♀️