He pretended not to be sick for a long time. Oskar Rantsev’s mother about her son falling ill with schizophrenia

Ilze’s son Oskar Rancev, who became known in the TV shows “Dances away” and “Lauku seta”, killed his neighbor six years ago in Scotland during a severe psychotic attack of schizophrenia. The British media also reported on it. Later it became known that another person had died, who had been hit hard by Oskar in the heart area. He was recently transferred from a strict regime to a medium security psychiatric hospital in Scotland.

But everything started much earlier – 2006 is the moment when Oskar’s mother, Ilze, realized that her son had a serious mental illness. “Oscar was 19 years old when he first ended up in a psychiatric hospital. Before that, he was a very good sports dancer, he studied political science at the university, he had a girlfriend,” says Ilze in the talk show “Zilonis studija”.

Instead of a great future, a serious illness

Oskar did not smoke, did not use alcohol or drugs, he had spent 10 years in sports dancing. “He was predicted a great future. Almost the next president of Latvia, because he was very erudite,” Ilze describes her son.

At one point, Oskar started to get rid of material things. For example, he gave his laptop, which his mother bought him for the university, to his girlfriend. He explained to his mother, who lived and worked in England at the time, that he was thus giving away everything that was superfluous. “Understood – something is not usual,” says Oskar’s mother.

When Oskar was admitted to the psychiatric hospital for the first time, Ilze flew to Latvia in a flash, and the doctor said that Oskar had psychosis. “Doctors didn’t know if it would happen again or if it was necessary to take medicine. Of course, we had no idea that it would be more serious,” says Ilze.

Three years later, the psychosis recurred and Oskar was hospitalized again. “The doctor said it was schizophrenia. There was a shock. I mean, with anyone, but not with Oscar. I sat in the hospital, cried, no one explained anything to me. So I left.”

Ilzi was overcome with disbelief, she dispelled her ignorance by reading information about this disease, but now she admits that she still doesn’t know a lot.

In Latvia, Oskar’s diagnosis is schizophrenia, but in Scotland – bipolar disorder, because the diagnosis of schizophrenia is not recognized there.

“He felt perfect in psychoses”

Oskar had good periods for quite a long time, when he enjoyed life, worked, participated in television shows – in 2010 he started “Dancing Away”, in 2015 – “Lauku sēta”, and then the first warning signals were already visible in public. The media also wrote about Oscar’s statements during the show. The guy had claimed to be able to walk on water and control it.

Ilze reveals that at that time she did not want Oskar to return to Latvia from Scotland and the doctors had also recommended that it would be better for him to settle in Scotland. “It is that after the hospital he is not able to work. If he takes medicine, he is not able to dance, he is a dancer, creative, and there is a contradiction – he felt very good in psychosis.

Part of those shows, I think, were the moments where he didn’t take the medicine, but he needed it. So he might not relapse into psychosis, but he wouldn’t survive.

It’s hard to blame, because in psychosis he feels perfect, powerful and brave.

When he has a psychosis, he ends up in a hospital. When it gets worse, he has medicine, and then he can’t work for a month or two, there’s no money,” Ilze points to a certain vicious circle. Later, Oskar moved to live in Great Britain completely.

At home, they discussed what could have caused Oskar’s schizophrenia, and Ilze also felt guilty that she had done something wrong. Maybe you shouldn’t have directed him to sports dances, where you can’t get by without stress.

“When I, as a mother, realized that he was not taking medicine, I no longer said, ‘Oh, poor man, he is sick.’ I asked recently: “Oscar, are you able and willing to live separately in the future?” Because there was a moment when I thought he couldn’t live independently because his brain has suffered so much that he has to be looked after all the time. He said, “Mom, if I take the medicine, I will be able to, and I still want to go back someday [dzīvē].”

But [diagnozi] he did not accept. He also told me frankly that for the first few years he just pretended he wasn’t sick. And I have a question: what should a family do when they see that their son is sick, does not take medicine, but even at that time you understand that if he takes medicine, he will not be able to work, will be unhappy, depressed. But if he doesn’t take medicine, he becomes increasingly aggressive, and he doesn’t want to [slimībai] to believe Then he could participate in the programs. And I have a rage. He is sick, we are all worried. I’m waiting for the next episode, but I also understand that he wants to live, to enjoy himself,” says Oskar’s mother.