I live in a pretty large dormitory at college.

Around 11pm tonight, I went into the computer lab to print off some papers. There was a guy in there talking to what I thought was his friend about what seemed like some pretty heavy stuff.

I can't get the printer to work, so I'm in there trying to figure it out for about 10 minutes and I start listening to what he's saying. He's very articulate and seems to be very intelligent, but jumping from topic to topic, saying he "perceives another dimension of communication" and how he knows he can unlock the truths of the military industrial complex with the right mathematical equation.

I ask him what he's talking about, and within a minute of listening to him, I know something's off. He's jumping from one subject to another with no clear segway, and his body language and speech seem rapid and panicky. The guy he was talking to quietly leaves, and I realize he might've just been trying to explain his thought process to a stranger.

I talk with him for quiet a bit. He shows me pictures of license plates that gave him coded messages, tells me he needs to meet with engineers and the president in order to explain his thought process.

Nobody else seems to want anything to do with the guy, and they all start filing out until it's just me and him. I ask if he slept last night, and he tells me he can't remember. I pull him out of these long rants about the military-industrial complex and machines and other means of communication just long enough to learn he's been "told" by doctors that he's schizophrenic (I didn't want to assume he was, and hadn't mentioned the illness up until this point) and that he's currently not taking whatever medication he may have been given because it "never works".

I get his name, room number, cell phone number, and tell I can't talk anymore. Then I go to the front desk and ask the woman what the protocol is for someone who may be having a psychotic episode of some sort. She has no idea, and calls his RA and senior staff.

I tell them who he was and why I was concerned, and then I give them his phone number.

It takes about 20 minutes for them to find him, but the RA and another senior staff member talk with him for a while. Then they come outside to get my name, saying they're going to call for professional help.

Two officers get there and talk to him. One leaves after about 15 minutes or so, and the other stays there for about an hour. I don't know exactly what happened, but apparently they worked it out and were able to calm him down a bit.

He just started going here this semester, and he'd told me he's trying to get better at communicating with people. I really felt for the guy. I know how tough school is for someone who doesn't have to struggle with something like that, I couldn't imagine how hard of a time he's going to have. He's 23 and living in an undergraduate dorm, technically a senior.

Another thing that bothered me was how many people must've noticed the same things I noticed and decided to simply remove themselves from the conversation instead of taking action.

I also felt like I betrayed him. Really he was just trying to make friends, it seemed like, and the one guy who actually took enough interest in him to get his number goes and betrays his trust like that. I am relieved that they didn't hospitalize him or anything. That would've ruined his semester I think.

I'm not sure if I did the right thing. Part of me felt like I was over reacting, but I think I'd want someone to intervene too if I was unaware I was in that kind of state.

I'm going to ask him how he's doing tomorrow. I was pretty shaken by the whole thing, worried about him.

Did I do the right thing? I've never experienced something like this before.