Your buddy ought to see a healthcare professional, I'm just some guy on the internet.
That said: here's a description of prodromal schizophrenia. Your description reads like category #2 to me.
"Prodrome phase can also be categorized in three different ways:
Category 1 means the patient should have at least one of the following symptoms: False beliefs that random events in the world directly relate to them, odd beliefs, or magical thinking; visual disturbance; odd thinking and speech; paranoid ideation; and odd behavior or appearance.
Category 2 includes patients who have experienced psychotic symptoms that come and go, which have spontaneously resolved within a week.
Category 3 includes a combination of genetic risk (i.e., being the first-degree relative of an individual with a diagnosis of schizophrenia) with substantial changes in personal daily functioning in the previous year. "
That said: here's a description of prodromal schizophrenia. Your description reads like category #2 to me.
"Prodrome phase can also be categorized in three different ways:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/prodromal-schizophrenia-51942...