Reply to I'm seriously worried about my sister's mental health...what is the best way to help her?

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "I'm seriously worried about my sister's mental health...what is the best way to help her?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I think there is a clue here on how to help her. You mention that she has totally changed, but I don't think so. The demons that she was temporarily successful at quelling through years of superior performance and achievement have resurfaced. She is still pulling allnighters in pursuit of a goal, it's just that the goal isn't collecting masters degrees, it's collecting offspring. You knew her then -- try to understand how she hasn't changed, how maybe these issues were overlooked or even supported previously. See if that gives you some insight into helping her recognize them and address them now. The problem isn't her caretaking -- the problem is how her motivation process doesn't respond well to external developments, which means there is something internal that is steering her into taking unreasonable positions. I would bet that this internal derailment process has been there all along, but previously it manifested in more socially acceptable ways (or she was more successful in channeling it into approved outcomes). [/quote]

Good analysis.

Talk to her again.
Depression is damaging her willpower to lay out a schedule and discipline her kids, and have any kind of plan or energy to organize. What does she think will happen with more children? How does she envision her daily life? Ask her if she is happy living like this. Accompany her to the doctor, and therapist.

Talk to the husband again.
Does he recognize the symptoms of depression in his wife? Does he like coming home to a filthy house? Does he want to help his wife or is he checking out of the marriage? Will he leave her and the kids? He can't have a great home life if he doesn't fight for it.

I would push a little more.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics