How can I encourage my mentally ill sister to get help for her problems?

Question

My sister is ill, there is a history of mental illness in my family especially on one side. My sister seems to have gotten a double dose of it. We all love her dearly but for our own health, well-being and peace of mind we have to distance ourselves from her. Its not that we havent tried to have a relationship with her its that every single time one of us tries to do so... she does something to hurt, belittle or just plain treat us like crap. Everytime I speak to her she gets on these fanatical rants about "the family" and how either me or my mom should be telling everyone else how to behave and live their life etc. She tells people that my brother beat her and me, even though thats completely untrue, she says horrible things about my mom, our other siblings, and everyone in general constantly. She tells her friends these absolutely horrible stories about our family life that are completely untrue. Its hurtful and sad, I want her to be part of my life, we all do but how can we help her

I am at a loss.. recently I told her point blank that she needs mental help and that she has the same kind of illness our father had. She freaked out on me completely, now she is making up stories saying I stole things from her and hid them at my moms house.. its untrue because not only was the object she is claiming I stole already at my moms house before that it was at a persons house hidden for 13 years from my mom by my mentally ill father. She did not get it back until my dad died and the guy came forward, that was years after the time she is saying I stole it.. I dont know she is just crazy and makes things up to justify treating others badly, she makes up imaginary things people have done to her and it hurts us all, I have never stolen from my family, my sister has but will not even admit what she has done wrong... I and the rest of my family are so tired of her being this way, we know there is a good person under it all but how do we get her to admit she is sick and needs help?

Answer 1

You can't help her, you can only protect yourself. She has to see the need for help and then has to want help, apparently she lacks in both areas. Until she sees these things for herself, nothing will change.

Answer 2

Reassure her that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of!!! If you were physically ill, say u had an enlarged heart, u would get medical attention?? The brain is just a muscle just like the heart and sometimes things go wrong and that organ needs medical attention. Assure her that there is nothing wrong with her as a person but her brain has an imbalance. Also show her some stats on how many people in America suffer from mental illness maybe then she won't feel "alone" and will agree to get help. It is obvious that she needs meds & things won't change untill that happens! Check out this site for statistics http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/numbers.cfm

Answer 3

You need to talk to her Doctor. Sometimes it's necessary to be 'cruel to be kind'. She may not like what you do now, but in time she may thank you.
I have a similar circumstance: my nephew arrived on my doorstep after his wife threw him out of their home last August. I let him stay. And since then I've been drinking every day. I'm doing a mentaly damaged family member some good, but since he arrived I've been aware his presence might be verey bad for me.

Answer 4

she needs a peaceful space away from stress, some mild work to do perhaps, that will keep her productive and her morale high.
a psychiatric hospital was shut down in Italy for abuses 10 years ago. they put the inmates out in the fields to work and they all got better.
http://end-psych-abuse.info

Answer 5

punch her in the face