# She Overdoses Time and Time Again... What to do?



## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

People with such self control issues are nigh impossible to successfully treat in some cases.

The main reason is that one needs self control to stick with a treatment plan in the first place - if you can stick to it on your own initiative then you weren't that bad off to begin with and just needed to practice some coping strategies.

These problems break treatment plans - this is well acknowledged actually - because sticking with the plan in the first place requires a measure of control. 

Or as I put it when I had similar issues: "If I could keep appointments with my therapist, I'd consider myself cured already."


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## Tulipgarden (Apr 5, 2012)

Someone else already said it but had immediately wondered if she had been diagnosed with a personality disorder.

You mentioned she has been in dialectical behavior therapy before for "months" buy the unfortunate thing is it can take "years" for that therapy to work and has to be very consistent which is hard for them to accomplish. Which was said before also.

It must be very hard to have a friend like this that seems too far for you to reach yet you want to help so much.


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## heaveninawildflower (Feb 5, 2012)

My oldest son has a mental illness. It was so hard to watch this mental illness take over his life. I have been an advocate for years so I knew that I had to learn about his disorder and get resources on how to deal with this. If you want to remain a presence in someone's life who has a mental illness the best thing you can do is learn how to support them emotionally without trying to fix them. Here is a link to a few sites which has a lot of information. NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness - Mental Health Support, Education and Advocacy and Mental Illness: What A Difference A Friend Makes 
Also, this may help in understanding how to set healthy boundaries: Out of the FOG - Setting and Maintaining Boundaries


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## Word Dispenser (May 18, 2012)

AbioticPrime said:


> Hey all.
> 
> I usually don't fancy publicizing personal problems but it's gotten to a point where I could use a lot of advice from a lot of insightful, helpful people -- so what better place than PerC?
> 
> ...


Well, I don't know anything about this girl. But, it sounds as if maybe what she is looking for isn't external validation. If it was, she wouldn't have tried to kill herself so many times. 

What are her hobbies, if any? 

Does she have career goals, or a passion that she's looking forward to? 

If not, that's a place to start. I don't think that you should give up hope, or stop trying. I know that she can feel better about herself and stop causing damage to herself, but it's going to take some effort on somebody's part to help her to get out and do more things.

Help her do things that she loves to do. I know it's cliche, but we can't create love outside of ourselves. It's something that comes from inside. 

If she doesn't have anything specific that she likes to do, get creative and make a list. Rock climbing, painting, martial arts, gymnastics, crafts, mathematics, writing... Get her out there and meeting people like herself, so that she identifies with more than just herself. Look for clubs, outings, pick up flyers. 

You can have love from people, but you have to love life too.

I hope this helps.


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## Sovereign (Aug 19, 2011)

I know it's probably technically power abuse, but at this point, I'd leverage my relationship with her to encourage her to stay in therapy/on meds. Tie yourself to her improvement.

Make it clear that if she doesn't seriously try to improve, you're going to have to distance for your own sanity. Then, if she doesn't improve, you get to distance yourself for your own sanity. Or at least I would be able to do so; I did let them know that that would occur, after all.


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