Quote:
Originally Posted by junkDNA
my mom and i need help. my sister is very ill. in 2009 she started displaying symptoms of depression. she was 23. soon that morphed into a manic episode where she lost her boyfriend and her job. she was bringing strangers to our house that she had just met at gas stations, doing drugs, lots of alcohol and reckless spending. sounds pretty bipolar, right?
she went to a pdoc and was prescribed abilify and started taking it. things got better. as the years have passed she's gone on and off her meds. she has never been completely med compliant. she refuses to accept that she is mentally ill.
in the beginning of this year we found out she has stopped her meds again. things have spiraled down quickly. first she was manic until about may. the landlord of the house she was renting with 2 other roommates (the landlord lived there as well) called my mom and told her that my sister is not being herself. he said she goes into his room and even slept in his bed!!! she eventually lost her job, she got evicted from that house, lost all of her friends, and is now back home living with my mom. she is 30 years old. she stays up all night doing god knows what.
this is the psychosis part. my sister thinks that various people/businesses are narrating and broadcasting her thoughts to the world. she texts me stuff like this at 1, 2am. i tell her these things are not real, not possible, they are symptoms of psychosis. she then laughs it off saying she was joking. thats a pretty weird joke. well its not a joke. now shes posting her psychotic drivel on social media webpages. she has yelled and threatened my mother. my mom has found her crying under the deck at 3am talking to herself. shes talking to the voices in her head a lot.
the thing is is that my sister refuses to believe she is mentally ill. when my mom confronted her about her impaired thinking and paranoia, she told my mom that me and her are the mentally ill ones. my mom called the police on my sister 2 weeks ago because she was frantically yelling in the shower, got out, and started yelling at my mom.
when the police came she put on her normal act and the cops left as they saw nothing to be alarmed about.
sorry this is so long but here is my question. my mom and i cant sit by and watch my sisters descent into incompetence and psychosis. shes really lost it you guys. she refuses to seek help or take meds. she gets extremely defensive and sometimes even hostile when its brought up.
my mom is planning on going to a magistrate tomorrow to try to get an involuntary commitment order. i have screenshot the weird texts and facebook posts and emialed to my mom to show the magistrate.
is there anything else we can do or show to the magistrate to try to convince him/her that my sister is incompetent? she is not expressing suicidal/homicidal ideation so this is a big grey area.
also, how can we get a judge to rule her as incompetent so my mom can be the guardian and consent to forced medication???
please, if anyone has been in this position, help us.
also, if anyone disagrees with invol. commitment and forced medication then dont bother responding. im aware some people are against that.
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not sure about other locations but here in the USA the only people that have the authority to do involuntary commitment are psychiatrists and the court system.
short version relatives can take their family member to a psychiatrist or to the ER or call the police when the person is being a danger to their self or others.
if taken to a psychiatrist or to the ER the psychiatrists evaluates whether the person is indeed a danger to their self or others. if so they are put inpatient at which ever mental health unit or mental facility has an available bed for them. if they are showing no signs of being a danger to their self or others they are not kept and placed inpatient.
if the police are called they assess whether the person is a danger to their self or others at that moment. if so the police make a determination as to whether a crime is being committed and whether to arrest \detain them \ transport them to the ER for a psychiatric evaluation and placed under arrest. if no crime is being committed the police advise the family on non criminal routes like calling 911 due to medical or mental crisis. then the paramedics come and transport the mentally ill person in crisis to the ER for a psychiatric evaluation. this new way of dealing with the mentally ill is in place in many USA cities now so that less mentally ill people end up in the prison /justice system. some locations even have special out patient, out of the prison system type of mental health courts now rather than the police jailing the mentally ill that have committed crimes while under the influence of their mental illness.
my suggestion is the next time your sister is being a danger to her self and others (suicidal\homicidal\ making threats of harm to herself or others...) contact 911 for the paramedics.
you can also contact your sister mental health providers if you are listed as your sisters guardian/custodian or your sister has signed a release of information form with her treatment providers giving you permission to speak with her treatment providers.
otherwise theres nothing you can do as her family member unless you want to petition the courts for the courts to place her in a mental or residential facility that can take care of her special mental health needs like seeing that she takes her meds and that she is safe when she does go through her psychotic episodes. one thing you need to know, having a psychotic episode doesnt necessarily mean a person has stopped their meds. it can be that their body has built up to a point where that medication and dosage no longer works for them.
if outside the USA you will need to contact a mental health treatment provider and they will tell you what the laws are in this situation for your location.
otherwise all I can suggest is follow what her psychiatrists and the police say to do since they are the ones saying she doesnt need inpatient care.