seeing the effects of abuse in siblings

I have younger brothers. In the past few years they have started to crumble. One has been manifesting symptoms of schizophrenia and has alcoholoic signs (2 DWIs). My yougest bro (who is a teen) is wetting the bed and can't sleep at night. It is breaking my heart to see the affects of abuse in their lives. I don't know what I can do to help. What can i do? I feel so powerless. I feel like I'm watching them drown and I'm not strong enough to resuce them. I hate this.

It might be that all you can do is let them know that you love them and are available to listen. And that's a lot, actually! You might not be able to physically do anything, but love and patience and compassion go a long way. Maybe you could share your experiences with them, too.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{EV}}}}}}}}}}}}}} You are a very loving sister.



Love, Candy

Oh dear, hard one. I think Candybear has a good idea on a place to start: speaking with them to lwt them know you know and care and see if you can help each other. I know for me, just having the truth come out is such a relief....... then you can start dealing with it. Isolation is a huge hurdle for an abused person to get over by themself. Knowing you are not alone and that somebody cares was huge for me, back when.

You are a wonderful sister. )) )) )) Candybear (((((( ((

thanks candybear and hillbunny!!

It's the hardest to help those who are closest to us. It must be so tough watching it all happen and feeling so powerless. I also agree with Candybear, if your realtionship is could enough to talk then you should talk to them and let them know you care. Be there for them to listen whenever they need to talk. Good luck to all of you.

Tanya

I agree with the others, talking to them is key. They may think they are alone in this and maybe if you talked to them on this it may make them feel less alone. A T for them may help too.

(((EV)))