Hi all,, hugs to my niece Whitney. She is living with me now. Her Mother won't acknowledge at all that she has a problem and says everything is Whit's fault. Whit's a good kid, she's a teen but very mature for her age,, she's had to be. Her biggest faults are she can get mouthy w/her Mother at times, and she's messy. Most teens are the same way. She doesn't party, she's been working and she's one of the most caring, loving kids I've ever seen.
My sister has had problems for many years. When she was younger we attributed her actions to the fact that she was the baby of the family. Then her actions were the result of her alcoholism. Now, after the research that Whit and I have done, we have no doubt she's bipolar. She'll go from depression and crying to raging. It's as if she has no control over it. When she was drinking, I was forced to part ways with her because I would no longer allow her to abuse me. Now, she's abusive to Whit. That I can not allow. She's threatened suicide with both of us and I've told her repeatedly that she needs help. I know I could have her committed, but Whit and I have talked about it and we've decided to try to give it time to see if she'll get help on her own. I've talked with her, or attempted to and given her literature. Our brother is bipolar. She says she's not bipolar because she's not like he is, because his bipolar puts him into week/months long depression where he won't leave his room. She, on the other hand is mostly manic. Her rages are out of blue, triggered by nothing but something dreamed up in her head, and ALWAYS Whit's fault.
Whit wants to go back and live with her Mother. She misses her life. She says I may not think her life is normal, but it's her normal. She is the one who's tried to take care of her Mother and I have had to convince Whit to leave after one of her spells, because Whit now feels responsible for her Mothers mood and what she may do. She is so brainwashed, or trained, and that's just killing me.
Whit and her Mother have gone to counseling, just to have her Mother blame everything on Whit to the doc. The doc at one point sent her Mother to another psychiatrist, but she gave that up after 3 visits. She said it was inconvenient. She's told me she will not spend 1 more minute, or 1 more cent on counseling, but that was before I took Whit.
BTW, Whit is right behind me as I write this. We don't have secrets. We need each other to try to get through this and we're lucky to have each other.
What we need to know, is do any of you have any ideas on how we can get through to her Mother that she needs help. How do you break denial? I thank all who have taken time to read this and attempt to help Whitney and I,, it's appreciated.