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Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Beth15Casual Contributor19 May 2019, 4:44 pm AEST

Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Hi All,

I am very new to this forum, but definitely not new to living with the pain and challenges with a family member struggling with a mental illness.

My sister was diagnosed with bipolar many years ago, but has lived out of home even longer ago than we knew her diagnoses. I'm a younger sibling, so it's been difficult for me to know how to do the right thing in the past, and years of being abused by her in unimaginable ways, has left us with a barely existing relationships, despite many attempts.

I'm now a lot older (she is in her 30s, me - late 20s), and I know so much more. I've been working in the community services/mental health/social work space now for about 6 years, and I've seen what works, what doesn't, but have also seen how difficult and restricting our mental health system is.

My sister has recently lost her (probably last) job, her behaviour is very erratic, she is regularly abusing my mum (over the phone), refuses needing help still, even in her 30s. My mum has tried getting her help for years and years, since we were teenagers, but it's been locked door after locked door. My Mum is constantly trying to bandaid the abuse and the immediate issues and is continually giving my sister money, as she calls and abuses her for it every week. My Mum is beyond stressed, she had a stroke recently, she doesn't have a lot of money herself, but she will continue to give and to take it all because she loves her children.

But it's killing her. And the fact my sister is getting worse is killing me as well.

I'm currently researching how to develop a full proof plan to get her involuntary admitted, for proper long-term treatment (no over night/weekend stays and then releases). I know the basics of the mental health act, and I know the differences in the public and private system and the financial restraints... I guess what I really want is - who has experience in this?

Can anyone share their stories - the challenges and strengths that had someone they loved in complete aggressive refusal of getting help, actually getting help through an involuntary admission?

This is the first I have posted even a smidge of my story, in fact, it's the first I have shared it outside my own Mum. I've yet to deal with it myself, but I don't have time for that now, I need to get serious with this.

If you read all that - endless thank you. It feels weird sharing, but I'm slowly learning to.

And hopefully someone can provide me some insight.

13 replies

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In response to: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

beansContributor28 May 2019, 9:48 am AEST

Re: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Hi @Bunniekins

Thank you for sharing your story. I have a brother that is battling some mental health issues and I wanted to touch base with you to get your perspective on how you think we can support him. Unfortunately he is not receptive to seeking help, therefore he does not have a diagnosis.

I'm not a medical professional, however I feel like his symptoms point to schitzophrenia. I think that a combination of genetics, heavy cannabis use and some instense life changes in a small amount of time has contributed to his decline. At the moment, I don't feel he is at risk to himself or others so I don't think involunatary treatment is an option for us. We also want to support him before it gets to that point. If he's not willing to seek help, I was wondering if perhaps you had some advice on how we could encourage him to do so? Do you have any suggestions on what to do or perhaps what NOT to do? At the moment family is the enemy for him and everything we say/do isn't helping him.

Thanks 🙂

In response to: Re: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Min30New Contributor10 June 2019, 7:47 pm AEST

Re: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Hi @beans,

How is your brother going? I've been searching this forum as I'm in a similar situation with my sibling, it's difficult to determine what constitutes as threat of harm to self or others, when I'm often using the 'it's not really them' reasoning. The words and agression suggest otherwise.

It seems getting the initial diagnosis is the hardest. I'm at a loss of where to go from here.

In response to: Re: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

beansContributor11 June 2019, 5:14 pm AEST

Re: Having a family member involuntary treated/admitted - Bipolar

Hi @Min30

I'm sorry to hear that you're in a similiar situation. You're right- it is hard to determine what constitutes as a threat or harm to self/others. By all accounts, we need to wait until he actually does something before something is done.

Things have escalated over the past week or so with my brother. His ex partner had an order put against him, which he breached. As a result of this he was arrested. I phoned the police to let them know we had concerns for mental health (i.e. threatened self harm earlier that day). He had a psych assessment by a nurse who 'couldn't see issues' with his mental health. Seemed like a check the box exercise ahead of court. He still doesn't think he needs help, and feels like he has now 'passed' an assessment. Now we have to wait until something serious happens I guess (and hope that it's not too serious!). Our system is a failure.

You're not alone in feeling at a loss, that's for sure. What sort of support network do you have? What avenues have you explored so far? The fact you're out there trying to find out information is great. I've found these forums useful (from both a support and personal experience aspect).

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