NoMudNoLotusCasual Contributor
Help! Sister with Schzioaffective Disorder
My sister is 33 yo and has a diagnosis of schzioaffective disorder. She received this diagnosis almost 2 years ago however is still non accepting and holds a belief that there is nothing wrong with her. She continues to take herself off her medication as soon as she is discharged from the public system because she is fearful the medication will cause brain damage. Even a CTO and depot injection do not help in this situation because my sister has taken to moving interstate, and more recently, taken off overseas. Currently she is in the UK; DFAT found her after being admitted into a public hospital over there. Prior to this she had been listed in Australia as a missing person for 2 months after not appearing to her psychiatric appointments and not being found at the home. DFAT can not force her to return home, she is free to be in the UK.
She has many symptoms and behavioural challenges, but 2 that are my family's biggest concern is impulsivity and risk taking....in particular spending, and now taking herself overseas. My sister has no concept of money, debt, saving etc. She continues to spend, takes herself overseas with no money, puts herself into huge debt using credit cards. Last year my parents gave my sister up to $50,000 to pay off debts and pay for living expenses, ultimately to prevent her from bankruptcy...only for my sister to turn around and put herself in a hole again. My father is now retired and can not afford to continue helping her like this.
She has recently contacted my mother asking for more money; she went to the UK with nothing but credit cards and says she is living off 35 pounds per week for food, staying in temporary accommodation organised by DFAT after being discharged from hospital. My parents do not have a significant amount of money spare, in fact my father has washed his hands of her and will no longer help her. I had thoughts myself, to go over to the UK and although difficult, try and convince her to come back to Australia, however i do that she does not want to come back because she is fearful of being re-admitted (in the last 2 years she has been in hospital 8 times). She refers to herself as "society's play thing". Friends (with no experience with these types of disorders) have told me to let her fend for herself, not to go over there, she got there herself and she can get herself back, if no one helps her now they guarantee she will get back herself somehow and guarantee she will think twice before getting herself in a terrible situation again, that my sister has to do this on her own. What they don't understand is that this disorder affects the logical, rational and judgemental part of her brain. All of these behaviors are apart of her illness. The fact that she is in denial is also part of her illness because she can't actually see what she is doing due to her impaired awareness. To add to this she is currently alone, in another country, unmedicated, with very limited access to medical resources.
Those who have interacted with this disorder and experienced financial challenges, what do you believe would be the most benefical action to take?
Help, don't help? Stay or travel to her?
