Convincing so to get help

[Joshatron]

Hi,

I was never raped, but my girlfriend was by her last boyfriend. It has been a long process to get her better, but now things are getting worse again. She has been having daily nightmares.

She doesn't like to talk about it much, but the content is sometimes flashbacks of her trauma, but more often he is just in her dreams, haunting her. It leaves her exhausted all day, and afraid to sleep at night. I can see her getting worse, but I don't know how to help.

She hates talking about it. I have tried to convince her of therapy, or telling her psychiatrist about it to maybe try taking something to help stop the nightmares, but she won't. She also doesn't want to think about it at all, so I can't convince her to even write it down, or change the story, or other methods like that that are supposed to help.

I wanted to know if anyone had any advice on how I can talk to her, convince her to get the help she needs. She is getting more and more exhausted, and I don't know how to help.

 

[EveHarrington]

If she doesn’t want help, she doesn’t want help.

There’s nothing you can do to make her go to therapy.

The choice to heal must be hers.

Please stop trying to fix her. I know you’re trying to help, but using therapeutic tools outside of therapy could majorly backfire, ie writing out her story without the guidance of a professional.