General Is Ptsd-c An Excuse To Avoid Treatment?

[Tinkerbell]

Hi,
My sweet friend has PTSD-C due to childhood abuse. She takes anti anxiety medication and sees a therapist. I am concerned because her episodes of depression are getting more and more common and more severe. She is almost always suicidal during these events. Her husband won't allow us to interfere by taking her to a psychiatrist. He tells us this is normal and it will pass. She exhibits delusional thoughts and paranoia. I suspect prescription drug abuse and disordered eating. She has not seen a psychiatrist in years, but she spends a fortune on a PTSD specialist for counseling. I don't mean to diminish the PTSD component. But, I worry that this specialist and her husband are placing her life in danger. How can I convince her to seek a psychiatrist for an evaluation? How can I get her husband and therapist to see the chemical imbalance which they so ferociously deny?

 

[alleycat]

You can't. All you can do is wait and be there for her when she needs you. It's frustrating as all hell, believe me, but you'd be more convincing to a brick wall than you will to her right now. She's in denial and she's got hubby there to back her up, also in denial. That's a pretty hard combination to overcome. If she starts to crack in her conviction, then you might have a chance at convincing her she needs further treatment.

You also need to be careful about making assumptions, though. You don't know that she isn't talking to her therapist about her depression and suicidal thoughts. They could very well be attempting to deal with them with the condition that if she gets too bad she goes into the hospital. Without that knowledge it's not useful to think the specialist has blinders on -- thinking the world is against your friend isn't going to help her, it's only going to make you less convincing when you need to be.

 

[Eleanor]

The only thing I can think of is to speak to the therapist (who won't admit being her therapist if the T is ethical) and lay out your case - not your conclusion or judgments, but what you have observed and that you are deeply concerned. Beyond that... everybody is an adult so you have no power here except the sounding the alarm. Alleycat is right.