A mental health professional is generally the best person to diagnose a mental illness but sometimes the person who needs help the most refuses to see a professional. Then relatives do the best that they can to try to sort out what is happening. It might be helpful for relatives to consult with a mental health professional to see what the best course of action
might be. In some cases the person with a problem may refuse treatment.
We live in a country where the rights of individuals come first so
when someone refuses to go for treatment, then we have to accept that
they have that right. Many people manage to function in their day to
day lives remarkably well even though their thinking may be quite odd.
I know people who are quite convinced that they will make fifty
million dollars in the next few years and have been convinced of other
huge windfalls several times in past years. They have had other
interesting ideas as well that result in their believing that the
government is watching them and that others just don’t recognize the
brilliance of theiir ideas and that others might want to steal their
ideas to make the money for themselves. These people have convinced me
just how entrenched a psychological problem can be and how futile it is
to expect them to get treatment. They still pay their bills. They still
get by from day to day. They still believe that they are going to make
millions of dollars on each new idea that they get. Nothing changes. I
could make myself ill if I tried to get them to change. They have
taught me that.
My mother was institutionalized in the fifties for 3 years for her
mental illness. She has been in and out of psychiatric wards many times
in the last 50 years. She has been seeing psychiatrists for over 50
years. But she doesn’t think that she is mentally ill. She thinks that
she sees a psychiatrist because she needs medications and that seeing a
psychiatrist is the only way that she can get her medication. She
thinks that other people have far more mental health issues than she
does. She has often accused me of being crazy or stupid or dumb. She is
the one who is fine … in her own mind she thinks she is fine.
For those of you who are wondering about mental health issues,
whether someone else’s or your own, here are a list of links on various
mental health issues that can be involved in or result in estrangement:
Borderline Personality Disorder
Signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder – on Psych Central
McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Site
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) : "How to recognize a narcissist" by Joanna M Ashmun, 1998. Some of the most interesting reading that I’ve seen on NPD. Also has links to other useful sites and information on NPD.
Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
From Psychology Today on Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Dick Sutphen’s The Battle for Your Mind. A site that discusses brainwashing in our culture & cults – sometimes involved in estrangements.
The Foster Report on Scientology Scroll down on the linked page for references to Scientology being implicated in family estrangements.
Steven Alan’s Freedom of Mind Center Cult Counselor and Mind control Expert
Understanding and responding to symptoms of schizophrenia
Not a mental illness but a type of alienation: Parental Alienation
Syndrome (PAS) refers to a type of alienation that may occur between
children and one parent after a divorce, particularly after a bitter
divorce.
Parental Alienation Syndrome: Articles