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At a loss by Allison I have a cousin who is a week younger than me and is my best friend. All of our lives she has been high-strung, in that she had to be perfect at whatever she did. She had to be in control of herself and those around her. If she wasn't she would become angry and in a rage and throw fits. I grew up with this and so thought it was a normal part of her personality. Also I a lot of problems of my own to worry about and so often didn't notice the problems. When we were in middle school she got her first C, and threatened suicide. I began to spend a lot of time with her with the purpose of "loosening" her up. For some reason I am the only person that can deal well with her. And so my family often asks me to take care of her and that's what I've grown up doing. And it worked for a while. Now we are both in college but we attend college 6 hours away from each other, so I haven't been able to be there for her like I used to be. My cousin has always tried to keep her weaknesses a secret from me, but you know how families talk. I found out a few months ago that she been placed on anti-depressants, and so I thought things would get better for her. And for a while she was happy and was able to control her anger. But things have turned bad recently. She first found an excuse for every drug and why she couldn't take it, then she simply lied and said she was taking them, but after checking the bottles and finding them full, we know she's lying. She took herself off her medicine and refuses to go to therapy. She has begun to have fits again but now they are much worse than before. Her mother says that if she does not take her medicine she can not live at home this summer because she causes such a hostile environment. She is either screaming at her family (her parents and sister are her blame for all her problems) or she's crying. Around me she acts happy; happier than she's ever been. A couple of nights ago I asked her what was wrong when she was sitting in the dark by herself at a family function during the holidays and she told me she was depressed. She felt like suicide, then she tried to pretend she didn't say it. When ever I try to talk to her about her medicine she becomes enraged and tells me its none of my business, even though she's been my business for 20 years. She says that taking the drugs is, in a way, like admitting that she is crazy. I tried to tell her that wasn't that at all. I told her that she has a chemical imbalance in her brain, and that a lot of people have had this. Normally, I can reason with her but now she only gets angry. I also found out she is failing some of her classes, something she never did. She has stopped hanging out with her friends and spends all of her time alone. I am very worried that she plans on ending her life and I don't know what to do. Her parents don't think its serious enough to force her to do anything. But I had friends before that went this direction and this is how it began. I am scared for her and very much would like advice. Top of page Webmaster: wulff@ratatosk.net |