Hello Deyna,

I admire you for wanting to get your friend help as soon as possible.  I suggest you read the Xavier Amador book, I AM Not Sick, I Don't Need Help to get ideas on how to couch what you say so that she will consider treatment.

As you may know, mental illnesses could run in families.  I would take your friend aside and suggest you'll go with her to see a professional and wait in the waiting area and be there for her.

You love your friend.  Anosognosia-the lack of awareness that one has an illness-is a symptom that affects up to 50 percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Although I feel seeing a psychiatrist is critical at this juncture, I believe the next best step would be for your friend to see a therapist.  You could approach her along these lines, "I would like to talk about something.  I care a lot about you, and I want you to be happy.  Could I let you know something I feel would help you?  I believe seeing a therapiist or doctor could help you feel better."

You are not alone.  I've answered at least seven "Ask" questions with the automatic response that the person read Xavier Amador's book.  Time is of the essence, yet when someone refuses treatment, the next best course of option is to foster a relationship of trust, use the LEAP technique outlined in the book, and do "motivational interviewing."  Motivational interviewing is based on the premise that everyone wants something out of life, and when you've built the turst, you ask the person what she wants to achieve, and then ask if you could suggest something that would help her achieve it.  Then you suggest treatment.

Amador's techniques have worked for tens of thousands of people whose loved ones have anosognosia.  The one thing you don't want to do is keep insisting that your friend is sick and needs help.  A true story: one guy wanted his mother to "find him a woman to marry," and that was her perfect opening to suggest to her son that if he stayed on his meds, he'd be able to get married.

You see how it goes.  I wish you the best in approaching your friend.  It often takes time to turn someone around; however, it can be done.  Xavier Amador's brother, Henry, got into treatment evern though he didn't think he was sick, after Xavier used the techniques he developed in I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help.  It seems unbelievable that someone would take meds even though they don't think they're sick, but the way you get them to do that is to state that doing so would enable them to achieve what they want.  The person may never come around to believing he's sick, and that's OK as long as he sees a benefit in staying in treatment.

Best regards,

Christina