niece to talk to your sister’s PCP if she has one. Despite HIPPA, confidentiality laws, one can relate observations and concerns to a medical professional about a patient, asking for no reciprocal information.
However, it seems doubtful your sister has the capacity for self-insight when it comes to her own condition. Any number of fears keep people with neuro-biologically based conditions from seeking
help and from complying with care—forced hospitalization, malevolent others taking control, poisoning through medication, and stigmatization.
The medical route is a good back door to psychiatric care, if it works, but often people whose thinking and behavior is affected by “mental disorders” have a heightened fear about treatment and a great distrust of the best intentions.
Forced temporary hospitalization has not been shown to be effective, as once released patients fall
back into non-compliance.
Your niece might be willing to make a last ditch rescue effort by enlisting a home visit or accompanying your sister to a doctor’s visit, but the trick is patient follow-through.
You can not help by letting your sister vent, by being available as you get caught in the syndrome yourself. The beauty of professionals is that they are not family. They are trained in transfer. They
can be more objective.
If you can not do anything, be honest in severing contact for now. Give her honest feedback about how her behavior affects you and tell her you will always support her in trying to do what’s right
for her well being.
Then pray to the cosmos that somehow your sister gets a thorough evaluation of her current status
neurologically and a treatment plan she can follow. It does happen! Let her know how much you love her and how sad you are to see her not well.
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