Hi,
I understand how difficult this is for you. It is common for loved ones of people with bipolar. You need a support system.
nami.org will help you. That organization will help you learn to get a healthy distance from her willingness / nonwillingness to get treatment. Other parents can share stories.
Does she live in a city with a major teaching hospital?
Tell her to make an appointment with a psychiatrist at a medical school. Those folks are well versed in the latest research and are very thorough and consistent with patients.
Maybe she would benefit from your sending her some reading material.
I recently sent my aunt 2 copies of Bipolar For Dummies for my cousin. It's an easy read but covers everything. The book probably covers difficulty patients have in getting treatment and follow-through.
Her paranoia needs to be treated. People with paranoia can end up in jail. It can be ugly.
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If anyone out there has been through something similar - please let me know what might work.
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Most of us with bipolar have gone through something similar or are close to someone who has.
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She was hospitalized for 2 weeks back in October and the experience was beyond frightening - I am worried that it has left her with so many negative impressions that she may never trust a doctor again. She was drugged into a state of utter fog, and was given no particular attention in the hospital.
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If she showed up at the ER in an emergency situation with symptoms of bipolar and mania, then the protocol is to treat with serious meds to bring the patient out of the danger zone. The patient feels over medicated at first. That seems consistent with what happens in most hospitals and why some of us work hard to stay well and out of the hospital.
What is not ok is that the hospital did not do any after care --- or what we call out-patient. Sometimes patients have day programs for 2-4 weeks after they get out where a therapist and psychiatrist sees them and they do group therapy. Sometimes, patients are also assigned a social worker to help them deal with the system.
Civil rights laws since the 1960s support a patient's right to refuse care unless they are
1. harmful to self
2. harmful to others
(3. unable to take care of themselves -- not sure of the legal terms here --- this applies in some states, not most.)
During the daytime, you can call the police department in the city / town where she lives and ask them how they handle mental health calls (Every town has different terms.) Sometimes when she is in serious trouble, you can have the police or a representative show up at her house to check on her without hauling her away to take her to the ER for evaluation by a psychiatrist.
Occasionally, the patient will come down from her high and reach a deep depression. They patient is more likely to seek help for depression than for mania.
I hope that this helps a little.
Find nami and find a teaching hospital.
Here is a link for how to deal with a family member in a manic state: basically you can't talk with them except to keep them calm:
http://www.camh.net/About_Addiction_...ies.html#mania
M.