what do we do now?

[Eunoia]

Hi everyone! I'm so glad I found this forum... sometimes I just feel like noone out there can help, you know?? B/c they have no idea what's going on. Anyways... here's the thing. My sister has been diagnosed w/ Bipolar (however there's like 10 million other issues). And this is after years of her being told it was only being depressed and being put on meds after meds. So she's taking some bipolar and antidepressant meds now and did actually go see a psychiatrist... but she no longer goes and sees him. She's not doing well though and it seems like she flips out every second (even if there is no obvious trigger) and everyone walks on eggshells around her.. she's been crying a lot lately and my parents have no idea what to do ... I don't know anymore either... I know she's not ok... and we're all falling apart w/ her...
do you guys think she should go see another psychiatrist?? or maybe a psychologist? or maybe someone specialized in bipolar etc??? I am so afraid for her sometimes, I just KNOW she needs help. And I'm at the end of knowing how to help her... and keep the family together.
Pls....any suggestions would help!!!

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Why did she stop seeing her psychiatrist and what do you think it would take to get her to go see another therapist?

It certainly does sound like she is not doing very well at all and should probably be seeing someone... I wonder what her reistance to returning to her former psychiatrist was. How much influence can you and your parents exert on her at this point?

 

[Eunoia]

I'm not 100% sure on what exactly happened, things seemed to be going fine w/ her and her psychiatrist, but then one day he was apparently too busy w/ other clients (he said this) and he thought that she was doing fine so that was that. She wants to get better, no doubt about it, but I think she's just at the end of her rope, like it's all been so long and things are just not improving, and her meds are not working (big suprise). I think she just doesn't know who else to see, you know? Like she wants to believe she is good enough to deal w/ things on her own, but even if she were to go see someone we have no idea who. She said that other people she's seen have been easy to manipulate, ie. you know what they want to hear so you just say it. So she's sick of seeing someone who doesn't know how to deal w/ the issues. And as I said, it's not just bipolar.
We can probably get her to go see someone else, but it'd be pretty much up to me to suggest it. I was thinking of a psychologist but they're not covered by the medical plan like psychiatrists. But in the end that doesn't matter as long as it would help her. I just can't believe how difficult it is to get help if you need it. Things are really not good and they're getting worse every day. I just don't know what to do.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

What general part of the world are you in (city, state/province, country)?