How do I get my mom to seek psychological help (Long - please read)

First, eferrara, let me offer my high respect and admiration for caring enough about your mom’s well-being that you are seeking whatever avenues (including this site) which you can use to collect advice.

Maybe you can ask your mom if it would be alright if you and she can set aside an hour a week to discuss “things in general”, and how she feels about everything that has happened in her life. As she starts to become comfortable with opening-up with her thoughts and feelings, she might be open to seeing someone on a professional level.

It sounds like your mom can be helped in only very small steps, and you might be the one person who cares enough to put those steps in motion.

Finally, let me say that your mother is extraordinarily fortunate to have a daughter like you….

Normally you cannot get someone to do anything they don’t want to do.

This is a special case, however. If you believe she is a danger to herself or others, you can go before a Justice of the Peace and have an order issued holding her for involuntary psychiatric assessment.

Please read about Toronto’s laws here.

Sorry this is happening. Good luck.

Get yourself in therapy. Her baggage has to effected you as well. You can do nothing to force her to do anything but therapy can help YOU deal with the hand you’ve been dealt.

Welcome to Fluther. I’d like to second all of the nice things that @OneBadApple has said to and about you. It’s nice to see that you care about your mother so much, despite her damage.

But it may be that there’s nothing, or “not much” that you can do. As @marinelife has said (using the words I would have written), you can’t get her to reach for help unless she recognizes that she needs it. And she appears not to be at that point now.

If you stay with her now and attempt to intercede for her with all of the various difficulties that she faces from time to time, including “difficult people”, then you’ll risk being an enabler of her condition. It’s time for you to withdraw somewhat and let her “find her own ruin”, that is, to recognize that she needs more help than family and friends can give her.

Welcome to fluther. I agree with the others. Seek help for yourself. This helpless feeling you have over your mothers situation is only going to create future problems for yourself. Unfortunately, you can’t get another person to seek help if they feel they do not need it. You are going to have to let her hit rock bottom.
There is a possible solution if she is religious and goes to some church. Many have counselors and if she is a member you can reach out to them for help. They may be willing to come and counsel your mother at home and get her to seek therapy.

First of all, I agree with what @OneBadApple said.

I used to take Zoloft. Sometimes I only took it sporadically and my doctor told me that it’s actually worse to take it occasionally than not at all. Is there a way that you could get her to take her meds daily? That may go a long way in helping her get her mind straight.

It sounds like you’re already doing the very best that you can for her.
She’ll get help on her terms, when she’s ready. You can’t force her.
Just be there for her and take care of YOU!

I’m so sorry.

Even where the courts order people to participate in therapy does not mean they will make good use of the opportunity. People have to see a problem and want to change. Sad but true;sorry!

I suggest you get in touch with the doctor that originally prescribed the medication that she does not take regularly and ask their opinion.

I also suggest you get yourself some professional advice to help you develop some ideas.

Hmmmm I think a good lawyer for her case would help alot.
As an adopted child she had rights and can get compensation, meaning counselling,monies etc for all the abuse the adopted parents did to her.
Once she sees that others are now listening to her troubles she will not feel entirely alone as she did as a child.
Someone has to let her know with much compassion that they understand where she is comming from and will support her in getting assistance whatever it takes to correct the past.

My dear, your mothers ‘psychological disorder’ simply stems from bad upbringing. Your mothers rough childhood with her parents, and her step-father being both mentally and physically abusive would be more the cause then the biological mother adopting her out when he was still an infant. When a person, especially an outstanding figure such as a father, does anything in likeness to “mentally” damage a person, it can cause feelings like low or non-existant self worth, and any time someone points out one of her flaws, she feels even less confident about herself as a human being. Physical aggression I’m assuming to be things such as beating, bruising, belts or paddles, and maybe even sexual abuse, can cause one to believe they are the cause to all problems. The root, and therefore, they deserve what they have coming to them. My mother was once in a similar state, as her brothers and sister were, and their father was very abusive, to the point of holding both she and her sister against a wall, by the neck, in the air. Mental disablities are not always things such as retardation, they can indeed stem from the past. What would be best for her is to sit down and let her explain everything to you. Then explain why she feels this way, and that no one will force her to do what you feel is necessary. The “should” statement often follows as: “My husband and I agree that you Should go see a psychologist.” That statement will only frustrate her more. What you need to do, regardless of the capsuls, is place the medicine in something she eats or drinks until she’s taken it for long enough and in the right doses that you can calmly talk to her. Then call a specialist out to your/her home to speak with her. Then, once she’s become more comfortable with this person, ask that the person SUGGEST that they speak more in her office, where it may be convenient for the specialist, and help keep all of their paperwork in order. Best of luck, my dear.