Expert: Libby Bonner - 4/10/2009

Question
My ex fiance is dx w/mood disorder NOS.  he has had to edisodes of mania and 3 episodes of clinical depression.  My question is how to hospitalize an unwilling person. Is there any way to do this without involving police.  Last 2 manic episodes resulted in police being involved.  Both calls were made by Jim's sister who was in town visiting during the episodes.  Any advise would be appreciated.  I am in new york do you know of any good support groups that may be helpful.  I care about Jim and am considering living w/him again.  Before this occurs I feel I need to have a solid plan of action should he become ill again.  Thanks

Answer
He is very fortunate to be living in an area where hospitalization - the appropriate response - occurs when family call the police during a manic or other dangerous episode.   There has maybe been some police education done there, possibly by NAMI, nami.org, where you can find local affiliiates nears you.  Try to find one that runs a family support group as well as just having meetings.

NAMI will be extremely helpful to you.  I hope Jim doesn't know that you are considering living w/ him again.  Pls don't bring it up until you have had a chance to complete the excellent free NAMI class Family to Family.  It should help w/ your decision and/or be part of your action plan.

He will, btw, become ill again.  [His history to date suggests that.]  But also, in part, it is because the "serious mental illnesses" are characterized by remitting and relapsing, even while  being actively treated.  I'm not sure how close together these depressions and manias were, but it suggests that he does not accept his diagnosis and so does not take meds, and/or that his dx is fairly recent such that there has not been adequate time for the trial and error of the patient and doc finding right meds, right doses.  [This can take weeks/months.]

Or - esp if dx is older and he takes his meds, that it's maybe time to change docs.  Or - that he may be treatment-resistant.  He/family/doc, in latter case, need to be thinking about ECT.

Sorry - I have some time constraints and am hurrying.

Pls do also, if you plan to be interacting w/ him, use helpguide.org to guide your dialog, or the very excellent book by Woolis called When someone you love has a mental illness.  

Pls write again any time.