Yes it definitely does sound like a mental illness. And yes it definitely sounds like the kind of condition that needs to be dealt with right away.
There are many factors that go into answering the "how long" question so I couldn't really answer that question without doing a thorough assessment, which I can't do by email, of course.
It sounds as though she is having a pretty significant worsening of her illness. From what you say it sounds as though she needs to go the hospital to be evaluated.
I took the information that you gave me, with a little bit of filling in the blanks, and used it to answer the questions on the best level of care tool we have (for figuring out what level of care people with mental disorders need right now) and it suggested that she needed to be in some kind of residential or inpatient setting.
Needless to say, this is not the same as doing a real, in- person assessment, so the results could be significantly off. But in any event, I think it is clear that she needs an emergency psychiatric assessment of some kind.
I do not know how you would go about getting that done. But there must be some number that you can call locally to get access to mental health services. Please repost to let us know what is going on.
YES!! please oh please by email Maybe we could arrange a You to Her email so you both can speak with eachother that would be so delightful thank you ever so much! :)
Psychiatric hospitals are usually designed like Fort Knox. They are almost impossible to kill yourself or hurt yourself while in. While she is in the hospital she would be safe. Right now - she is not safe with no indication she will get better on her own.
I'm still confused about what her illness is, the doctor said something but I have completely forgot I managed to talk to my daughter about going into a hospital for a little while she didn't want to know she just kept quite and moments later she said No she can't and if she did she said we'll regret it but I don't want to force her because I'm scared to be honest she sounds as though she means it and we all know she really does mean it.
Does it actually sound like actual mental health issues? The ones that need to be dealt with immediately? And if so how long for?