@the_great_she_elephant wrote:
Personally, when I, or anyone I know, is that ill, the last thing on their mind is keeping everyone apprised of their current situation.
Personally I think it is an impertinence to assume that anyone else should behave in a certain way when they are sick just because it is not the way you would behave.
You are not Joanie, you have never met Joanie, you have not lived through her life experiences and you hav know idea why she behaves in the way she does.
There are two things which, from her posts, appear very obvious to me, but seem to have slipped your notice.
1) She is very frightened.
2) She is very alone.
Somehow I can't see your posts doing anything to aleviate either of those situations.
Actually, those two things have FAR from slipped from my notice.
And I'd venture to say that if indeed, these are truly issues with Joanie, then she also is is dire need of psychological intervention - not mollycoddling. Reinforcing delusions/negative traits only strengthens them, and does nothing to address/alleviate them.
In my career, I've dealt with personalities who show very similar attributes as she does, for many, many years - and although not a trained psychiatrist, feel justified in equating Joanie witth others showing similar habitual, destructive traits.
Don't get me wrong - I'd love to see Joanie get the help she needs, but assisting her in reinforcing her negativity won't do her any favours.
In too many threads, I've seen this negative behaviour manifest itself, and most who respond merely end up feeding her self-destructive tendencies - all the while thinking that they're assisting her, when in fact, they may well be unconsciously doing the exact opposite!
