Will try to keep brief.
I'm worried about my best friend. She's late 30s, single, no kids and living at home with her mum. Doesn't work, has had a couple of short term jobs since leaving college. Always saying she's short of money, yet doesn't work (or express any interest in finding a job) but has quite lavish holidays couple of times a year (pre-Covid).
My friend (I'll call her Jill) has a long history of self-diagnosing mental health and serious psychiatric conditions ranging from depression, to schizophrenia, to bi polar and a whole host of others. She's never been known to or under the care of any mental health services, nor goes she attend her GP or seek treatment or medications for these conditions that she claims to have.
I'm really worried about her, I mean the claims of feeling so mentally unwell, yet complete refusal to seek help or approach her GP. She says she's afraid of being prescribed tablets that turn her into a zombie or mess up her body on the inside. She's very careful what she puts in her body and doesn't drink, smoke or anything like that.
She claims pills are toxic and just mask MH issues rather than help resolve them.
She's not open to counselling or any kind of therapy that doesn't involve pills.
From what her mum tell me, Jill seems to spend her days locked away in her room at home, googling MH illnesses and convincing herself that she has them before announcing diagnosis to others in our circle of friends. We're all worried about her. Her mum just seems to leave her to it, doesn't seems particularly worried. She just brushes it off by saying things like "That's Jill... you know what she's like" or "Jill has schizophrenia this week..".
How can I help Jill? I'd really like to see her enjoying life. She came out of a long term relationship a few years ago and that affected her self esteem badly, and has been prone to bouts of depression since then. I'd just like to be able to help her see some of the goodness in life but get frustrated with all the self diagnosis stuff. Especially when she mentioned recently about hearing voices. What would be so wrong with getting some professional input? I know I'd want that in her position.