Where do I start? The short version of events is that I have a 19 year old daughter who has had escalating behavioural issues since she was around 8. Lying, deceit, manipulation, control, stealing, bullying, lack of remorse, irresponsibility, a general disregard for the feelings and rights of others and so on. There have been so many incidents over the past ten years or so, and we hoped at the time that she would eventually mature and the behaviour would stop. However, whilst some of the more outlandish behaviour has stopped or become less frequent recently it's become increasingly clear that this really isn't just an issue of immaturity or typical teenaged selfishness.
A chance comment by someone led me to look online at sociopathy, and then antisocial personality disorder, and everything I've read could be describing her directly, it's uncanny. It's as if all those years and everything we went through suddenly make sense.
I don't know what I'm asking really. I know I cant label her with an armchair diagnosis. I also know that she won't engage productively with mental health services, so a diagnosis is unlikely. That being the case, is there anything I can do to help her? Is there anything I can do to help us, as a family, cope? How do I reconcile my own feelings - I've been clinging on by my fingertips for so long waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, and it feels like someone has just switched off the light.