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• Thursday, February 8, 2007 09:23 AM

  She'll just check herself out AMA if you get her committed

  The ugly little secret about involuntary commitment, or a 72-hour hold or whatever they may call it in your state is that any patient can check themselves out against medical advice as long as they can behave for a short period of time.

  My ex has narcissistic personality disorder. She's reasonably intelligent and very, very charismatic, unless you cross her. When we broke up, she had a little break with the reality that most of us live in. She tried to run me over with her car. She threatened to kidnap my children. She threatened to kill me. She followed me everywhere. Then she "tried" to kill herself with a nonlethal dose of antihistamines. I say "tried" because it's very likely she knew (1) the dose was nonlethal and (2) the drug was nonlethal. She just wanted attention.

  She was put on a 72-hour hold. She walked out of there within 24 hours, with a diagnosis of "depression" and some sort of prescription. She had a whole new list of rules for me and how we would be continuing our "relationship" in the future. All she did was sweet-talk the shrinks and walk away. Less than a month later she broke into my home and literally stole everything of value, from furniture, to my kids' Harry Potter books, to family heirlooms. She continued to stalk me for years afterwards, despite an active order for protection.

  It sucks, but get the police involved because of her criminal activity. Don't go the mental health route.

  —Contract Attorney
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