Can I force or otherwise compel my drug addicted/profoundly depressed daughter in law into treatment?

Question by Kathy G: Can I force or otherwise compel my drug addicted/profoundly depressed daughter in law into treatment?
My beautiful, smart, funny daughter in law has been living with my husband and I ever since her husband, my son, was sentenced to 8 years in a fed. penitentiary. Unlike most mothers & daughters in law, we have a very close relationship and I love her as if she were one of my biological children. Since my son’s incarceration she has slipped into a deep depression and exhibits extremely self destructive behavior. She drinks heavily from the time she wakes up until she passes out and its recently become clear that she is using heroin several times a day intravenously. I don’t know the extent of the heroin addiction but after finding her passed out on the kitchen floor covered in her own vomit, I noticed extensive track marks and bruising on both of her arms while cleaning her up. She used to light up every room she entered but now its as though a storm cloud follows her everywhere. While she hasn’t implicitly threatened suicide, she tells me she ‘just wants to die’ and one night asked me ‘why wont you just let me go?’ I know this is a lot of extra probably unnecessary detail, but I want there to be no doubt that I am doing the right thing by trying this avenue to get her the help she needs. She is a danger to herself and if she continues down this path I know she will die…I need to get her help but I have always been told I can’t force somebody to help themselves when they really don’t want to. Is it possible to get her medical power of attorney and force her into rehab? I know some of you are probably going to tell me to try tough love and to throw her out, or that I am ‘enabling’ her by giving her a place to destroy herself, but I can not in good conscience throw her out.

Best answer:

Answer by Josie826
Most states have laws that state that if the person is harming himself or others, that they can be committed. Your daughter in law is on a self-destructive path and she may fall under that rule. I suggest you contact an attorney that deals with the Probate Court-this is the court that would commit her if they found her incompetent. Tell them the above story with as many details as you can remember and then see what the attorney says. He will be able to advise you what you need to do to get her help. Once the court makes a ruling, she can be forced into rehab or into a psychiatric ward of a hospital.

What do you think? Answer below!