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Mental health issues can be very serious, and when someone is having a difficult time, they often need a professional to step in and help.

What would you do if your friend was at your house and began spiraling into a mental health crisis, and talking to you only seemed to be making it worse?

That is what happened to the young woman in this story, so when she realized that she wasn’t helping the situation, she asked her struggling friend to leave, but that made her break down in tears. She isn’t sure if she did the right thing in this situation, but she doesn’t know what else she could have done.

From the details in the story, it seems that her friend needed professional help, and she wasn’t going to get it here. Having her get out of the environment may have been the best option; it is hard to say. Read through the full story below and see what you think about how it was handled.

AITA For telling my friend to leave while she was having a mental breakdown?

A friend came to visit me at my apartment while I was recovering from an injury.

This is kind of scary; I hope she is ok.

Something seemed a little off in her demeanor and cadence that made me feel a little uneasy. She was even slurring her words.

I expressed concern for her and asked what was going on? And she told me she started a new medication recently but didn’t want to talk about it.

She has a good reason to be concerned.

I was understanding and left it alone. Over time her behavior made me more uneasy where she seemed to be actively dissociating during the convo or I would talk and there would be a long 15 second wait where she just stared at me, registered what I said, and then responded.

I was genuinely worried about her safety going home so I asked if she could tell me what the medicine was so I could look up the side effects.

Hopefully, this person can get the help she needs.

I reassured her that it wasn’t judgement of her because I have taken several psychiatric medications and I didn’t think any less of her but it was just for my own peace of mind because it was making me anxious.

She tells me, I look up the side effects, and we move on in the conversation. She’s opening up about what’s going on in her life and I listen and validate her for around 40 minutes on the topic.

Her friend needs to take some responsibility for her actions and emotions.

But I can tell she just starts looping on a specific problem more or less repeating the same worry again and again. I try to offer reassurance but eventually tell her that she’s looping on the subject and it might be helpful if we tried to move forward or change the subject.

She tells me it’s because I didn’t respect her boundaries and asked questions she didn’t feel comfortable answering about her medicine and that basically opened up the floodgates.

I can’t just expect her to put it away that easily.

Ok, let’s move on to something new

I feel a bit frustrated because I feel like she’s blaming me. But I ask her what I could do to help and she says maybe let’s do something else.

I say ok and ask her if she wants to play a game or watch something. She becomes passive and just says she’s open to anything.

I think she needs some professional help.

I try to transition the subject to a game she likes. And she ends up going back to the previous topic she was looping on and I listen for 10-15 more minutes and try to offer reassurance but I can tell nothing im saying is helping and it seems like the spiral is worsening.

She’s talking faster, leg bouncing, and repeating the problem.

It is good of her to recognize that she isn’t able to help.

I eventually just said “hey I think you should go home because I think talking to me is making the situation worse. I’ve tried to support you and do the things you’ve asked me to do and nothing seems to be helping.”

She was stunned, horrified, and started sobbing on the way out. I couldn’t even walk her to the door because of the injury I had. And she spoke to me crying from the foyer.

It is normal to feel bad when you can’t help a friend.

I felt so bad because I do try to be there for my friends but it was beyond the scope of my capabilities.

AITA?

There is nothing wrong with feeling bad in this difficult situation, but she definitely should not feel guilty. She did everything that she could for her friend.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this difficult story.

I agree with this commenter.

She seemed to be doing her best, which is all anyone can ask for.

This is a good question.

She could have called an Uber.

This commenter thinks she could have called 911.

In situations like this, there isn’t always a lot you can do, but she did what she thought was right. I hope her friend was able to get the help she needed. This was undoubtedly a very difficult situation for both of them.

You never really know how someone in a mental health crisis will respond to anything you say, so sometimes all you can do is change the environment and hope for the best.