Teenager Yells at Parents for Not Paying Attention to Her Sister's Mental Health Struggles

Laura is a 19-year-old girl with an elder sister 5 years older than she is. Her sister lost her best friend in a car accident, and the tragedy hit deep, affecting her in a bad way.

Two months after the tragic incident, Laura's sister was not eating and had barely spoken to anyone. Her college grades were at their lowest, and she seemed a shadow of her usual self.

Laura saw all this unfold, but her sister would always rebuff her efforts to communicate. The little sister decided enough was enough, so she approached her parents to suggest that they get her older sister professional help.

This was a massive gamble on her part, knowing what she did about her parents. They were traditional folks who thought mental illness was an urban legend.

They were literate and were up to date with the world's current happenings, but they refused to acknowledge mental illness as a thing.

Suffice it to say, Laura's gamble did not pay off. Her parents immediately rejected the idea of seeking professional help for their daughter; instead, they shared their belief that she would feel better in time.

They tagged her a brat and advised her to mind her business.

Laura disagreed. She let them know her sister was not likely to get better with time, but her parents remained adamant. They cited her cousin as an example. Apparently, the girl had faked having a mental illness just to get attention from those around her.

Her little stunt cost her parents a lot of money, and Laura's parents had decided they would not fall for the same trick. After all, their daughter was not depressed; why would she need to get therapy?

Laura got very angry after that, so she could not keep her voice down when she declared with curse words in between that her sister was not her cousin.

Laura stated that they were blind for not seeing that her sister needed help. She wanted to know if they had to start seeing signs of depression before moving to help her.

There was a moment of stunned silence when Laura finished her tirade — it was the first time she would speak that way to them. They did not take it well.

It did not matter that she was advocating for her sister. All they cared about was the fact that she had used curse words with them and had rudely raised her voice.

They tagged her a brat and advised her to mind her business and not get involved with adult things she could not understand. The conversation ended there, and they started giving her the cold shoulder.

After receiving a courage boost, Laura reached out to her sister and encouraged her to seek therapy — the devastated girl was reluctant. Still, she finally agreed to after a lot of coaxing from Laura.

Next, Laura invited her parents to a sit-down where she apologized for her outburst. She followed the apology up with a plea that they try therapy, and if there were no improvements, things could go their way.

They also expressed reluctance at first, but when Laura politely pointed out how much it would mean to her sister if they could show support as she weathered the storm, they relented and agreed.

The discussion ended in a lot of tears, and apologies and reparations were made. They all headed to her sister's room, and there was another bout of apologizing from all parties. A date with the therapist was set, and Laura could rest easy knowing her sister would soon be on the mend.

Laura knows she shouldn't have yelled or cursed at her parents, and her remorse may very well have been what saved the day. What would you have done? Would it have been any different?

Here is another interesting story about a woman who moves out after her sister wanted to triple the rent because their dad cut her off.