Hope

I have found since Sarah was little, that she has very little ability to think logically. She seems unable to connect consequences to her actions. This makes it exceptionally difficult to discipline her for anything she does. I assume that this is common in the mentally ill. I've seen it with my brother-in-law, too. It doesn't seem to matter what they do, it is never their fault. If Sarah breaks something in anger, it is my fault because I made her angry. If Sarah loses something, it is her sister's fault (or someone else in the house) because they had to have taken it. Often, it is just that she has put it down someplace other than where she remembered. If she is unable to find someone to come over and play on a weekend, I didn't let her have a playdate. While these things seem somewhat small, the reactions when things are not exactly as she wishes are far worse than you see from most kids. It generally involves yelling and screaming, jumping up and down and sometimes, even violence towards me (strangely enough, more often me than my husband) or her siblings. What makes it even harder, is that as soon as she is "calm" after one of these episodes, she expects that life will go on as if nothing ever happened. Because of this inability to truly connect the discipline she receives to her behavior, the behavior continues and seems to be getting progressively worse. I am struggling to figure out any ways to modify her behavior and feeling so hopeless.