Dr Phil: Our Sister Lived in the Bushes and Tried To Hire Someone To Kill Her
Do you have a person in your life who is a source of nonstop drama? In one family, Colleen is the epicenter. Her sisters, Ann Marie and Jackie, think that her erratic and bizarre behavior may be a cry for help. Of particular note in their plea to Dr Phil was the time Colleen paid a bum to kill her.
Through the years, Ann Marie and Jackie have been there for their sister both financially and emotionally. But how much of her irrational behavior and tall tales are they willing to put up with? At one point, she went off to live in the woods for a two-week period, during which she tried to pay a homeless man to murder her, apparently for attention.
Dr Phil: Fake Heart Attack & Assisted Suicide Attempt
Dr Phil intervened when adult sisters confronted Colleen, a woman whose drinking leads to erratic behavior. Once, she hired a man to kill her in the woods. (Aleksey Stemmer / Shutterstock.com)
Colleen’s checkered past also includes a fake heart attack (at her daughter’s graduation), false accusations against a neighbor, and what her sisters believe is a fictional case of Cervical Cancer. Though Ann Marie and Jackie want to see their sister back on her feet, I can understand why they may be skeptical about the potential to get results in this case.
For her part, Colleen claimed she is a misunderstood alcoholic, and the incident in the woods took place during a period of relapse. When she sobered up in the woods, she offered a man $50 and her iPhone to choke her to death. She passed out but didn’t die, and the man refused to try again. Later, she recruited someone else to cause her death by a heroin overdose, but that did not pan out either.
Dr Phil: Alcoholic and On the Street
The sisters said that Colleen had no idea how long she was gone during her visit to the woods. They are concerned that most of what she says to her is a lie. The lies are making the sisters feel “foolish” and “angry.” They wonder whether she is able to make decisions or take care of herself. When she tried to attend an AA meeting online while drinking a beer, she was asked to leave.
For the past five months, she has been in and out of psychiatric care, sober living, emergency rooms, or on the street. Now the sisters are hoping Dr Phil can help them get Colleen back on a better path. As for Colleen, she thinks that Ann Marie and Jackie should just leave her alone. But the sisters are fixated on her ongoing problems, and she frequently turns to them for help.
Dr Phil: Colleen’s Troubling Behavior
Ann Marie said she thinks Colleen does not want to grow up and be responsible. “I don’t think she knows how to function,” she said. Dr Phil pointed out that Colleen is taking that to an extreme by paying someone to strangle her with a bed sheet. Dr Phil also said that the ladies have been enabling Colleen, which could be helping to fuel her problems. The women also believe that her woodland adventure was intended to make her family think she was dead.
Then there was the time that Colleen was kicked out of school, but got up every day to get ready and leave the house, pretending she was still enrolled in class. On another occasion, she disappeared for a week and claimed she had been drugged by a fellow bus passenger.
Dr Phil: My Life Is Not Perfect
After all this setup, Dr Phil finally got to the good stuff and brought Colleen into the conversation circle to offer what was sure to be a unique perspective. Dr Phil hoped he could get through to her that she had the opportunity to turn her life around if she would only take advantage of it.
“Eight weeks ago, you’re paying a guy to choke you to death in the woods,” Dr Phil said. Colleen admitted that “my life is not perfect right now.” Apparently she needs to get her money back from the drug addict she hired, because he bought chicken instead of heroin for her.
Dr Phil: Lying About Cervical Cancer
Colleen said that when she stays on medication and remains in sober living, she is able to do well. But when she starts thinking she has things under control or can do it on her own, there are problems. “I know my life is a wreck,” she said. “I know that.”
Dr Phil also questioned why Colleen is lying to family members about having Cervical Cancer. “It’s a flat-out lie. I lied for attention,” she admitted. Her sisters said that they wished she had not been lying and upsetting their mother. Colleen thought she must have been drunk and upset that her daughters were not talking to her at that time.
Dr Phil: Resources for Families of Alcoholics
Hopefully Colleen can get some help from Hannah’s House, a residential program for women at Origins Recovery Centers that offers a variety of services and therapies that could make a real difference for her. You can respond to this story by leaving a comment or sounding off on social media with the hashtag #FactsVsReality.
If you have a family member who is struggling with alcohol addiction, there are resources that can help. Alcoholics Anonymous is a great place to get started. But you can also find targeted assistance for family members of all ages.
- Adult Children of Alcoholics – 310-534-1815
- National Association for Children of Alcoholics – 301-468-0985
- Al-Anon Family Groups
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