The Glade 4.0

There are a lot of victim advocacy groups out there. An internet search or looking in the yellow pages should turn up a few in your area. They specialize in dealing with these issues as safely as they can for the victim. Lady Kate is right in that she won't do it on her own until she chooses to. That's usually followed by an event that is traumatic enough their self-preservation instincts kick in. I do not think you should stop talking to her until she takes action for herself. Isolation is a part of the abuse cycle and helps it to continue. If you force her to make a choice between talking to you and taking some action to help herself or staying with the relationship, she'll go with the relationship and you can lose any opportunity you have to continue to encourage her to seek assistance.

Unfortunately there are not any 100% fail safe methods to addressing this issue and I'm sorry to hear about your sister Vlad. I was in an abusive relationship for 10 years and I count myself as fortunate that I was able to get out of it with nothing more than a few scars. I sincerely wish your family had been as blessed.

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~Tolyn~

"A penny for your thoughts; $20 to act it out."

People in abusive relationships develop a modified version of Stockholm syndrome. The one I've known who broke down was "pot-committed" to the relationship. After enduring years of abuse she couldn't walk away because she had invested so much and sacraficed so many aspects of her health and well-being.

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