[Dr. Art]

You've gotten some good advice here. Lucyjoy and the others' suggestions to watch her take the meds and sit with you are fine. You want to be consistent and if she makes a thereat. I'd still take her to the ER and not let her recant so she does not have to go.

Another thought is that this is becoming quite the power struggle. My general advice to parents is to avoid power-struggles...but if you must engege in one you must win (better to only engage in 5 a day and win all five then engage in 20 and win 10...that will actually cause more problems. You may want to let natural consequences prevail. If she does not want to take her meds, so be it...if she becomes dangerous, you take her to a safe place until she is able to return home again. I'd probably be more inclined to recommend this course with a family I am working with. Her choice to take the meds...monitor closely, maybe even keep her under constant visual contact and remove all dangerous objects from her room and if you become more concerned and feel these actions still are not effective to keep her safe, then the hospital is where she must go. Just like you'd fix a cut on her leg...but if it required stitches, you'd take her to the people who do stitches.

Regards,