Split personality, depression or just full of S***

This post regards my best friend who although is not family feels like family to me.

If its not your family giving you grief its your friends... when do we ever have time for our own problems??? I have come to realize, i have no real issues of my own (thankfully i should say) but rather my life is filled with the issues of others.

My best friend Katie is blonde, beautiful, tall, skinny, funny and incredibly intelligent! Since the day she moved into my flat as a random fellow student filling a vacant room i knew i would love her. We soon developed a sisterly bond and i always envied the fact that everyone loved her.

This year to my delight, she joined me in cape town. moved down the road into a bachelors. she started her own company, had a lovely boyfriend and now had the big city at her feet.

a few months ago i noticed not all was right with katie. she was not always as happy as she used to be, constantly fighting with her boyfriend and began lying abaout things, small things. Like whether she took the DVD back to the store, if she was going out and things people had told her... or rather not told her.

i constantly worried about her and asked her if anything was wrong. eventually one afternoon when i fetched her from the airport after she visted her parents in joburg she was in tears and had crazy eyes. i managed to drag out of her that her boyfriend had been abusing her, threatening her life even. shocked i begged her to end it with him. however she carried on as all was fine. i realized she is a big girl and all i could do was watch from a distance and pray she would be ok.

a week ago after hearing 'how much better it was going in the relationship' we decided to all go out. her boyfriend shaun was being so nice and well behaved... i thought maybe katie had been exagerating looking for attention perhaps. We went out, having a great night, next i know katie is arguing with shaun on the dance floor and proceeds to slap him 4 times across the face.
i eventually intervene sending them to opposite corners like naughty children.

I go to councel katie. She breaks down into a fit of tears and tells me two weeks prior shaun came home from a night out, drunk, and raped her. i was shocked and first instinct was to go to the opposite corner with a bottle and let him have it. i left it, begged her to come home wiwth me and let us think of how we could sort this out together! she agreed.

on the way to the car she bolted down the road. i tried to chase her but with no luck. i jumped into my car and drove around for 1 hour looking for her. eventually i realized, if she was to phone anyone it would be shaun. if i found him i would probably find her. I managed to track him down and pick him up.

not three seconds later, katie called looking for him. he told her he was in a cab on the way home. I didnt want to speak to him.. in fact i wanted to kill him and dump his lame body in the closest sewer. but i kept quiet and he started talking. saying he was so worried about her, that she was ill. He told me she is a pathelogical liar, that she emotionally abuses him, has told him all sorts of lies about me, what an abusive friend i am (i am not many things but a good friend is something i pride myself on) etc etc etc

we stopped outside her flat to talk. something told me that this boy, one i have known since i was 10 was not talking rubbish. katie called again, but she was angry. shouting at him. he told her he was on his way and hung up. he then told me that two weeks ago he came home drunk and katie was so angry that he was late. they got into a verbal fight and next he knew she had called the police and accused him of rape. he was cuffed and taken off to jail.

I asked for a reason to believe him. he said he had no proof... but then katie called again. i could hear her screaming and asked him to put the phone on speaker. In every horror film, i have never heard another human being speak to someone that way. she called him every name in the book, asked who he was f***** and if he came into her flat again she would have him 'arrested again and charged with rape, and i hope that f*** you up the ass because thats what you deserve'

i burst into tears. shocked that this was my beautiful friend! heartbroken and shocked. She carried on with the insults and eventually shaun went in to face the music.

I have taken a week to think about what to do with everything i know. I know she is a liar, i know she acts happy and sweet but then abuses her boyfriend. I know that her boyfriend and her are a destructive couple and both probably equally messed up and i know that katie is mentally ill!

i have decided to book her a session with my sisters psych and beg her to get some help. tell her i will stand by her and support her but she needs to realize she is ill.

is this the right thing to do???