Fugitivus Discussion Forum

Warning: I am not going to bother spoilering sections. The entire piece would fall under that category.
I am a reasonably sane sixteen year old straight cis guy. I live in the suburbs in MA, and my life is fine. But this is not about me. This is about how I can help my friend. I will call her Sarah.
Sarah is fifteen.
When she was five, she was raped by her uncle.
Her mother physically abuses her on a regular basis, and has destroyed her self esteem, given her the "body image of an anorexic", and still attacks Sarah's little sister.
The only reason Sarah stays in the house is to protect her younger sister.
Last March, she was raped multiple times over the course of two months by someone she trusted, a slightly older guy. She has 21 out of 23 symptoms for PTSD because of it.
Sarah is perfectly normal weight, and while not good looking avoids ugly.
She is bisexual, and was kicked out of her house for it before her parents took her back in because they wanted a "punching bag".
She is heavily suicidal, and cuts herself on a fairly regular basis and starves herself.
She pays for the private school we both attend with criminal activities(I will not elaborate), and she is on a heavy scholarship.
She is consistently emotionally unstable.
She loves me, but I don't love her back. I am in love with somebody else, to the best of my teen knowledge of the subject.
I am a genius by the lower IQ definition and I am considering going to Cambridge for my undergraduate education. So when I say that she makes me look like an idiot child, pay attention. Not counter spatial reasoning, her IQ is 190. That means it is statistically unlikely that there is a person on the planet smarter than her.
Instead of doing her best at school, she aims for specific grades to challenge herself.
She cares more about animal life than human life.
How can I help her?

@Keller, welcome. I hope you have taken the time to read the CoC.

I am really sorry about your friend. She sounds like she has had a really rough life so far.

Do you want to help her, or do you want to fix her? You can't fix her life, you can't erase what happened. You can be a good friend, however. You can help her by listening to her. You can help her by not trying to control her behavior or her reactions to what she has experienced. Both cutting and anorexia are attempts at controlling what feels like an out of control life. Believe it or not, many attempts to help can feel like attempts to control, and can reinforce such behaviors. Be honest with her, but non judgmental and extremely gently. Tell her she doesn't deserve what has happened to her. Tell her she deserves to heal. Tell her that you understand why she does what she does but it scares you and makes you sad because you care about her.

RAINN is probably the best group I can think of that may be able to help her start to process what she has been through in a more healthy manner. She has been through a lot and may never get to a place where she feels completely "normal" (do any of us?), but many people survive very traumatic experiences and have fulfilling lives. It may be very difficult for her to see a long, possible future ahead of her, but it is within her reach.

I have. Thank you.
That she has.
I have been trying to fix her mind, at least somewhat. Because I believe that her mind has been subjected to so much what she wants could hurt her. The only moral time to go against the wishes of another is when they would do something immoral, or if you have knowledge that you can't share and they don't posses. I am not trying to erase her memory, but to help her heal.
She has more potential than anyone I know. I hate to know that she can't see herself honestly. And I hate the idea that the budding virologist I know is so held back by the problems she is struggling with.
Thank you for the link.