As an armchair psychologist with full access to real people who can help (i work with mental health clinics and other places like that, so that's why I asked every resource and tried every avenue I could, and am still trying, I even offered to pay $1000's out of pocket to get him help if he would accept and go), it really begins to destroy your soul a bit when dealing with people like that. The people who deal with people like that on a daily basis DO NOT get paid a fraction of what they should. Holy fuck. I just deal with one person, they deal with many. I could never do their jobs.
I've learned as much as I can (and I still do when I get time to read and know he's around the area) and that's when I learned about certain things like triggers, or whatnot that can cause the "others" to make an appearance. For one example, if he gets in a stressful / nervous situation, he'll talk EXACTLY like Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. When we hear that particular voice, that is his thoughts coming out of his mouth completely unfiltered. He doesn't realize he's saying things, and thinks he's just thinking it. Even when we record it and point it out, he will sit there and just not say anything and keep trying to avoid it altogether. He knows it's real, but pretends it isn't.
His family has a history of some abuse and mental issues. His mom is on some sort of medication, as well as his brother. His dad left him and his step dad wants nothing to do with him because when the guy was younger he tried stealing $1000's of stuff from the step dad, and the step dad is a millionaire. The guy blames his "friends" for stealing from his stepdad, but it was his other personality doing it. ugh it's so depressing learning more and more, but it's so eye opening at so many levels.
You hit another huge point that none of us want to really talk about, but we all talked about is the day he finally dies. He's had several VERY VERY close calls within the past few years. One was a huge bike wreck where he broke his back and he has metal in his back. Some were OD's, others were traffic related. We all came to terms with the fact that one day he will either die, or we will never hear from him again. We're as prepared for that as we can be, but it is one of those things that we never thought we would have to discuss either. We all know he chose his own path, and we can only help him when we can. Otherwise, we end up taking away his free will to live his life, then things take a very quick turn for the worse when we tried that. That's when we learned that we can't force anything, but we can "trick" him into thinking it's his idea type of deal for some things. It's an uphill battle no matter what we try.
It sucks so much man. It really sucks. He's such a good person when the original guy is there, but once one of the others come out, he's a piece of shit. The original guy is the reason 3 of us still care (for the most part). 1 of the original don't want to see him ever again, and the 1 other guy is married to the 1 who doesn't want to see him, but that 1 guy even said he just wants an apology for his stealing his shit. All 4 of those people got screwed over way more than I have by him, so I understand their frustrations.
Deep down, you hit another point. I wish he would end up in jail for something and be forced to get treatment, but I fear if he went to jail, he would come out and take his own life immediately instead. He's that unstable, and with jail / prisons we all know they aren't exactly there for rehabilitation... :(
Like someone else suggested, I wish he would take a few hits at me, and I could gladly take them, so he would then be forced to go to jail, and I could show videos, and show everything to get him the help he needs. I told all of us before the intervention that if he started to get violent, let me take the hits. I have the least amount to lose if something "serious" were to happen to me vs my other friends.
After dealing with that friend, I've come to learn so much about mental issues and disabilities altogether. I really wish everyone treated mental issues like physical ones, rather than shoving them under the rug (sometimes) when the cases show up. Without a massive change in public opinion, there will never be enough money to treat people like that, or force them to go to treatment without them hurting people, or the "bad" people going on a stealing spree with lots of evidence, etc.
Really sorry for the rant, but it felt good to get this out, and hear everyone's suggestions. I feel that we've tried everything, and it hurts bad to lose someone who I know is smart and good hearted on the inside, but sometimes man, just sometimes :( We are at a loss until he decides he needs help I'm afraid. I'm open to ALL suggestions with him too.