I have a lady friend in her sixties. She used to teach art history at a university, but due to one of the auto immune illnesses or some such, possibly lupis, She stopped working, then slowly disengaged from life. She lives on oxy-codone, pot, beer and cigarettes and some food. She has sealed off every window in her house but one small high one in a back room. Her house can be pitch black inside at high noon. She s stopped conversing, though she can still be coherent, and seldom leaves her house. She s down to probably 80 or 85 lbs, spends her days watching old movies. I managed to get her to an emergency room after many months of trying, after she was no longer ambulatory. She spent a week or 10 days in the hospital, then a couple of weeks in assisted care. She didn t respond to any socialization while in the hospital or assisted care and refuses help which is available to her. I ve basically stopped contact with her but would like some definition of what happens to a person in this state of mind so I can have some grasp of her and her reality.