You can't save people from themselves, in the end. You can try all you want to, you can intervene in very invasive ways, but if people don't want to change, nothing will happen.

Not to be sexist or anything, but I have once again come to the realization that I will never understand women.

Ah well. How easy is it to understand another person anyway, irrespective of gender?

But, yeah. It's hard to watch when someone you care about is pursuing very self-destructive behavior. Like when that 19 year old mother of two who is, in truth, very intelligent and has very attainable ambitions, but nonetheless, she continues to return to that significant other who emotionally abuses her. Or when that 15 year old boy who has what it takes to go to college and is very interested in physics continues to snort cocaine, even though he knows exactly how it is destroying him. (Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine is a very trying pediatric specialty.)

The futility of it all is mindbending, but such is life. You do what you can. Whether or not it makes a difference is not the point, I suppose.