How do you tell someone you love that they need professional help?

You can see it clearly from the outside — the patterns, the pain, the way they're slowly disappearing into something they can't name — but finding the words without destroying the relationship feels almost impossible.

Too gentle and they brush it off. Too direct and they shut down. And meanwhile you're watching someone you love struggle alone.

Have you ever tried to have this conversation — how did it go, and what do you wish you had said differently?