My sister and I are seriously wondering if our mom has some mental illness or something. Every day she gets pissed off about something and screams at us about it, threatening to do something in order to make us do stuff. Pretty much, she fights with at least two out of us three [my dad, my sister, and me] about something.
She's OCD about us getting good grades and not wasting time playing sports. One minute shes all happy and fine with us playing sports, the next minute shes all screaming at us about how we spend too much time playing and not enough time doing hw and studying. Plus she hates how we go online, saying that the internet is sucking us in and shes tried numerous times to rip out our internet connection or break out computers.
When we have guests or shes on the phone, she can immediately go from angry to all sweet and polite and stuff. And she screams on the phone so much! She calls us while my dad's driving us to school every day for pretty much no reason and always leaves screaming voicemails if we dont pick up the phone, saying how we're purposely ignoring her and stuff when we either just forgot to turn the phone on or were busy with sports or something.
When we fight, she always says how she wished we weren't born [my sister and me.. mostly me], and how if she knew that i would turn out the way i was, she would have choked me to death after i was born. She probably did that out of anger, but after saying that pretty much every other fight we have... ones gotta wonder.
She also thinks we're like conspiracing against her or something. She's always yelling how she knows we all hate her and want her to die. And shes always saying how shes going to divorce my dad and go back to her ex-husband whos still waiting for her or something. She also goes on and on about how she knows we're just trying to provoke her and make her angry and make her die 'at a young age'. it's just like... are you a little too paranoid? I don't even know if paranoid is the right word.
She gets angry so easily and when shes mad, she starts ranting on and on to some invisible person [or herself]. Shes prone to violence and doesn't hesitate to destroy stuff in her anger. who knows how many dishes and whatnot she's shattered and that folding chair she broke... we think she might be mentally ill, but we're not exactly sure what or how... or if shes just.. like permanently PMSing or something...
I'm just wondering if anyone has any slight idea about if she might be mentally ill or something, and if so, with what? We've checked and figured that she doesn't have multiple personality disorder and isn't bipolar.
Please Please help. Her tirades and rants are ruining our family and driving my dad, my sister, and me crazy.
Paranoid Personality Disorder (the closest match I could find for you mom): believing that people are out to get her, planning conspiracies, talking about her behind her back, etc. [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Bipolar disorder: This one is unlikely for your mom unless the bouts of anger last at least a few days and her happiness lasts for another set of days, not all in the same day. Bipolar disorder includes extremely severe mood swings. [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Now I have a few questions for you: Does you mom experience any type of amnesia, such as being in a place that she doesn't know how she got to, finding evidence of doing things that she doesn't remember doing, or anything like that? If so, message me back for a few more disorders that you might want to look into. I am not including these here because they are slightly more rare and unless she has been experiencing some sort of amnesia or feelings of unreality, it's impossible for her to have them.
Here is a general personality disorder test that you might want to fill out for your mom. It shows how closely symptoms match up with your mom's experiences. I highly recommend it. It doesn't take long, and you will probably learn something in the process: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Remember that if your mom has any disorder, she has an illness. It is just like any other illness, like an ulcer, diabetes, or anything else. It has a cause, symptoms, and treatment. I know that the things she says and does hurt you, but if she does have a disorder, it is important to remember that your mom has a sickness. What she is doing may not really be her fault. Treatment will make it better, if you can convince her to get help.
Also, even if you don't think she has any of these disorders, help is still advised because she seems to be having problems in her life now that could use some outside help.
If you can add more detail on exactly when, where, and why (if you have any idea) she is experiencing these symptoms, it would be easier to pinpoint exactly what is wrong and in what direction you should turn to for help. If you would like to give me more information, I would be happy to take a second look and help you in any way that I can.
orphans answered Tuesday June 6 2006, 6:43 pm: You cannot be "OCD" about something. OCD is an illness. That's like saying "My mom is obsessive compulsive disorder about our grades" See?, doesn't make sense. [ orphans's advice column | Ask orphans A Question ]
oodles_of_noodles answered Wednesday March 15 2006, 2:01 am: Wow. Deja vu. My mom IS your mom. I don't think she's absolutely off the deep end, but she's definitely got some things to resolve. She's obviously got an anxiety disorder and some serious paranoia issues. It might stem from her feeling like her life is out of control; it sounds like everything or everybody's life she can't have a direct hand in she has to lash out at. It could be that she's angry that she hasn't accomplished what she wanted in life, which could explain both her driving you guys to be successful and simultaneously trying to sabotage your success. It might be an attention thing; she may be afraid of abandonment or feel as though she needs to be validated constantly. When the attention is off her, she reacts in a way to bring it back (example:anger or melodrama). The other option, and I hate to say it because it's rude, is that your mom is a drama queen. Some people create their own anxiety- they actually can't function without stress, for some reason. I'm sure you've had a friend that's blown everything negative that happens way out of proportion. Well, adults can be like that as well. For example, my mom will get frantically worked up about paying a bill, going on and on about how if she doesn't send it NOW, it might be late and they'll charge money which will overdraw her account and she won't have food money and will starve/declare bankruptcy, etc. This is ridiculous, because she won't starve and she has an entire month to send the bill. She's created her own drama because it fills her need for control. Your mom is obviously a deeply unhappy person. I can't tell you that anything you try to "snap her out of it" will work. She won't change until she wants to, and any attempt, even loving, to make her change will be seen as an attack. I think the best thing to do would either be to go in for family counseling (trust me, they'll be able to see through it, and having a non-parent adult ally is really helpful) or just wait it out until you're both 18. I have no idea how long that'll be. And remember, all adults chill out with time. At roughly your age, my sister and I were seriously considering getting my mom a psychiatric evaluation. Now (since we've both moved out) I can actually have a normal, non-angry, non-accusatory conversation with her. Granted, it only lasts 15 minutes, but it's better than nothing. ;) Good luck, seriously. And please tell your dad how you feel. [ oodles_of_noodles's advice column | Ask oodles_of_noodles A Question ]
xOalmaOx answered Wednesday March 15 2006, 1:54 am: One thing is for sure - your mom needs professional help, and the sooner you get it for her the better her chances are of becoming normal again.
She seems to be under a lot of stress and it seems like for the most of it, that she just wants you and your sister to do good in school. Some parents think that sports will get you no success in your life, which is not entirely true. Maybe she's just stressing out a lot about the whole school work thing because she wants you guys to grow up and become someone. It could be that she didn't have such a great future when she was younger and she just doesn't want you guys to go through all of that.
If she gets pysically emotional then that's not good at all. She could hurt herself or someone she loves very much. You should talk to an adult about this. Talk to your dad and see if you guys can get her some kind of professional help because if you don't this could cause emotional depression for the entire family. Something is seriously wrong with your mom, and I don't mean that in a rude way, but in a way in which if she doesn't get help she might regret something later on.
I feel really bad for what is happening with your family. Getting her profession help is the best solution but really "there's so much you can do and then there's God." Good luck babe and don't worry so much everything will be alright! :] [ xOalmaOx's advice column | Ask xOalmaOx A Question ]
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