Grace91New Contributor
My mum has no insight into her mental health
Hi, I'm a little overwhelmed on where to start with my story but my mum is living with mental health and unfortunately has no insight into her mental health.
This is hard to navigate because she isn't receiving the help and support she needs because she doesn't recognize her mental health. I believe my mum has Borderline Personality Disorder, I don't know if she has been diagnosed however myself, my siblings and other family members have recognized from years of lived experience that things my mum does and says echoes everything that BPD outlines.
One of the hardest things is that both my other siblings no longer have a relationship with my mum, this is because her 'episodes' as I call them result in her saying and doing some very disturbing and hurtful things and unfortunately it has reached a point where they and their families do not want to maintain a relationship with her. It has now been a number of years since they have both spoken to her. In addition to this other family members have stopped contact aswell. I know this may seem strange to some people but I do understand why they have made that decision and I hold no resentment towards them for it.
I love my mum so much, but its very hard, and now because I'm the only family relationship she has left I experience the brunt of her episodes more than ever. It's becoming very overwhelming and I feel like its never going to get better. I have tried a number of times to speak to my mum about her mental health in a very supportive manner and its only made things worse. My mum lives 1400km away and I only see her maybe once a year as I live in a very isolated town which is expensive and hard to travel from and to where she is located. On top of that I feel she is isolating herself more and more and seems to be withdrawing from things that she once enjoyed. Last time I visited her she wouldn't leave the house other than the supermarket and her self care seemed to have changed.
There's alot of other complex layers to this story that would take longer to explain but, my mum is looking at moving to where I am located, which I'm sure would be beneficial to her health, but on the other hand Im very very anxious and stressed as I have a hard time navigating her mental health episodes from a distance so not sure what it will be like in close proximity. I know that sounds really selfish but it usually only takes a few days with my mum for her mood, emotions and personality to dramatically shift. The truth is, I'm scared. I haven't lived near my mum since I was 13 and I'm now 29. Every week is a rollercoaster and I'm trying to be the best daughter I can be amongst the wave that hits every week or so. This wave from mum includes paranoid ideation, delusions, impulsive spending, a random influx of calls and messages which are often disjointed and disturbing, manipulation especially regarding physical health, verbal abuse..to name a few. When my mum is in this state her voice often changes to a different tone so usually when I hear her voice I can tell where is she in terms of her health.
In short, I just don't know what to do, I feel alone in all of this, I feel hopeless that my mum will never get better or have any insight, I don't know how my own metal health will be with her living in the same town as Im struggling as it is even with her living at a distance. My mum seems to be getting progressively worse and I don't know how to navigate it all. I have a wonderful supportive fiance, and I can talk to my other family members, but I still feel on my own at times with the anxiety, stress and fear. I feel like a burden everytime I try to talk to people about my mum because I sound like a broken record. So in closing, if anyone has any advice they can offer please feel free to share.