A Daughter’s Story
A few days ago, my brother and I sought court commitment for my mother.
We have watched her mental health deteriorate for years. It has been incredibly sad and frustrating, to say the least, and we have tried again and again to help her.
She believes the government and others are spying on her because her blood holds the cure for cancer and that pharmaceutical companies, the government and her family are making millions off her. She has not been easy to be around, many times accusing family and friends of conspiring against her. Her thoughts have become increasingly disoriented and dominate her daily activities. She changes her cell phone, email and locks regularly. She sometimes wore a patch over one eye because she believes a lens was implanted through cataract surgery, to prevent the government from seeing all she does. Her days are spent at the Apple Store, AT&T store or going to the FBI, Police or local attorneys so she can report the conspiracy or seek help fighting it.
In her own words, my mother says she exists in a “living nightmare.”
Encouraging her to seek treatment served only as an insult to her. Efforts at logic to show how her theories were impossible went nowhere. She refused to believe she had a mental illness or delusions, so she told us and the Psychiatrist who she finally agreed to see. Though she took medication for depression and anxiety, she ended up telling us she wanted nothing to do with us as long as we believed she had a mental illness. This was “real” and she wanted us to help her file a lawsuit because her case was “big.” When we told her we couldn’t fight something that wasn’t happening, she wanted nothing to do with us.
My brother and I are hoping the decision-makers will see that the conspiracy beliefs that caused her to cut hot wires inside and outside her home and to tinker with a neighbor’s air conditioner will be enough to show “threat to self/others.”