Dealing with adult son with mental health: Parents want to share?
My 39 y. o. son suffered 2 major losses since April 2022 & has never been the same since. He is under the care of a psychiatrist & taking trintellix & adderall which are not helping. Gradually he became more & more isolated and suspicious of all - including his parents. His therapist for 2 years recently started a new position so he has none. And not interested in getting another. I believe he checks off almost every symptom of Paranoid Personality Disorder. I live in the east, he's in the midwest, not married, living alone. I must walk on egg shells with him, an innocent remark becomes an argument. He is never wrong, but everyone else is. Recently we had a blow up over the phone, he didn't like the way I asked him a question, saying I was "abusive"...he now refuses to have any contact with me. He is my only child, our entire lives we have always been so close. His Dad & I are divorced for 17 years. His relationship with him, worse than mine. Hasn't seen him in 1 yr. I am so depressed & heart-broken. I have reached out kindly to him since the blow up & no response. I can't talk to his psychiatrist due to HIPPA laws but thought I could...but he can not talk to me about him. His mental health clinic will not allow it. He did a complete 360 with his life, unrecognizable to everyone who knew & loves him. He is very paranoid. I don't know what to do - how to help him and the longer he doesn't contact me the worse it will be.
This is impacting my entire life...I am 69 y.o. and so very sad my beautiful son has now developed this truly awful personality disorder.
Any thoughts from other Moms going thru this, greatly appreciated.
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Pray … my son killed himself yesterday
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2 ReactionsOh no, I am so so sorry! That is devastating news. I don’t know what to say other than I am praying for you and your son and hope you can eventually find some peace.
This pain is unbearable. He didn’t have to die. He needed help but couldn’t see through all the lies his brain was telling him. God help me
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1 Reaction@bellsback I am sending love and prayers for strength to get thru this your way. I know this mental illness experience is agonizing for everyone involved and it seems so unfair. I can’t ever make any sense out of it myself so I think we have to give it up to God and he will help with all the suffering. Praying your son is at peace now. Please take extra special care of yourself right now. And please reach out anytime if you need to, people here care.❤️
Just don’t invite him to stay, until he gets the message that he is being intrusive and crossing the line.
@bellsback My deepest condolences to you and your family.
Reach out to NAMI to help you find a support group for families who experienced a suicide of their mentally ill children.
Many support groups are out there. Get all the support you can get. You need to be with other parents who are going through, very sadly, exactly what you are now experiencing.
They are/have been in the exact place where you are now.
These are the parents who you need to be with right now. They have lived it; they truly understand the very deep pain you feel and can help you, somehow, survive your tragedy.
God Bless.
Although I’m not a Mom, I’ll offer my thoughts and experiences as a Dad. Your situation with your son sounds very hard. You end up feeling helpless and hopeless. You need support and as someone mentioned, NAMI offers support for parents, but I wouldn’t rule out seeking therapy for yourself given the stress you’re experiencing that can make you sick.
The power that you have is the unconditional love you can offer which might mean you don’t have to agree with everything he comes up with, but you love the person you know and can support the things that he does that are healthy. You can offer to listen to him and ask questions in order to understand his conclusions and not challenge them for as you know, that is not going to work. Two books you might consider: “I hate you, don’t leave me” and “Stop walking on eggshells .”
My best wishes to you.
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