Dealing with adult son with mental health: Parents want to share?

Posted by briarrose @briarrose, Oct 6, 2024

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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Oh 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.

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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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Profile picture for bellsback @bellsback

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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@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.❤️

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Profile picture for ead @ead

My issue is not as severe as those I am reading about but….. we have an adult son in his 40’s. He is hard to communicate with. He lives across the country from us but his work enables him to visit frequently, for weeks (or occasionally a couple of months) at a time. While he a a very good guy with a big heart he is also quite fixed in how things should be. He says things like:
Our yard isn’t as well cared for as others in the neighborhood, my husband leaves everything to me, or if he does something it’s only done half way, why don’t we get something repaired, and so on.
He is on us regularly when here about home maintenance, our relationship (hubby and me), how we organize things ( or in some cases don’t organize them), why we live with some things not working ( fan over the stove is an example). We eventually get things fix but unless something is critical we don’t rush right out for repair. It is very hard to communicate to him that we have 52 years of marriage behind us, raised 2 successful and kind children, are ok with how we relate to each other and with the time we take for getting things done. At 75 years old we don’t much care for what others think about our yard, how efficient we are, or how we act with each other. . You can’t argue with him, he’s always right. This post is because this AM we had a blow up and I just can’t take it. He will be here for 3 weeks. He says he comes so he can help us. Yet, I asked him to go to a Dr. appointment my husband about a 45 minute drive away on day he is free. My husband is having some memory issues on occasion and can also be uncomfortable after these visits, so I always drive him. First he wanted to be sure his dad would drive the car, then if they could stop on the way home at a couple of places in that area, then, if not, could they leave earlier so they could stop at the places, then eventually, it was his “off day” so he would might get up early to go to the gym and should be home to leave on time (10:15 AM). I finally said to forget it. I’d cancel what I had to do and take my husband. That started our the blow up. I usually just go with what my son wants so to avoid confrontation since I know he will be going home, but at this stage I’m just tired of putting up with it. Ended with him telling me I was passive aggressive and should look at my ego and how I respond to things, closing the door and saying kindly he wanted to give me some time to myself.
Any advice for dealing with regularly occurring differences of opinion, or dealing with adult kids who think they are right and you just don’t do much of anything right, is appreciated.

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Just don’t invite him to stay, until he gets the message that he is being intrusive and crossing the line.

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Profile picture for bellsback @bellsback

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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@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.

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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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