I think my mom has Paranoid Personality Disorder

This sounds almost more along the lines of schizophrenia than paranoid personality disorder. It may be very difficult to get her help, because no doubt she thinks she is fine.

Long ago, I noticed my mother was odd. If I ever said anything about it, she would get angry. 20 years plus into her problem, it has escalated into what I think may be paranoid personality disorder or paranoid schizophrenia. Im not sure, the doctor once said she had a chemical imbalance but did not do any test, he just noticed it from her reactions and talking to him. since then, she has had very bad memory, is house bound basically, sits all day without doing anything -maybe just cooks a small meal, accuses people especially her family, makes up lies about situations, and then tells other family, makes things in her head her way- not the truth, paranoid, whispers to herself. when my youngest brother was in the military she accused all of his siblings of trying to have him killed by the military pushing him out of an airplane, she blames my uncle and aunt for signing him up because my uncle is retired military, she got obsessed one time when my husband and I was separated and she called me and sounded like a old man and said she was going to come and get me.. her acting like a pervert so I would be afraid and go back to my husband...my father was in the house but she went into the bathroom and called so he would not know. my father is hardly ever present when she does her accusing but he has heard it on smaller terms and agrees with me that she needs some kind of medical health. My oldest brother died two months ago and last week she accused my sister of killing him. I know it really hurt my sister. I confronted my mother nicely, saying that it was time she needed to go to a specialist just to see what could be going on. she told me flat out, she was not going to a doctor and she didn't want to go to her regular doctor because she was in good with him and she didn't want him to think she was crazy. I said, mom he already knows you have a problem. Its obivious to anyone when they talk to her more than about 10 minutes that she is not right in her mind. I don't know how to approach my next visit. I told my parents I was coming back to their house in a week-during which I wanted them both to talk about it and now when I go back I hope she has agreed to see a doctor with my dads insistence. these are just a few of the things she has done. sometimes she gets around people and acts totally sane...and im like wow this is really strange, but other times she is talking about stuff and they are looking at me like-this lady is crazy....poor you. I am patient. I am kind. I know she is sick. I just want her to get evaluated and see if there is medication that can help her. That is the last thing I told my mother the other night when I hugged her and left. She did not hug me back. she always does but this time I could see now she is going to blame me for all this...I really need some help and would love anybodys imput into this. I most appreciate it.

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yes she does, she says theres nothing wrong with her, that we are making all this up. but Dad knows the truth thank God. Bless his heart he has seen it all these years. Im 57 now and married at 20. He has lived with it for along time.

It breaks my heart to hear this. My mother too suffers from this. She constantly believes helicopters follow her which are stars. She thinks random people are talking about her and plot against her. When she misplaces things, she accuses people around her of taking them. She puts anywhere from 3-4 locks on her doors but still thinks people come in and take socks, papers, clothing or food. She also believes people hack into her phone through wifi. She even caries a heavy purse filled with all her belongings since she believes people will come into her house and steal them. She accuses family and friends of plotting against her. It makes me cry because I love her but this disorder is destroying our relationship. I remember growing up she thought aliens came in our house and put slime on all the ceilings. She comes up with theories of conspiracy against her based on events that have absolutely nothing to do with her. What scares me is I had another relative who suffered from this and eventually would not leave her home. She wound up dying from bleeding to death because she refused to leave home. I desperately hope there will be a cure in the future for this. What do you do when it's your mother?

My elderly father in his mid 70's has been experiencing paranoid delusional behavior for several years and it's getting worse.  Initially it started as irritional jealous behavior toward my mom where he accused her of having affairs with both men and women and he often stalked her when she left home to run errands.  He now thinks my mom is conspiring with others to do him harm and often thinks he is being followed by strange men.  He thinks his home phone and cell phone are bugged and won't answer the home phone at all.  He refuses to go in the backyard because there's something in the backyard making him feel sick.  Recently he's become so afraid that he won't leave the house and I think the stress is making him physically ill.

Of course there's nothing wrong with him in his mind and everyone is against him.  He refuses to see a doctor and gets upset when you bring it up and he is also fearful that my mom will have him committed to a mental hospital.

 I become so frustrated when speaking to him sometimes because he yells and I yell back at him.  I read that I should try to to speak calmly but is very difficult at times. 

Me and my siblings are at a loss on how to help him and afraid that he may never get the help that he needs

Hi Saima,

i do not know if this post will be reading this post as it is over a year now, I live in India and my mother is also suffering from something which i cannot say is PPD as she has not yet been diagnosed but the symptoms are the same. listing a few things below for you to understand what she is going thru and doing.

1) she calls me and if my no is busy she will try my brother and if his no is busy she will try my wife and my sister in law, as we are working professionals our phones are busy at most of the times, coincidentally sometimes at the same time. she feels we are plotting against her.

2) if there is an auto rickshaw (3 Wheel public transport) waiting outside the bldg we live in for more then 5-10 minutes she feels somebody is spying on her.

3) when she calls she always feels she is on speaker and trying to show the world what she is talking to me.

4) she feels everything we do and any of our decisions are wrong and cannot be correct.

5) she doesn't trust anybody but doesn't hesitate to give away her weaknesses to someone in a fit of anger and rage.

6) she sometimes get very abusive and cannot control her self.

these are just a few instances i could note down but trust me there is lot more to wat all she does and i am not able to figure a way out of this and really need help with this.

pls let me know if there is anything you could do to help.

I'm a 30 year old daughter turning 31, still living with my parents (both 54 now) and a younger sibling (21). I've always been a quiet child but have been really open and straight forward about facts in life later. I felt really helpless lately as I believe I've found the answer to what my mother is suffering... here. My mother has been suspecting that my father is cheating on her, it lasted for almost five years now. My father has been denying all claims on this and I trusts him. The family have been proactive in engaging numerous chats with my mother to understand the problems she is facing, giving her advice on how to occupy her time with past times, hobbies, retail therapy in all possible ways but it doesn't help one bit. Being the "help reject complainer", she refused and said that she prefers to spend time alone whenever the family members have programmes on their own. She thereafter proclaims about how being a good mother and wife is how much freedom she has been giving to everyone. My father is a kind man but with a short temper, can be a screaming banshee for mistakes made by anyone at home, sometimes for a good reason. The children doesn't blame him for this. My mother on the other hand, I've always thought that she was a tolerant, soft spoken and a forgiving woman, but I was so wrong. She feels inferior for the lack of academic qualifications, is aware that she has less maternal instincts (for me), suspects and distrusts people. She would always say that she has no friends and could live without friends as long as the family is here for her. I've also noticed that her body language towards me turned increasing haughty over the years, with threatening death glares and tone of speech directed at me when such fights between herself and my father breaks out. She even said that I am constantly siding a liar (my father) which became overbearing for me. In fact, the fights recently got so bad that I had a emotional breakdown. I'm emotionally drained and on the verge of giving up on her. I would like to move out on my own when I turn 35, the legal age for singles to own a house in my country.

My mom is the same way. She has blamed me for countless things like spying on her, putting tracking devices somewhere on her, and doing things behind her back. Last year she was hitting me, saying I was "in on it." She thought the neighbors put tracking on her everywhere. She tore apart her car in hopes of finding this so called tracking device. I have lost all hopes, I've been suffering her verbal and physical abuse for a year and 10 months now. I'm at my breaking point, I want to move away, but alas I'm only 15.

So. I'm pretty sure my mom is suffering from PPD but I'm not sure how to go about getting her help. It all started a very long time ago, she's always been a bit distrustful of everyone after her divorce with my piece-of-sh*t father, but nothing that didn't make sense. A couple of years ago, I found out my mom was sick from this disease that indirectly affected her brain, and she hadn't been treating it at all, so she almost died two months into freshmen year of college. Most family members blamed me for this happening since my dad wasn't around. Apparently I was just supposed to know what was going on because how dare I not be a mindreader? Anyways, so I dropped out of college and came home to take care of her. Fast forward 3 years later, she's in the hospital again and it's super hard on everyone, especially me, because I'm the only one that is physically present to take care of this woman. So for 3 months, I had to feed her 4 pills EVERY THREE HOURS. That's 36 pills a day. That's absolutely NO sleep. Not to mention her delusions. She tried to climb out of the window because "this world was ending and she had to fly away to a new one", and for weeks she spent most of her time hysterically laughing and crying, or thinking she was a 7 year old girl. So after all THAT hard work and dedication with absolutely NO recognition, we areally starting to get back to normal. Or as normal as it gets. Now my mom is talking to me about how the government implanted something in her, and it's growing and spreading all over her body. She has theories that because she's in debt with the hospitals, they feel they can experiment on her freely. Also, I have a friend that's been staying with me. She's been going through a tough time, so I told her my couch was open until she should get back on her feet. My mom believes she's with a secret organization sent to spy on her, and poison all of her food and drinks. Just recently, she told me that she isn't even human. Her and her friends have come here to reproduce and take over the world, or something to that effect. I am trying my best to deal with her. I keep thinking this will pass, but I can't help but think about my own mental health. It's been just me and my mom all my life. She was a best friend to me. Literally everything she ever said was like law. So it's really hard to go through this with her and also cling to my own sanity. Advice would be nice, but really I've just had this in my heart for so long, it's nice to just let it out.

I'm sorry that this is happening to you while your so young.

I think my mum is two. When she leaves the house she puts a piece of tape on the door two see if people have been in the house my advise I'd seek professional help from doctors

I also think my mom is suffering from paranoid too. Early stages that is. I slowly see her slipping away and it seems no one (my immediate family) believes me. She's had OCD behaviours for as long as I can remember, like making sure the doors are locked over and over again but now it seems like its symptoms to something bigger. Ever since she got laid off in 2008, she hasnt been the same. She has been working on contract since and everytime the contract is over (and she hopes they will hire her), she thinks someone from her previous job in 2008 is sabotaging her. She thinks someone is following her and watching us in our home. Our alarms are considered video cameras and our computer had a virus and she thinks someone is out to get her.

I don't know what everyone's experience is like but my parents are West Indian and mental illness is an even bigger stigma.

I don't know what to do - as my mom slips away from me and everyone seems to think it will go away ...but it will only get worse

It is so refreshing to see that I am not the only one dealing with a mom that is suffering from paranoia. In my case, my mom throws pounds of salt in front of the door, she changes the locks, she pours ammonia outside and keeps garlic all throughout the house and in her car. Of course her episodes come and go, but it's definitely becoming worse and I'm worried for her. After her and my dads divorce, and the lost of her business, she's become extremely paranoid. I'm not even allowed to associate with my family because she believes they're demonic. I missed out on a beautiful baby shower because of her. If I had the money to get my own place, I would; I'm just simply a struggling college student with nowhere to go. I love my mom, however her symptoms are getting worse. She believes the neighbors are putting witchcraft on her, therefore we constantly move. She finds a problem everywhere she moves to, she even accuses my brothers and I of being demons. It's a lot to deal with, not to mention with my pregnancy. This is really a tough time for me.

I'm 23 and I completely understand where you're coming from and what you're dealing with. If I had the finances to get my own place, I would. Instead I have to live with my mom and her severe paranoia. It's becoming worse by the day. She believes the neighbors are all putting witchcraft on her, she also believe people ride through the neighborhood at night and put witchcraft on her as well. She keeps her door locked at all times because she feels people comes into the house and she feels spirits will come into her room if she leaves it open. She also believes the landlord has a camera implanted in the apartment to spy on her. This is really hard on me and she pushes people away from her. She's moved a lot and now she wants to leave the state, she's running, but only running from herself. It's a real sad thing...

Your post was so close to my own story it sounded as if I wrote it myself. I am also an only child and so is my mother. unfortunately this is also happening while I'm relocating almost cross country so that she could be closer. Its scary. And its hard to not want convince your mother that the fear she feels isn't real. thanks for sharing your story. I helped to know that someone knows what I'm feeling.