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@funkygrandma59 and @needhelpwithmom - your notes were saved.
Yes, I've let the nonsense continue because of both fear and guilt. Since the time we spoke, mother has stalked my business.applied on my website as a member.created 25 alias emails.tracked me on united (my trip to Japan was public and she has my DOB and zip).started emailing my work ADMIN account (also on my website).tracked me at a marriott over thanksgiving (knows I would visit my dad and called each one).
Yes, she has nothing better to do than stalk me all day long.
yes, she is truly suffering.
yes, she has refused to accept a phonecall from a doctor.
Yes, she is threatening to harm me and send a million emails until I listen.
Yes, she has said I will be shattered when she dies knowing it was my fault and I didn't try hard enough.
yes, everyone is sick of it.
Yes, my son blocked her emails on my gmail - but then she found the admin and that is harder to block.
yes, my husband and I are still happily married. He doesn't know what to do either.
Yes, my mother is threatening elder abuse and names people she will reach out to.
yes, she subscribed to the NPOs where I am on the board.
Yes, she continues the suicide threats and we have called police 12 times.
So, ready to file the order this week...
But who wants to put their mother in jail?
I wanted her to get a decent home.
She wanted me to sacrifice everything to save her. She wanted a doover in life - not to be a good mother - but to marry rich - have a husband and family or be a movie star. I don't know. But she didn't want my sister -not because my sister wouldn't put up with her - but because my sister was blue color and in the wrong city and couldn't fulfill her fantasy.
yes, I have compassion for her mental illness.
So, what will happen?

Find Care & Housing
You are complaining that the two options given here are crappy options: jail or shut her out of your life completely (and stop supporting her completely). Well unfortunately there are ONLY crappy options left. She won’t change and you won’t get a different outcome. People are suggesting therapy for you because the only thing you have the power to change is yourself. Accepting that there are no not crappy solutions for your mom is what you really need help with. That is the unfortunate truth.
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Why do you keep asking what to do when you aren’t going to do anything?!
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 5, 2025
I am considering doing different things, so I'm checking in with people.
I've spoken to a Lawyer, researched where to file, have a draft, considering cease and desist. The fact that I haven't done anything yet, doesn't mean I won't - it means it has not been clear yet which is the best path for my sanity and how much worse it could get.
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"...who wants to put their mother in jail?"

You. You should.
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 3, 2025
Thanks.
I didn’t include above that the threats to come out here are then followed with how much money I owe her and send me money - and I mean a lot - she says $750,000 is about the number. Because I owe her for my life.
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I hope that you understand that most of us here, trying to give you advice, are children of narcissists as well. We know. My mother was the most wonderful woman ever....to other people. We suffered physical and emotional abuse....after she died during covid...I knew I would need therapy to make sense of my people pleasing ways that I learned in order to survive. Recommending that someone get therapy is not meant to be an insult ...rather, it's meant to be a gift to yourself where someone finally gives you permission to stand up for yourself and to walk away from someone who is broken and wants to break you too. There has been a lot of sincere, heartfelt advice here. I don't think honestly that we can offer much more other than to encourage you to give the gift of therapy to yourself so that you can see this situation with a changed perspective.
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Scampie1 Dec 7, 2025
Beautifully said.
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All I can say is OMG....you really are still wrapped up in your mentally ills mother nonsense after all these years, and letting it control your life. That is so beyond sad that someone would intentionally choose to live like that and yet you do.
I don't think there is anything any of us can say at this point to make you make better choices for yourself and your marriage(I'm actually shocked that you're still married to be honest) as this has been going on for far too long, so I will just say that anyone that would continue to put up with all of this ridiculous nonsense from their mother must themselves suffer from mental illness as well.
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 3, 2025
Thanks.

I would like your suggestion on the right course of action as both my husband (25+ years) are at a loss. We go back and forth on an order,
I was literally paged in the HNL airport and spoke with United who found her call to them when they gave her my private information.

Cutting ties is NOT possible. I have built my business and am living my life, but this issue continues daily in new forms.

If it is so obvious - please tell me the right answer.
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 3, 2025
I post less than once a year - not really wasting your time.

if you have a helpful answer, then give it because if it was that easy we would have done something.

get counseling.

that won’t stop my mother from emailing and stalking and threatening Or escalating.

File an order

That won’t do anything but escalate.

just deal with it and continue on

okay - that’s what we do.

but the cease and desist is also an option.
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For those unfamiliar with ocdTrauma's former posts to us, I suggest reading prior posts before response to this one. This situation is now years in the making.

OCD, it isn't that I don't sympathize with your side of this whole long ongoing trauma, but to suggest you are still a 50% partner in it not by choice but because of "guilt" isn't appropriate.

I don't want to reread all the old posts but I know I will have told you that guilt requires causation out of evil intent.
That isn't the case here.
I am also certain I must have recommended to you Liz Scheier's memoir Never Simple, about her attempts to deal with her mother's mental illness for decades. All to no avail. Her mother died as crazy as ever she was, homeless, in advanced age. You cannot help those who do not wish to be helped. Nor can you act for the mentally ill; the law doesn't allow it.

Really, what you are in the middle of is a sort of self-harming of yourself through bad decision making on your own part.
I would seek help of mental health professional in your area and seek counseling for yourself. I would also suggest that stay away orders would be appropriate now. When your mother disobeys said restraining orders she will be addressed by the POLICE, not by you.
That will be done through an attorney and the court system.

A forum of strangers is unlikely to be of much help to you. We can listen. We can say "Oh, dear, we are so sorry all this is still going on. But we, as you, are helpless in this.

Just a postscript here, because I think you haven't been on the Forum for some time, if you aren't aware that NeedsHelp is no longer on the Forum. That I know of, none of the regulars know why, but she was undergoing medical treatment at the time she disappeared off our page.

As to what will happen? Your question to us? Given your mom's level of mental illness probably quite a lot unless she dies first. And I think you can count on expecting the unexpected. You have dealt with this for a long time now to the best of your ability. My advice is always to move about 1,000 miles away from this sort of thing, because it is without an answer and without a solution. It's end is always as it's beginning and it's daily on-goingness--a crucible.
I am so sorry for your pain.
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 3, 2025
Thanks. I'm not looking for sympathy - but real strategy.
My life is really great with my husband and son and my business and health.
I'm quite happy most of the time, but this is just something that is always in the back of my mind.

When she applied on my website, I thought that crossed a line. When she paged me at the HNL airport - I thought this has to be it. Then when she found me in Phoenix...my dad with dementia was still able to understand "she has nothing better to do."

I guess I can't understand it. We would buy her a house. She could still travel. We would help her. But she won't take a step. That is what I cannot get my mind around. Who wouldn't be willing to speak to a doctor for $100,000?

Where I am I missing on this? Is it that I'm expecting rationale behavior from an irrational person

And yes, I've been wary of the unexpected every day. That is the issue. I've always known she was vindictive, a spy, and after wealth/men. I also knew this would happen eventually - but never imagined to this extent.
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It doesn't matter how often she contacts you, or how. Just ignore her every single time. Permanently. Done, It really couldn't be simpler.
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Ocdtrauma70 Dec 5, 2025
Thank you.
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If she had to work to pay her own expenses, she wouldn’t have all day to harass you. My dogs, left alone, almost dug a hole through my floor because they had all day to work on it.

You need to stop enabling her to harass you.
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Which do you want more: (1) to not be stalked and harassed; or (2) to maintain your image and self-image as a person who is "too compassionate" to stop giving money to the person who is stalking and harassing you. If you ever want the first thing more than you want the second thing, you'll be able to do what is within your control to try to stop the stalking and harassment.
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