To be really struggling to deal with my mother whose obsessed with conspiracy theories?

[giraffes2021]

So my mother came round today in the space of two hours this is what I've been told :

My son has picked up hand foot and mouth from nursery because he's been round vaccinated people
The queen is dead and they haven't announced it yet
Princess Diana is not actually dead she's in hiding
Those who have been vaccinated will be really poorly this winter because of the vaccine
Beyoncé and jayz are being done for child trafficking
Billy gates has been shot
Pfizer has confirmed the vaccine sheds and harms
Hilary Clinton is a child abductor
Michelle Obama is a transvestite

All these things and more have taken over her life it's literally unbearable she was going mad today too as I said I didn't believe in the devil

It's consumed her I feel sad as she's home on her own and obviously getting caught up in all this however even when I see her and take the grandchildren it's alllll she talks about!!!!

I meant to ask at the end of this how do I deal with it? It's driving me up the wall! Finding it hard to want to spend time with her which isn't nice

Sounds like my mum!!

Vatican was taken over by US military and everyone inside executed.
Pope is a hologram.
Queen is a hologram.
Countless celebrities have been executed and replaced by clones.
Trump controls the US military even tho Biden is president....

And the crazy train goes around and around and around

Hey @giraffes2021 - eek! has your mother always been like this or have you noticed a general ‘fall’ I to this stuff over a certain period of time?

Is your dad or other family around to discuss this with? If not And this is new behaviour of seriously consider talking to mental health professionals or her Gp practice? I dont jump straight to assuming MH issues everytime but to be so gullible/entrenched in these beliefs and the devil etc would worry me especially if new behaviour.

My adult son had a breakdown 4 years ago and is now diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He believes deeply in similar conspiracy theories. But he also has the voice of Vladimir Putin in his head (put there by Google) who thinks he’s a double agent.

I wish you all the best in what steps to take with your mum.

Mine is the same, its exhausting.

@TheCatterall no my dad hasn't been around for a very long time.
She is defo getting worse as time goes on!
She is always paranoid she reads her spam emails and goes crazy about them and trying to explain to her that it's junk doesn't register. I wouldn't mind if she spoke about it for a while and changed subject but she doesn't! She defo has mental health problems she's very up and down, she wouldn't tell me specifically what she's been diagnosed with as she wouldn't want to be seen as being weak in her eyes if that makes sense.
It's just going to get worse as time goes on

@TheCatterall sorry about your son that must be hard to deal with. X

@BuffyTheBuffetSlayer hahaha at least I'm not the only one! She just keeps saying wait till trump gets back in office !

Was she always like this? Has there been some trigger to make things worse?

I think the pandemic has had an effect on people's mental health which will last for many years.

Pandemic and conspiracy theories..
An awful intertwined combination.

So sorry you (we as a collective!) are all going through this....

And breathe...

There are help guides and material for helping families deal with this. BBC guide

But yeah, that sounds incredibly time consuming and wearisome as well as worrying.

@giraffes2021 I get that too!! Good old Trump the world's saviour 🤣🤣

I don't let it bother me anymore, sometimes I'll try to reason with her.

For example, I took DC to visit. While taking my shoes off she whispered "there's going to be a worldwide blackout tonight. Shhhhhh! It's a secret mission, trump's military are ambushing all the paedo rings around the world tonight, and the only way to do it is by cutting power around the world so the paedo's don't get a heads up."

Oh yeh? Big secret huh? Can't be that big a secret if auld granny buffy from up the road knows about it 🤷‍♀️

Can't argue with stupid! At least your cazy train stops with your mum. My DB is a flat earther 🤣🤣

My Mum is exactly the same. She has been sucked in by all sorts of conspiracy theories. It started when she was reading about Madeline in Portugal, and it spiralled from there.
Her favourite topic is Faul McCartney and the celebs who have been replaced.
I can’t reason with her, so have developed my very own “that’s nice dear” and keep using that.
It is a growing thing, particular since the pandemic.

She sounds very far down the rabbit hole. Eek.

MIL exactly the same an utter nightmare to be around, not only has very strong political views and views on everything, gets all her information from you tube videos, refuses to watch the news and she is a subject matter expert in... well every subject which is incredible considering she's rarely left the house properly in years.

Soon as we walk in the house she starts, it's like she can't have a normal conversation, we've been round hours and she's not even asked how son/ grandson/ anyone is she just talks at everyone about whatever issue she's seen on the internet and wonders why I won't leave DS with her !

I feel upset, like I have lost a part of my Mum that I will never get back, due to conspiracy theories. Anyone else feel the same?

There is no helping her. She says she enjoys reading them and won’t stop.

Does she think that the moon landings were faked?

I worked with a total loon who said that the twin towers had not collapsed it was just clever sound effects.

Some people need help.

You may find this podcast useful podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/rn-presents-this-much-is-true/id1370255107

My Sil says that 9/11 was an inside job. She says it's obvious that G Bush knew in advance, apparently "he never looked shocked when told" and the buildings "fell the wrong way". She also thinks we're all going to end up working for Bill Gates as slaves.

I think I’d just try to be flippant and not get drawn into it. Arguing is pointless because that implies she has some level of rational thinking.

So if she said to me ‘Beyoncé and Jay-Z/Hilary Clinton are kidnapping children’ I’d say ‘oh well don’t worry about it, we live in Manchester and they’re in the USA so they’re not likely to pose a danger to our kids.’

Or just simply ‘Well, if that’s what you think, that’s what you think. Let’s talk about something else.’

I would distance myself really but I get that it’s your mum so it’s not that easy.

I'd be curious what arguments does she have for the queen one? Sorry, it s hilarious 🤣 My grandma is a bit like this, thankfully not regarding the pandemics, she even got her vaccine.

@KloppsTeeth this is exactly how I feel at the moment we cannot have a proper relationship because of all these things she's obsessed with as it's literally all she speaks about x
It's like kids have been poorly and she just goes on and on about the vaccine just want to tell her to eff off

My mother is law is anti vax, thinks 'truth seekers' are a thing and apparently doesn't believe in gravity...

I think it’s a symptom of distrusting the authorities. Hardly surprising given the current lot.

I don’t generally believe conspiracy theories, there are a couple I am ‘open minded’ to though.

@giraffes2021 Same. Part of her that I knew is lost to these priorities. Every conversation comes around to a theory or another.
If we are living in a matrix controlled by aliens, there isn’t anything that a I can do about it, so I need to just get on with my life.

Yes, my dad has fallen down this well slightly. I have noticed when he is depressed it’s worse. Some of them I think there could be a bit of truth to, and other times I do think “what the hell are you chatting about.”

He definitely doesn’t trust ‘the authorities,’ or ‘the establishment.’

Sometimes I engage and when I think he’s talking rubbish I will tell him usually. On days I don’t have the energy I just nod and say mmmhhhmmmm.