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Elderly parents

Anxiety/depression in mum?

2 replies

MissisBoote · 17/02/2018 09:07

I think my dm has started to develop anxiety or depression or possibly stress.

She's early 70's. She's got a lot of emotional stress going on involving my dB and his children. She seems to dwell on the bad stuff rather than being able to focus on the positive (which she used to do). She's reminding me of her mum when she got older (who also had depression).

It's like she has so much going on in her brain that she doesn't properly pay attention to tasks that she's doing at the time. This means that she has accidents (burns herself when she's cooking or trips over as she's rushing). This also causes arguments between her and her husband as he thinks she's accusing him off not doing stuff properly as she has a negative slant to her questions. A recent example being when they were looking after the dc's and she had to pop out, when she came back my stepdad was putting the rubbish out, so the first thing she said to him was 'who' she supervising x? ' when he'd only been out of the house for 2 mins. Causing him to react as he felt that she thought he'd not been looking after the gc properly. (they're old enough to be fine for a few mins when putting the bins out).

Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Any tips on how I could raise it with her? We have a good relationship but don't want her to think that I'm having a go at her.

OP posts:
mrsmalcolmreynolds · 18/02/2018 20:26

Perhaps start by trying a more general conversation about how she's feeling? Is she willing to discuss personal stuff like your DB? If so maybe talk about the effect those stresses inevitably have - perhaps she'll talk about whether she is "just" stressed and lashing out or whether she feels something else is going on?

If that goes ok maybe some self help books on stress management and/or CBT could be a next step?

MissisBoote · 19/02/2018 13:47

That's a good idea to talk about the effects of the stressed.
Yes she's more than happy to open up to me about her feelings.
Will see how she is next time I speak to her.

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