u/Puzzled_Donut_5807

This all began about 4 weeks ago with my mom (59). Around 10 am the day this started, she had a perfectly normal and regular phone call with my sister (26), and by noon the same day she call me (M30) and was talking all sorts of nonsense. By 4 pm that day she was in an utter delusional panicked & manic state, believing she had uncovered an intricate family real estate fraud targeted against her and that all of her technology (phones, computers, router, home security system, fire alarms, etc) had been hacked and people were coming to kill her.

For background and context leading up to this, my mother has worked a work-from-home technical job for that last 7 years. She was miserable at her previous job, and ended up starting a new job in January where she was much happier. In late March, the company did a 10% layoff and she was impacted, which sent her into a severe and deep depression. Six weeks later - her step mother, who helped raise her, passed unexpectedly. They had a very complex relationship and were not on good terms when she passed. Then, 4 weeks after that, she had this sudden shift in her mental state, exhibiting severe signs of paranoia, mania, and erratic behavior.

In the days that followed she continued going through these manic states and where she would talk a million miles per hour, she was actively forgetting things she was saying or forgetting things that happened, and thought everyone around her was conspiring against her. During this stretch, she ripped out the home security system and cut the wires at 1 am one night, she filed a police report about her “compromised technology,” She made her husband buy a new router, and other devices. She would disappear for hours driving without her phone. She started to blame my stepdad for all the hacking she believed was happening.

With all of this going on, we tried everything to convince her to get evaluated or go to a hospital because of the sudden shift in behavior. She claimed she was of “sound mind and body” and didn’t need to do that. We consulted with local Mental Health Crisis Centers and hospitals to determine how we can get her help. Ultimately, we had no success leveraging them to convince her to get evaluated and we were unable to get a proper justification for an involuntary hold for 72 hours despite the extremely erratic behavior and sudden shift in mental state. She also is able to mask in front of different people, like the crisis center team - emphasizing that she’s fine and that she doesn’t understand why she’s being ganged up on.

In the weeks that followed, the heightened manic states have subsided a bit, but she continues to act extremely strange. Conversations are short, she lacks any emotion, she is losing belongings, she’s starting to make impulsive decisions like trying to buy a new car, move out of state, and wanting divorce her husband. She has stopped participating in her regular activities and will sit at home all day doing who knows what, or go on random drives (erratically).

We are extremely concerned, frustrated, tired, and scared that this is our reality now. We feel as though we’ve exhausted all options to try and get her help and she refuses to see a doctor. She’s continuing this decline and self sabotage and we don’t know how to help, or what this could be. I’m hoping to find someone that has experienced something similar and can help give advice on what we can do, if anything, or if this can get better. We just want our mom back.

This all began about 4 weeks ago with my mom (59). Around 10 am the day this started, she had a perfectly normal and regular phone call with my sister (26), and by noon the same day she call me (M30) and was talking all sorts of nonsense. By 4 pm that day she was in an utter delusional panicked & manic state, believing she had uncovered an intricate family real estate fraud targeted against her and that all of her technology (phones, computers, router, home security system, fire alarms, etc) had been hacked and people were coming to kill her.

For background and context leading up to this, my mother has worked a work-from-home technical job for that last 7 years. She was miserable at her previous job, and ended up starting a new job in January where she was much happier. In late March, the company did a 10% layoff and she was impacted, which sent her into a severe and deep depression. Six weeks later - her step mother, who helped raise her, passed unexpectedly. They had a very complex relationship and were not on good terms when she passed. Then, 4 weeks after that, she had this sudden shift in her mental state, exhibiting severe signs of paranoia, mania, and erratic behavior.

In the days that followed she continued going through these manic states and where she would talk a million miles per hour, she was actively forgetting things she was saying or forgetting things that happened, and thought everyone around her was conspiring against her. During this stretch, she ripped out the home security system and cut the wires at 1 am one night, she filed a police report about her “compromised technology,” She made her husband buy a new router, and other devices. She would disappear for hours driving without her phone. She started to blame my stepdad for all the hacking she believed was happening.

With all of this going on, we tried everything to convince her to get evaluated or go to a hospital because of the sudden shift in behavior. She claimed she was of “sound mind and body” and didn’t need to do that. We consulted with local Mental Health Crisis Centers and hospitals to determine how we can get her help. Ultimately, we had no success leveraging them to convince her to get evaluated and we were unable to get a proper justification for an involuntary hold for 72 hours despite the extremely erratic behavior and sudden shift in mental state. She also is able to mask in front of different people, like the crisis center team - emphasizing that she’s fine and that she doesn’t understand why she’s being ganged up on.

In the weeks that followed, the heightened manic states have subsided a bit, but she continues to act extremely strange. Conversations are short, she lacks any emotion, she is losing belongings, she’s starting to make impulsive decisions like trying to buy a new car, move out of state, and wanting divorce her husband. She has stopped participating in her regular activities and will sit at home all day doing who knows what, or go on random drives (erratically).

We are extremely concerned, frustrated, tired, and scared that this is our reality now. We feel as though we’ve exhausted all options to try and get her help and she refuses to see a doctor. She’s continuing this decline and self sabotage and we don’t know how to help, or what this could be. I’m hoping to find someone that has experienced something similar and can help give advice on what we can do, if anything, or if this can get better. We just want our mom back.