u/Secret-Detail-1181

I (26F) don’t think my mom (50s) believes me that I have OCD. Looking back on my teen years, this isn’t surprising. My mental health was largely ignored because I “seemed fine” (aka I had good grades). Even after my parents found out I was self harming, & knew about my traumatic experiences, I didn’t see a licensed therapist or psychiatrist until I took myself to the counselors at my school when I was 16. Anytime I brought up antidepressants it was brushed under the rug because god was the answer to all my problems. If it wasn’t anything besides depression or anxiety she didn’t believe me. It is crazy to me because she has depression & anxiety. She just has too much internalized stigma about mental health. Anytime I tried to talk to her about anything beyond what she deemed “normal” mental health problems I was told to stop self diagnosing, scoffed at, told I don’t have XYZ, told I didn’t have signs as a kid, she compared my experience to my brothers (who’s mental health was priority #1). I’ve just always been too much for my family, my feelings are too much, I’m too loud, I’m too sensitive. Now that my therapist & my PCP have diagnosed me & I have a prescription, I’ve been trying to be more comfortable talking about it, & I want the support of my family. But every time I try I get 2-4 word responses, her tone changes, she’ll change the subject. I don’t know why I thought this would be different, I just really hoped that once I got diagnosed she’d believe me & i could talk about it with her. Even me telling her I got diagnosed by my PCP & got meds was met with a tangible lack of enthusiasm & then she left the room. It just sucks. It’s so invalidating, & part of the reason it took me so long to get help.

My son is almost 2 1/2, & is getting really into imaginative play. Lately he loves running around cupping his hand like he’s holding something & pretending he has all kinds of little animals to hold. For the last few days it’s been lizards, & then the other night he just reached behind his back, made a scooping motion toward his butt, & said “look! My lizard came out of my butt!”, & now he’s running around pulling lizards out of everyone’s butts. It’s an epidemic truly.

My best friends dad fell an estimated 12 ft, landed on his face, & is in a coma. His condition is very up in the air right now, he’s constantly getting scans, & it could go in any direction. This is really hard & scary for everyone, I’ve known her & her family for 18 years, & I feel absolutely terrible. I just want to help them, in any way I can, but I have no idea how. No matter what happens, they have so much struggle ahead of them. What can I do to help?