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[quote=Anonymous]I’m hoping there is someone out there with a family member who has mental illness, or is in a similar situation because of dementia or other cognitive impairments.

How do I deal with the emotions from being verbally abused by a mentally ill family member? Unfortunately this person is relatively independent and coherent, so her words hurt in a way that a string of random garbled things would not.

I’ve posted about this relative before, but the short version is that we have been no-contact with her for many years. She uses blocked phone numbers and third parties to find our phone numbers and emails and leaves horrible emails and voice mails, and sometimes send disturbing (but legal) packages. She does so from outside the legal jurisdiction in which we live and in perfect circumvention of various digital harassment laws, so we have not yet been able to stop her.

So…legality and logistics aside, how do you manage hearing and seeing horrible things about you? I know rationally that this person is mentally ill, but the words she says are not random and are said with intent and specificity. She takes my worst vulnerabilities and uses them in horrible ways.

I know that what she says about me comes from a place of deep illness and brokenness, but hearing and seeing these words is breaking me. And because someone will ask: we’ve tried everything short of the witness protection program and actual name changes to stop the harassment.

Does anyone have techniques they’ve employed to survive this kind of situation?[/quote]

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