Needing advice on family member with unknown mental illness? Please serious responses only. Really take the time to read!! I have included bullet points below for a quick view version since the post is quite long.

· Made over 20 Dogs and cats go missing

· Ocular Migraines

· Change personalities super fast (Sad to Happy when around people other than my father.)

· Hidden alcoholic

· Hides smoking cigarettes (Previously for years nobody knew she smoked)

· Manipulative (Turns family members against each other)

· Plays victim (to the extreme)

· Sick in bed all the time (throwing up or migraines)

· Addicted to social media (extreme on all platforms, ex. 31,000 pins on Pinterest)

· Posts photos of herself in yoga poses to gain attention (craves attention)

· Runs to her family (for a security blanket)

· Affair?. (left my dad for a week)

· Last year she tried to commit suicide (pills)

· Lost tons of weight (Eating disorder – Anorexia?)

· Midlife crisis (New Convertible)

· She has no job, doesn’t cook or clean sits at home all the time

The Post:

I am looking for some insight on a family member that I believe may be seriously mentally ill and refuses to get help and find answers. This individual is my stepmother and has been married to my father for 7 years.

I am not looking for advice on how to handle the person I am looking solely for mental health related medical explanations that could explain these behaviors.

Here are symptoms that I have encountered:

Symptom 1: Family pets

Over the course of seven years, over 20 family pet dogs have disappeared from my dad’s house. My stepmom was lying to us and manipulating all of our family members on both sides into convincing the family that someone was taking the dogs away. My dad set up cameras throughout his house and yard and put locks on their outdoor kennel for extra safety. The dogs continued to disappear without explanation. For some reason, I had a feeling that my stepmom could be the one causing the dogs to disappear. When the subject came up about who could have done such a horrible thing she would say things like “whoever did this should rot in hell” (Remember this has been going on for seven years). About a month after my dad had put the locks on the kennels and put cameras throughout the house, he had 2 more dogs disappear. I went to investigate and found the camera cables were cut, the kennels had been flipped over, and the front locks on the kennel doors looked like someone tried to cut them. After reviewing the camera footage, all of the evidence pointed directly to my stepmom. She continued to lie about doing this to all of our animals for the next three months and seemed to be very adamant that she was not guilty. Eventually through church, my dad convinced her to talk to a pastor, to whom she finally admitted she had gotten rid of all of the dogs. Even though she admitted to the crime, she never told anyone what exactly she did with or to the dogs. She staged the scenes of the disappearances by cutting camera cables that my dad had set up within the house. She was the one that cut the locks as well. She did all of these things on her own.

Symptom 2: Family Members

Throughout the course of the years after the dog incident my stepmom has continuously tried to alienate my dad’s side of the family from him during things such as special holidays and “family events”. Example #1 would be taking him away during father’s day to her parents’ house making it to where non of his children can spend time with him. Example #2 would be making him spend every holiday with her kids and family and not inviting my side of the family along. Example #3 would be talking badly about our family members continuously. (NOTE: My dad and her have no children together)She has been VERY MANIPULATIVE to my dad for many years. When I confronted her this year about the holidays she sent a nasty email swearing and making herself the victim.

Symptom 3: Other issues

People love her around town, but it is because she puts on a fake act when she is around family and friends. It almost seems like she has another personality. One minute she can be fighting with my dad and then see someone else a split second later and be OVER THE TOP happy. My dad tries to defend her by telling us that when she is alone she is laying in bed throwing up all the time, eyes dilated with ocular migraines and not able to eat or move. Keep in mind, we can see on social media that she is constantly posting yoga pictures of herself standing on her head and doing crazy poses. She is CONSTANTLY on social media and stirring drama (over 31,000 pins on pinterest for example). My dad says she doesn’t drink but every time a family member is around she is drinking heavily and it seems that she is an alcoholic as well. She also was hiding smoking cigarettes from everyone. On top of this, she is about 5’5 and weights 90 pounds. She never eats and I believe she also has an eating disorder. My father has told me he is unhappy but he is in denial. About a year ago he came to me in secret asking if I thought she was cheating on him. It seems as though she is having a mid life crisis along with everything else because she just got a brand new convertible and left my dad for a week.

Symptom 4: Attempted suicide

Last year in December my stepmom took a bunch of pills and tried to commit suicide. She told my dad that this was because of differences she was having with her sons. Her sons wouldn’t let her be around their kids. We still think this was not the full story of why she did it. My dad thinks it was because of a possible affair she was having.

PLEASE HELP!!!! I need medical answers for her behavior. I am just trying to find a medical explanation so I can tell my dad. He is in complete denial and continues to stick up for her.

I didnt mean diagnosis. I meant just thoughts on what you think could be her illness