My mom called me the morning after I was admitted on an emergency basis to the locked ward of a psych hospital, on 24/7 suicide watch. Her exact words when I picked up the phone were, "You shouldn't have thoughts like that, dear. God doesn't like that."

I think parents tend not to want to think something is seriously wrong with their children. It's easier to live in denial than it is to accept that not everything is rosy and perfect, especially when (I guess) they feel helpless to do anything.

I don't have any great words of wisdom, but I'm willing to bet there are a lot of us here who understand. Hang in there.

BTW -- just out of curiosity, does your mom have some sort of mental illness too? My mom has raging borderline personality disorder and major depression and is a flaming narcissist, which everyone has figured out but her (even my therapists over the years have been able to dx her from a distance, based on my descriptions!), and when anyone suggests maybe a psych referral is in order, she goes off on her "psychiatrists are quacks" rant and won't hear it. So that's another possibility -- maybe she sees in you what she doesn't want to see in herself??

Again, I dunno, but I do know denial is a pretty powerful thing. Best of luck to you. Keep posting -- somebody here is bound to have some ideas.

Candy