[DottedZebra]

Hey guys!
So, my mother[52] has every symptom of being a hypochondriac. She believes she has a staphylococcus epidermis and it's eating her alive.

At first, her parents (my grandparents) dedicated a lot of time into believing her and going from doctor to doctor to treat her. However, everybody said she was healthy. Since nothing turned out, my grandparents proposed checking up with a psychiatrist but when she went to the consults she pretended to be normal and afterwards stopped going at all. Meanwhile, at home she kept insisting that she was ill.

After attempted suicide, she went to a hospital where she was diagnosed as a hypochondriac and given meds. But even after the doctors told her it's all in her head, she refused to believe it and refused to take any meds (she even hid her meds in the hospital). The doctors in the hospital eventually said that they couldn't help her if she wouldn't cooperate and released her.

It seems to worsen every day. Now, because everybody stopped believing she was ill, she keeps repeating that she's going to die, and "that'll show us". She became obsessed, saying she feels ill and she's going to die every day.

Is there any way to bring her back to her senses? Before becoming so obsessed she used to be an amazing mom, very intelligent, funny and a really successful teacher, loved by all her students. Now she refuses to work and became home bound drinking coffee, eating and smoking excessively.

If you need any further details, please ask. This seriously affected the family dynamic and I'm asking for help here because there's nothing i can do at this point in real life.

tl;dr: My mom is a hypochondriac and it's ruining my family. She refuses to get help.

[healingme4me]

One thing that stands out are guilt trips. i.e., 'that'll show you.'

At this point, learning some skills to become emotionally detached and setting boundaries could be useful. It's difficult to watch someone fall into the depths of despair, yet, all you can do is learn to cope, detach and accept what you know to be true.

You don't have to accept her guilt trips and attention seeking.