In this painful meditation I hear one core belief: healthy mothers must strive to help their children be healthy.

We grieve when our mothers are destructive to us, but we try to bear it.

However, I believe we have an overriding obligation to protect our children, and that means staying sane and providing a sane environment.

As others have suggested, it will probably take expert intervention and decisive action to help your mother. I know that if someday my mental vulnerability causes me to become destructive to my loved ones I would hope and pray someone will kindly prevent me from hurting them.

Here’s hoping you find courage and comfort and compassion to work through this difficult passage.