How to support my mom after she found out my dad was cheating?
in Psychology & Therapy ·
I decided to join this forum because I saw way too much of myself in what you described about your mom. She’s clearly going through hell right now, and if she hasn't reached out for professional help yet, she seriously needs to. I ended up checking into an outpatient program at Mayo Clinic, and honestly, between the right meds and the therapy there, I think I managed to pull myself back from the edge. I was a total wreck, plain and simple. I spent so much time digging into my own head—reading, analyzing everything about my upbringing, my childhood, just writing and writing until all that baggage from when I was a kid finally started pouring out. At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter if your dad cheated; what matters is your mom's crushing lack of self-esteem, that deep-seated fear of being abandoned, and that feeling that she's just been betrayed and isn't good enough. The depression was bound to hit eventually; this situation was just the spark that lit the fuse. With a solid medical team, support from the family, and especially honest communication with her husband—plus doing the heavy lifting on herself—she can get through this. You can't just rely on pills; you have to figure out *why* you feel so broken, otherwise, it just eats you alive. I chose to look at my own depression as a chance to finally tackle my life's blockages, my complexes, and those imaginary guilt trips I carried around. It was the only way I could actually change who I am and move forward. That process taught me my own worth and that I had to learn to love myself before anyone else could truly value me. There’s a lot of layers to this, so if she can, please encourage her to speak up when she's in that outpatient program or find someone she trusts to vent to about everything she's been carrying since she was little. She’ll find herself again. Sending her nothing but the best.