I am a 24F that was currently living at home with both of my parents. I suffer from depression and anxiety and don’t really have a good social life as I am scared to leave the house ( I have a lot of trauma). I hold down an online marketing job and I provide money for bills and food.
Over the past few months my parents have been becoming progressively more worried about me. Saying things like “if you don’t get over this you won’t have a good life , you won’t have family” and “you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone”. However in the last few weeks after my mum talked to her opinionated friends believe that my medication is ‘numbing me’ and it is the reason for all this. She had been trying to get me to stop for the last 2 weeks before this happened.
Two days ago , I got home after seeing my only bestie, and was getting ready for bed and couldn’t find my medication. I asked mum is she had seen it around and she stated that “ it wasn’t good for me and I threw it out”. I immediately started panicking, rummaged through the garbage , but it was nowhere. When my parents went to bed I got a backpack of my things called my bestie, and for now with her permission I am living there. My parents have been spam ringing me for the last 2 days , but I want nothing to do with them. They pushed their values onto me and now I have to go to the doctor again to get the medicine I need to function, due to this I am behind work and am filled with anxiety. AmI the asshole for not responding?
NTA
You need to protect yourself. If that means cutting ties with them (even temporarily) then that’s what you should do.
Good luck, OP.
nta. that was a terrible thing your mom did, and it’s a good sign it’s not safe for you to stay there.
also, you’re a grown up. it’s not running away as much as it is moving out.
Thank you it means a lot to have support from people
If they are that controlling feel like you’d be happier not living with them but the economy makes that super hard to do
NTA…Medication is serious and all decisions about discontinuation should be made by doctors and not your family. Congratulations on standing up to them.
NTA. Your parents did you no favors. Find someplace new to live and don’t return.
Apart from anything else, anxiety meds are absolutely not supposed to be gone off cold turkey, your mother is very much setting you up for a medical emergency by doing that. NTA
My brain literally just started snapping, crackling, and popping at the thought of going off something like lexapro cold turkey.
NTA If they touch your medication I lose all sympathy. That’s abuse even if it’s from some ignorant idea that medication is “bad” which has been a myth since I was a kid.
You got to get out of there. You already said you pay the bills and food so I’m sure you could make it work at some cheap little place, or rooming with a friend.
You’re an adult. You cannot “run away from home.” You can, however, move out–which it appears you have done.
This. The mindset on display says so much
Poor OP has been infantilized, sounds like
Absolutely NTA. Anyone who has ever transitioned from one anti-depressant to another knows that going cold turkey can cause a huge amount of debilitating problems.
Imagine it wasn’t your mom and someone you didn’t know took your meds? Doesn’t matter what they did with them. That’s called theft.
Ultimately you can decide how far you want to take it, but your parents are not allies.
NTA
Turn off tracking on your phone. Report the theft to your doctor and the other proper authorities.