My mother is so volatile

[sidest]

My mother can be great, and we all get on fine. Sometimes she'll become the most sensitive and argumentative person over the stupidest issues. It's never over anything reasonable.

The incident that is making me write this literally happened an hour ago:

We were looking through some records, and she picked one up close to the corner. My dad and I saw it bend slightly so we both said 'Mind that!'. She then instantly puts the record down on the table like a little child and goes off. This escalates into a rant about how she can't do anything and can't say anything, that we're treating her like a little child etc. No amount of logic or reason can subdue her temper. I've never seen this with anyone else in my life.

My poor old dad takes the brunt of it, and it's dragging him down. We're starting a new family business, which is causing her some worry, but at the same time incidents like this knock us back and affect our ability to work properly. It's so destructive.

I don't know what to do. I hate to see my mum in a state, but it's really affecting my dad. It's not exactly doing me any good either.

I'm trying to keep perky at the moment, and am surprisingly okay. But I'm just lost. She's so stubborn in these situations. I'm guessing there is underlying depression. Anyone have any experience of something like this?

[Hidden]

Hi sidest my mother was the same, lovely one minute and a monster the next. Anything could set her off and she would shout and yell and storm about the place. She would shout that everyone else could make mistakes but she wasn't allowed to.

I worked out years later that she was very unhappy and frustrated with her life (and my dad) and these episodes provided an emotional outlet for her. Maybe that's the case with your mother?

Have you tried sitting down and talking with her when she is calm to find out what is bothering her? Maybe she could talk it out rather than rant? Good luck!

Bev x