Over The Borderline: Today's Nugget

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Today's Nugget

Today's Memory Nugget is sponsored by Sutter Home Chardonney.
The go-to inebriation of choice for poor folk with crazy mamas.

It has never been advisable to have my mother deal with anything truly important. She would either panic, or (purposely, it seems) say the EXACT wrong thing to either piss the other person off...or attempt to garner more "poor her" attention.

In fact, it got so bad, that my dad would never let her deal with utilities phone calls or bill collectors. If the caller wanted to talk to her specifically, he would say "my wife is an invalid, I handle all her business."

The prime example of her needing to be seen as "poor her" rather than meeting the immediate goal, is when she had to speak in court years ago regarding a traffic accident.

Someone ran the light at the intersection, totally the van she was driving. She then had back pain she was being treated for, that she said was new pain due to the accident.

The attorney thought she had a good case due to the fault of the other driver...and simply wanted medical reimbursement for the back injury.

When on the stand, the opposing attorney asked "have you ever had back pain before?"

Well...my mother...always wanting to seem the sickest in the room...and needing everyone to feel sorry for her...responded: "ohhh yes, I am always in pain. For years and years...."

Case closed.

1 comment:

LaceAugust 25, 2011 at 9:49 PM
I would love to have been a fly on the wall in that courtroom! I can't believe she said that, well yes I can, but... Really? Poor attorney, I bet he felt like smacking her.
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From the National Institute of Mental Health website

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation.

People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.
People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders.