Question
mom is 54 yrs old. she has been a smoker and overweight all my life. iv always worried about her health w/ those problems especially now that she's gotten older. then there's this new thing w/ her (possibly going through menopause idk). she, who once was a weekend shopping queen, running w/ her best friends, stopping by to irritate me and my husband has now become a paranoid, batty woman. she reads and writes on blogs all day (has become unemployed due to layoff) about conspiracies. all she talks now is death and destruction. she won't even leave the house anymore! says she's being tracked and followed. every car that drives by is a potential threat. every neighbor is an agent. (she's suing a very prominent lawfirm and says they want to silence her and that they are tied in w/ the government) everybody's so evil, full of demons. she goes on and on about this to family members when they visit. i can see they're looking at her sideways like "what's happened to her?" my mom is a very intelligent lady. she's received a degree in english and has worked for major lawfirms and the city's main newspaper as an editor. talking to her, she still talks normally, bursting w/ energy and very entertaining as always, but it's always about this mess. what is wrong w/ her? my brother jokes that she's going crazy, but really it's sad and scary to me. i don't know what to do this change has taken place gradually over the past year. is she just getting old? my grandmother, who does live w/ my mom, age 87, has always talked death, doom, gloom. wondering if my mom is just becoming that way herself? ideas and advice appreciated