Dealing with conspiracy theorist family members?

[KDbeads]

I think I'm going nuts....  Bear with me, I'll try to explain but looking for insight as well.

My mom, over the last 7 years has turned into a highly religious conspiracy believing FoxNews watching crazy person.  Every time I talk to her it's another conspiracy, this week it's the 'faked' flight 77 on 9/11, then she tried starting in on the mass die offs of birds but I got a call on the other line *cough cough*.  She's also trying to rationalize, diminish and blame the government for my brother's jail, theft and drug exploits (going on 15 years of screwing up now, yet he's the 'victim') after he was arrested yet again this weekend, even after my hubby and stepfather found crack pipes in the truck

This is a woman who raised me to be a critical thinker, to only trust what can be proven, to look for more than one source of information when presented with the far fetched.........  And she's totally fallen into this... I don't know what to call it but it's heartbreaking to hear her like this.  And now, I'll be moving close enough to have visits for the first time in 12 years.

There's no way to get her into therapy, we've been trying.  We try and point out all the factual evidence for all these cover ups but don't outright argue with her and we are both frustrated.  Hubby is living with her right now and says she's not even close to the same person she was when he first met her.  Even before this I could only handle her in small doses before my BP started rising (PTSD, among other things related to my upbringing).

Anyone on the board dealing with someone like this close in the family and maybe have some insight?  The religious part I can handle, it's the rest of the package that has me terrified.

[LegendarySandwich]

How old is she? Is she going senile?

[KDbeads]

57.  I don't think senility/dementia/Alzheimers is the cause at this point.  She still works full time as an accountant over 3 plants, manages the rest of her affairs quite well, no signs of slippage there.  Though I'm not willing to rule anything out.  Alzheimers does run in the family.

[LegendarySandwich]

57.  I don't think senility/dementia/Alzheimers is the cause at this point.  She still works full time as an accountant over 3 plants, manages the rest of her affairs quite well, no signs of slippage there.  Though I'm not willing to rule anything out.  Alzheimers does run in the family.

Some type of erosion of the mind is going on here. I mean, one doesn't just go from being a rational skeptic to being a crazy religious conspiracy theorist without something happening in the brain.

[KDbeads]

FoxNews brainwashing?  

[DJAkuma]

Government are made up of people, and those people love to talk. They tend to assume they can trust their friends and family who in turn assume they can trust their friends and family. That's why the government is really lousy at keeping secrets for long and why we know about things like J Edgar Hoovers crossdressing and things like watergate.

My dad used to be sure that the pyramids couldn't have possibly been built by people and it had to have been aliens, I've slowly been eroding that away by giving him factual information with reputable sources.

[periwinklefish]