The Atlantic

Dear Therapist: My Mom Used to Abuse Me. Should I Keep Her in My Life?

Everyone tells me she should be there for the birth of my child, but I just don’t trust her.


Dear Therapist,

My mother has textbook borderline personality disorder—extreme insecurity, where anything can trigger her. When we were growing up, this manifested in physical abuse or the destruction of some item, like throwing a TV on the ground. She would cut my hair as punishment for bad behavior, call me a whore, and, when I got my period, she told me “it wasn’t real” and wouldn’t buy me tampons. She walked out of my wedding two years ago because “clearly I didn’t want her there.” My method of dealing since I was young was to try to become


Mai multe de la The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min cititePolitics
The Atlantic Politics Daily: Impeachment Comes to a Screen Near You
The witness to watch today was William Taylor, who showed up with new information. Plus, a new candidate for Obama’s heir—and for the 2020 Democratic primary?
The Atlantic5 min cititePolitics
Conservatives Should Want to Impeach Trump
Outsourcing U.S. diplomacy to Rudy Giuliani was a constitutional violation—one whose gravity Republicans might see if they weren’t so busy making excuses for the president.
The Atlantic4 min cititePolitics
Erdoğan Defies Trump. So Why Do They Get Along?
He defied the United States repeatedly, bought Russian weapons, and assaulted American partners in Syria. Now Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is headed to the White House for a meeting with Donald Trump. So will he get away with it? Probably.