I'm fairly sure there is something going on with my Mum other than being strange and stupid. I don't know what it is and it's hard to explain it to anyone who hasn't witness her behaviour but she has quite a few things that are making her and consequently our life very difficult . The lastest is HERE.

She doesn't 'get' social cues, ie she'll visit us, be here all day despite our hints that she needs to go, if we try to be more forceful - say we have things to do she wants to stay and help or come with

She just doesn't 'get' jokes or sarcasm. Which seems trivial and it is but I think it's also a symptom of what is going on in her head. And I'm not talking riddles, I mean things like me saying I'll dress Isaac up in a business siut and send him out to work. She would say "oh no you can't do that he's too little!" Things that are obviously not serious, she takes very seriously.

Whenever we see her all she ever talks about is how awful her life is, how much she hates her job etc etc Pat (my brother) wont get a job or pay rent, I have no money, I have no friends. As children she used to think people didn't want to be friends with us at primary school because she was a welfare mum. At that age the kids don't care. She cant understand why no-one wants to be her friend.

She asks advice then ignores it. ALL the time.

She has an unrealistic self image, many people do but she talks about herself all he time and about how she looks 10 years younger than she is (she doesn't! more like 10 years older if anyhting becasue she stresses so much), she thinks she can act (she cant!! lol), she thinks she can sing (she's terrible), etc.

I took my BF to visit her - we stayed for 2 weeks over the school holidays, been together a month. She said that if we wanted to get married she would sign the papers. I was 15.

She followed me when I move to QLD with my BF because when I have children I'll need her help. I was 17.

She is also extremely anxious all the time, she is paranoid about the littlest things.

Alot of the things she does are a normal reaction but exaggerated. She'll have a very minor accident and be scared to drive the car for a month and refuse to do more than 50k's anywhere incl the motorway.

She is depresssed. Not sure if this is a sypmtom or a result of the way she thinks.

So my question is, does anyone have any idea's as to where we might start to get some help for her?

MIL suggested that I ask Centrelink to be her nominee and get her on a disability pension as she can't hold down a job - partly because of bad decisions and also because I think, employers/ clients simply find her too hard to get along with.

What would you do?