First, it is very hard for people who have not experienced this to believe it. Honestly, would you believe it if you had not experienced it? So, keep trying to educate your mother. Collect info and keep giving it to her.
Second, you took the Zoloft because of a panic attack or some kind of anxiety episode, right? So, *part* of what’s going on with you now is still that. You have some anxiety about things in your life that you deserve help with. It’s very hard for people to hold in mind that in an AR or WD you are dealing with *both* neurological and psychological issues. People tend to want to make it just one or the other.
But, this chemical onslaught interweaves with your life story and your personality. It tends to exacerbate any issues you had before. Everybody has vulnerabilities. I never met anyone who didn’t. So, even if you had no major psychological issues before w/d, your vulnerable areas will be magnified in w/d. Temporarily.
So, all of this is to say that one thing you might try with your mother is to avoid the tug-of-war about whether you have bona fide anxiety or WD, and start talking to her about how it’s really both. But, it’s crucial to see both parts – including the chemical damage, which has very predictable characteristics and course of recovery.
