my mother is in her 50s and for the last few years has been seeing various extrasense/shaman people who have fleeced her for thousands of dollars and have given her all kinds of "new age" ideas about auras, demons, and spiritual beings. i thought she had a hobbyist's interest in new age stuff and i unfortunately participated by giving her books about feng shui and auras and all that as gifts. unfortunately according to my father (i live many states away), she has developed some paranoid fears. they have replaced all the locks in the house twice now. she believes that someone enters the house every night and performs some kind of hex on her in addition to ripping her clothes, breaking her jewelry, etc. she recently lost her job because she was incredibly suspicious of her employer and coworkers and became impossible to work with. the day that she lost her job, she came home and called the police and fire dept and had them investigate the house for signs of someone entering (they found nothing). she thinks that there are people placing curses on her and malevolent entities all around. she has also made it clear that she thinks that my husband and i are drug addicts and that my father is gay. my father is controlling and emotionally abusive and she has been socially isolated for many years now. i imagine that the isolation combined with the various magic practitioners who are only too happy to take her money have done some serious harm.

i'm not entirely sure how to broach the subject with her because i don't want to fall into the camp of "people who don't believe her" but she needs to see a doctor. does anyone have any advice? i just spoke with her today and she said that she feels depressed about losing her job and very stressed out about the people who enter the house. my parents are going on a vacation to the caribbean in a few days and i got her to agree to talking some more with me about the issue if she doesn't feel better after the trip. she said she might consider asking our family doctor for a referral to a therapist who won't push drugs on her (she's terrified of turning into an overdrugged shell of a person) but as the conversation went on, i realized she meant only for the depression and not for the paranoia. i need help. does anyone have advice or resources for people who need to speak with their family members who are resistant to seeing mental health professionals?