Am I Wrong for wanting to ask my mom not to talk about triggering subjects to me?

I (26f) have a lot of (c)ptsd, also anxiety, depression, borderline, and a few other things. This comes with a ton of triggers compiled by past traumatic events. My mom(49f) is aware of this, and of how I received some of those triggers. She's even had to be in court because of this specific trigger.

Any time she's been around me for extended periods of time, she mentions something that relates to my triggers, without fail. Especially if I'm having a good day (and would do this routinely when I was a kid/while I was growing up). She knows it triggers me and I believe she does it on purpose when she's having a bad day or wants to make someone else feel worse than her. I've spent a lot of time working on my triggers but some of them will always make me uncomfortable to talk about.

When she brings it up, I try to indicate through my body language that I'm not comfortable, sometimes going to the point of not listening/staring off. Instead of my usual engaging, active listening. I figured this would be a polite, clear way to show that the conversation wasn't hitting.

This hasn't worked a single time I've done it and seems to encourage her to do it more. I do make sure I'm emotionally regulating as much as I can, but when people are constantly bringing up things that trigger you/to trigger you, no amount of regulation is going to hide the amount of pile-up that's happened.

She seems really happy any time she talks about it, and I'm glad for her excitement, but it doesn't do anything but make me uncomfortable every time. I think she knows this and that's why she does it. As a way to exercise emotional control.

Which is weird and abnormal to do in general, let alone to family.

I don't like having to endure those kinds of conversations with her, nor do I like being triggered by the subject. I can handle certain triggers but others are too severe.

I want to tell her I'm not interested in talking about those things , but I don't know if that would agitate the problem, or even work. I'm also not sure if I should bring this up when she does or at a time when she's not talking about it..

So... am I wrong for wanting to ask my mom not to talk about pedophilia around me because it triggers me?

Posted Dec 8, 2025, 3:35 AM UTC

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