Dear LFTP: the verbally abusive sister-in-law
- What do I do next time my sister-in-law verbally assaults me?
A listener asks what to do about a sister-in-law who has verbally assaulted her four times — always while intoxicated and high — then apologizes or claims not to remember. Ben questions what 'verbal assault' means in text messages you can simply put down, and the hosts' counsel is to stop engaging: tell her plainly you will not respond until she is in her right state of mind, and do not treat drunken texts as wounds. The Secular answer suggests raising the substance-abuse concern with the sister-in-law's husband, or else treating her like any rude acquaintance to avoid.
More on Addiction
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Dear LFTP 1: the burned-out friend
- How do I approach a long friendship that has become one-sided and draining when the friend has anxiety, depression, OCD, narcissism, and a drinking problem?
Ben reads a letter from a listener burned out by a decade-long friendship with someone suffering anxiety, depression, OCD, narcissism, and a drinking problem who never asks how the listener is doing.
From No. 588 · hypokritēs
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Dear LFTP: husband's slot-machine addiction and a lost life's savings
- How should an 80-something wife respond when her husband's slot-machine addiction gambled away everything?
A letter from a woman in her eighties: her husband developed a slot-machine addiction, gambled away every asset from 58 years of marriage, and their son bailed them out as trustee of the land and home while doling out a tiny allowance.
From No. 581 · Silly Rabbit | Christianity, Culture, and Navigating Social Expectations
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Dear LFTP: dessert-free days, discipline, and soul over dirt
- How do I stop eating dessert on days I deemed dessert-free?
A listener allowed dessert only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and can't stop on the other days. The hosts land on the simplest answer: you just stop; Dan's Atkins bars,…
From No. 581 · Silly Rabbit | Christianity, Culture, and Navigating Social Expectations
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Dear LFTP: AA member who witnessed a life-support withdrawal
- How do I come to terms with accidentally witnessing a fellow AA member's life-support withdrawal?
An AA member writes that while visiting a hospitalized fellow member with cookies, he arrived at the exact moment doctors withdrew life support and witnessed the family's raw grief; he now fears he intruded and caused harm.
From No. 568 · Like Jesus