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[quote=Anonymous]Growing up, my mom seemed like so many other parents. Each had their own quirks.  We lived in suburban Houston, lived in a neighborhood of non-Texans  (my family wasn't from Texas either).  All the men and women drank excessively. One time, a neighbor drive her car into a neighbor's house driving home drunk. Luckily the neighbors were on vacation.  Everyone came out and made sure she was ok and go her home, someone else called the owners. No one called the cops until the morning.  This wasn't a poor neighborhood - my dad was a senior accountant for an oil company, and by 1970s standards, we were wealthy. My mom did crazy things, like take us to get ice cream in our pajamas at 8 PM when she was drunk.  Looking back, there were a lot of signs. But so many of our neighbors were similar.  Exec husbands that were rarely home, so the women had their tennis and bridge tournaments and everything involved drinking.
We moved away from Texas, and I started noticing my mom wasn't like other moms where we moved to. I initially chalked it up to being somewhere new - I was teased about my accent. By the time I was in 5th or 6th grade, my mom was crying all the time. I would hear her cry at night. I know she went on Prozac for a while, then they took her off of it and put her on something else, causing a severe reaction.  She had issues sleeping, but the sleeping meds gave her another reaction... My sister, meanwhile, became suicidal, and was sent away for 7 months.  My mom started talking like she wanted to kill herself. I knew she didn't want to live, it was only her deep religious faith (that she would go to Hell) that she probably didn't.
Another poster mentioned walking on eggshells and always asking if someone is mad. That was me for a very long time. I don't remember when I stopped doing it. I don't like self-help (my mother was totally into those books), but find inspiration in fiction of other people's fictional struggles.  I love Dean Koontz. Most of his characters come from dysfunctional backgrounds, so I can totally relate.
Myself, I am prone to anxiety. It really manifested after having children. So, I sought help and am taking Prozac.  I don't want to do to my children what my mom did to me.
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