I really should stop getting books about mental illness from the library

[terajk]

Book About Mental Illness in the Family that I Forced Myself To Read: "Siblings of people with mental illness respond in one of three ways..."

Zuko: "Nope, I don't think so, WHY AM I SUCH A FAILURE?"

Me: *stops reading book and takes it back to the library*


(I'll put up with an awful book in the name of research. An unhelpful book is another matter altogether).

Comments

[recessional]

*lipstwitch* So, what happens if all three kids have mental illnesses?

To be fair, I'm a classic custodian, although I've never felt resentment and the issues I had were different from described here. But my littlest sister doesn't fit any of these, and even my middle sister (the needs-care Autistic one) has more roles in the family than Being The Object of Care.

[terajk]

So, what happens if all three kids have mental illnesses?

Radio silence, I think. :D

Now, if many people in your family have a lot of the traits you do but aren't diagnosed with anything and you don't really notice/are in denial of some of those traits in yourself (i.e. if you are me), you feel things like: "Why are you acting like it's so weird that I close my eyes when I'm talking when you people do the exact same thing?" ("Because we don't do it for as long. Or as often"). And my grandmother who DIDN'T have these traits would agree with me and I would be like: "HA. YOU GUYS ARE ALL IN DENIAL LEAVE ME ALONE."

even my middle sister (the needs-care Autistic one) has more roles in the family than Being The Object of Care.

One reason I hated this book was the overwhelming sense that neurologically-atypical people were all terrible siblings or parents or spouses. It certainly made me glad I didn't have any brothers and sisters, because, for one thing, there was a lament that forcing someone to be committed is harder than it used to be.

Scary book is scary. *shivers*