Further irony: It turns out MIL is a suicide-intervention *instructor." Which means that not only is she trained to intervene when someone is suicidal, but she teaches others to do so.

Obviously there is no need to hide anything psychiatric from her. I can tell her about anything, and she won't even flinch.

What's odd is that hubby had no idea about any of this. He and his family are not especially close.

I'm glad I can speak freely and not feel a need to hide anything, but I'm also glad not to be TOO close. My last ex, he and his family were so "close" that they were practically on top of each other, all up in each other's business and blowing things out of proportion, to the point where if one of them farts twice, all the others start speculating about what must be causing it. It was miserable. Even his distant relatives knew intimate details about our day-to-day life, including sexual and financial matters, plus psychiatric and other medical issues. They discussed *among themselves* whether or not we should have children, or what we should do with our money. I was living in a fish bowl and would much rather have it this way, where I don't have to hide anything, but people are also minding their own danged business.