It's not exactly that my parents don't accept mental health diagnoses...it's more that they have a hard time accepting them when they see no reason or justification for the problem. For example, because there is nothing you can pinpoint as to why I have so much anxiety and OCD, it doesn't seem as real or as serious to them as my sister's depression because she became depressed after a traumatic event. Get it?

I'm 20, so no, my parents don't exactly have to be involved...but when there's something that's a big deal, I would like them to be involved...plus I'm on their insurance, and bills are sent to the house and stuff, so it's not like they wouldn't know something's up anyway.

Anyway, my mom called me last night, and I ended up bringing it up...and as suspected, it blew up in my face. I knew I shouldn't have...I told her that my counselor isn't sure that anxiety is my only problem, so then she of course asked what my counselor did think. I softened it a bit and said that my counselor thinks I may have a bipolar spectrum disorder knowing that if I said bipolar all hell would break loose, and my mom completely brushed it off. She said that she doubted that because she knows me, and she knows people who are bipolar and I'm not like that etc. So during that I'm thinking that she really doesn't know me all that well because unless she saw and ignored that I was having problems when they first started, she sure as heck isn't that perceptive because guess what! I went out of my way to tell my parents what was going on so I could get help (I was a minor then), and they seemed pretty surprised, and definitely didn't understand...so I'm not sure why she thinks she would notice much else like that...and I also tried saying that bipolar spectrum and bipolar are not the same to which she responded "I know." Ugh!!