For the longest time, my therapist made a huge deal about my parents and family dynamics. How they ignored me, how my father was too strict, how my mother was never around, how I always played second fiddle to my twin. And all of it is 100% true.

But eventually--actually not that long ago--she realized that my problems are independent of my upbringing. Maybe if my parents had actually been paying attention to me, they would have noticed that I wasn't quite with the program and gotten me some early intervention. But they didn't cause the problems, nor did they make them worse. If anything, they kind of made me the tough, no-nonsense person that I am.

Your therapist may be trying to figure out if your mother may have made things worse for you. While it is true you come by your issues "naturally", your environment could have caused you to graft additional problems on top of them. Mother is a part of the environment, so it's natural your therapist would go down this lane.

It sounds like you'd rather talk about something else. You can always tell her that you're kind of burnt-out on the mother business and direct the conversation to something else. Like something you are dealing with in the here-and-now. Or ask her questions about everything in the universe, like I do with my therapist. This is my way of connecting--one that I can't easily implement in the real world without feel like a weirdo. I've been visiting her for almost five years and she hasn't told me to stop yet. And I get to learn so much!