Thanks, Michanne. Yes...he and I have learned a lot in the 3 decades we've been married. We no longer live together (haven't for the past 7 years). We are dear friends, which is extremely important to both of us. And we're both close to our grown children. The main reason he and I don't live together is because of his OCD/hoarding. Here's the funny thing...he hoards BOOKS. He/we own around 65,000 books! He pays for 2 storage units to house the books, and his 3-bedroom house is STACKED wall-to-wall-to-ceiling with boxes of books. Now, we do have an online book business (which does well). But living in a house with my husband is impossible...unless you are willing to live by walking through narrow pathways between the ceiling-high boxes - and he doesn't want the books touched by anyone besides himself, for fear they might be damaged (think of someone like "Monk" on the TV show).

Anyway. Yes, we have learned, are learning, to be more accepting of each other's quirks...which is why I wish he'd be more flexible about his spiritual beliefs vs. mine. I'm a spiritual person, and I also believe in science, at least to a degree.

btw, I most definitely agree with you about the spectrum concept. I have my ways of...you know...assessing what and when needs treatment (when a possible symptom pops up I ask myself- is this a physical thing, does it prevent me from living a more-or-less normal life, etc.).

I suppose when all is said and done, I would like my husband to respect that I know myself well enough by now to know if and when I need meds. Because as it is, when he questions me about meds, I hear "I think you're being kind of stupid, or trying to be special somehow, by insisting that you're mentally ill when 'everyone knows' mental illness isn't a real sickness"...or something like that. Anyway...thank you.