I have in common with others here quite a few family members with mental illness-some are high functioning but most are very ill. I always tried to hide my issues from my parents since childhood-my Dad doesn't "believe" in mental illness & my Mom loves to talk about everyone else's except mine. When I blurted out some of mine a few years ago her comment was "I don't need to know about all that"-thanks Mom for being so understanding. This is why I live 3000 miles away from them. I read an article online a few months ago titled "What people with depression really want you to know" & thought about sending it to her-one thing that stood out for me was the comment "I would like to talk with you about my depression the way you talk about having the flu." I do try to slide little things in from time to time but having them understand me is probably not gonna happen. It took me a long time to realize that I am in control of who knows what about my issues. I am happy to have supportive people in my life now & a good tdoc & also this forum-a big hug to all of us that deal with so many difficult things every day along with "regular life".