Raindropvampire, although my mom was never diagnosed (that I know of, I've never seen her medical records) bipolar, there was definitely something wrong. Those stories you wrote reminded me of my childhood. Things like having to console my mother while she was crying in the bathroom when I was 6 years old because she was jealous of her friend's new house even though her house was just fine. Her doing outrageous spontaneous things at odd hours, pulling my sister out of bed while she was sleeping by her hair just because I told her she called me ugly, I have tons of memories that I have literally shoved into the corners of my mind but don't want to spend time digging them up right now. I can just really relate to the push-and-pull unpredictable nature that was my mother, as you described yours. Like your brother I also suffer from anxiety because I expect people to go from 0 to 100 at any time. She either loved us or was against us. I don't want kids either, because of her. The weird part about whatever mental disorder she has, is that she either lies and denies any memories I present her with, or she plays the victim and acts like I'm the one with the problem, going so far as crying while simultaneously denying my feelings.