I have been very angry my whole life, so I guess my situation is a bit different in that I'm now mostly just sad about it. I can't change it, my childhood was the way it was and so were my teens. I grew up with undiagnosed bipolar disorder. I have fought a lot with my parents, because they didn't understand that I was ill. And now that they do, it's too late as my role in the family script has already been written and I still get the same criticism over and over again. It's actually destroying me, as my uni therapist keeps saying.

I think I have realised that by engaging in the same arguments like a broken record I'm only making myself feel even worse. One evening, when I was home for Easter, my parents started to attack me the second I came downstairs to eat with them, and instead of responding I just stood up and walked away. I went back to my room, and I actually realised that showing them I was upset by it made me feel slightly better than I usually do when I let them drag me into an argument. Because I will never, ever win the argument.

I do understand that it is hard, don't get me wrong. I am not going to tell you that it will be all sunshine and rainbows once you do this "simple thing" or whatever, because clearly it won't be. And you have every right to feel pissed off and resentful about the fact that you need to do all the work to make things change! I hope that's something your therapist can support you with. I just think you should start making the changes now, because the longer you wait, the harder it gets.