I feel ya. I was illigetimately conceived in early 1960 to Catholic parents. My mother was only 17 & her mother was a 4th grade teacher at the Catholic school where both my parental units attended. My mother projected a lot of negativity toward me out of shame & guilt for 18 yrs. Father was 4 yrs older, but didn't seem to think anything was wrong with the abuse, so he joined the party. I left home as soon as I became of age to escape the abuse. I'm not sure I'll ever recover completely...due to some physical+sexual abuse that also occurred. I constantly remind self, that what happens to ya, doesn't DEFINE ya.

RE: the branding of mental illness is insufferable and unfair. So is life. I have survived many traumas in this life experience and I am stronger than I know. I just feel weak because I've been drowning in a quicksand of emotions for years and I've cried lakes of tears for way too many years.

It is exhausting trying to explain to people that mental illness is like any other physical illness. The brain is the motherboard and when circuits are fried (like the damaged synapses in my brain) the computer isn't going to function properly. They say ignorance is bliss, but some folks (like my family members) prefer denial than acknowledgement. Too bad stupidity is not against the law!