I feel this way too. I am 40, with no career. One of my sisters has a high paying job in IT, the other is an awesome stay-at-home mom with 3 girls and an immaculate house. I'm married and have a 10 year old daughter (super smart but tons of sensory issues) and can't keep house well at all. Every time I try to work, I nearly end up in the psych hospital. I feel I definitely don't compare well against my sisters and feel guilty for not being able to work, especially since my parents put me through a highly regarded college, and I went to graduate school and got an M.S. (though by that time, I had to take out loans for my education). I feel like my mom treats me like I might break at any moment. My condition is not a huge secret from my relatives. People don't talk about it much, but it was obvious I had something as I had a severe case of anorexia in college. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder with that for 10 years and only later (after showing up super manic for a pdoc appt. was my diagnosis changed). At first, everyone was so concerned about the eating disorder, they didn't focus on anything else and then once I had the diagnosis of depression, other doctors just went with it.

When I was changed to a diagnosis of bipolar, my family acted weird about it. Like it was OK to have major depression, but bipolar was just out there, even worse than having an eating disorder. IDK, it's really weird, the way my family reacts. Even my husband doesn't like to talk about it. I only really talk about it with one of my sisters and my best friend from college.