Just turned 54, but emotionally still about 15.--that's when I started displaying symptoms of mental illness (suicide attempt, binge drinking, illegal drug use, etc.) but got no psychiatric help as my mother was bipolar & was in the center of a chaotic family life & did end up killing herself when I was 15 & she was 45. Therapist agrees I am immature--still rebellious like a teenager sometimes, but with the treatment of my bipolar, hopefully I can "grow up" & get stable.

I figure I've made it this far so since I've lived after about 5 overdoses this is the "icing on the cake." If I die tomorrow, I'm already on "borrowed time."

I'm surprised at the age groups that are predominant here, though. I thought the majority would be MUCH younger. I always thought I was the "old lady" here.

Some things that are different nowadays--shock treatments are much more humane than when my mother had them, same for psych hospitals. New meds are helping so many people She was actually looking into getting a lobotomy. You don't hear much about that anymore.

I got the lasik eye surgery about 5 years ago. I have really bad astigmatism so I couldn't see well with contacts or glasses so now I see 20/20 & after the surgery I saw my face for the first time. It usually was a blur before. So I could see all my wrinkles really well. Shock to see how I really look...--Suzy