Thanks for asking. As I think back over the years I believe I was struggling with mental health issues (that went unrecognized & untreated) from a very young age. However, I was taught "you don't wash your dirty laundry in public." (It's still that way to a large extent.) The lesson stuck. And, by the time I finally lost control of myself, all of the family members I had grown up with were deceased (including my parents.) So there was no one alive to care one way or the other except my spouse (who wants as little to do with it as possible.)

I recall one time (in a support group I was in while in a partial hospital program) saying: "You know how when celebrities receive awards they say they wish their mom and dad could have lived to see this? Well, I'm glad my mother and father didn't live to see this. They'd have better understood it if I had been sent to prison. They wouldn't have liked it. But they'd have better understood it than finding out I had been involuntarily committed to a psych ward! One of my father's favorite quips was: "What the hell's the matter with ya, Budd?! (He used to like to call me Budd.)

Is it a good thing I was in treatment for mental health? Well... I guess in the end I didn't have much say in the matter. I don't think what little bit of so-called treatment I received did help much because I'm still struggling (silently) with the same old issues. At this point, though, I'm old enough it no longer makes any difference. It all just was what it was.