There is a question on the standard in-take form that asks if there is any mental illness in the family. There was a time when I routinely asked that question, now I just check "yes," and try to find out who and where. I can't remember a family that didn't have it. That is not just the family of my clients, but also my friends, and of course, my relatives.
My own family has a few gems in it. My cousins are either doctors or they don't function. My mother was a bit depressed. Her father was a drunk ( think that was in DSM 1). My wife's family has a few ghosts walking around.
There are an amazing amount of people out there who can't cut it. They get depressed, withdrawn, agoraphbic, angry. lost, hopeless and just don't manage in the world. It takes a lot of effort and angst from a lot of people to keep them alive and unhappy.
Sometimes it seems like closing those big old state hospital, human warehouses wasn't the best idea.
When it was time to take old aunt Minnie off to the funny farm, just bundle her up and drop her off. The treatment may not have been the most efficient, and the costs to the state were considerable (No new taxes!), and the rights of the patients were not always considered, but it certainly made life at home a lot easier.
DJB
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DJB-
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all of our ghosts walk...and talk...and babble on endlessly!
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