Posted by olysi79 on January 3, 2005, at 21:52:46
In reply to Re: Dysthymia versus Bipolar type 2, posted by barbaracat on January 3, 2005, at 20:57:18
Hey Barbara, I come from a long line of depressives and alcoholics. I myself have never been sexually abused or anything like that, but I came from a rough family with alcoholism. It was not great, let me tell you. Alot of anger. Both sides of my family have problems with mental illness. I never met my grandfather because he died when he was 30 of alcoholism. He was surprise.... bipolar. About 70 percent of my dad's family has mood disorders and have been in and out of rehab, etc. Mood instability also runs on my mom's side as well. It creates quite a mix of interesting factors that really show the biological nature of all of this.
> This has been a very interesting and active thread and we've covered a whole lot of stuff. Let me ask you all this? Did you have an abusive childhood? Were your parents mentally ill?
>
> My father was bipolar - at least - and very violent and abusive at times. No sexual, thank God, but I spent a good deal of my childhood terrified. I wonder how that terror contributed to my mixed states vs. another kind of expression of my disorder? Genetics surely comes into it, but the emotional damage has a life of it's own. I'm just wondering how many of you out there who have bipolar or depressive disorders also had very difficult childhoods? Let's put it this way - are there any out there who didn't???
poster:olysi79
thread:435630
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050103/msgs/437429.html