Roots can go very deep. I have lived with an up and down relationship with my daughter, now 60, and have to keep in mind, her father's mother had a long strruggle with mental illness, hence her dad. She is not just made up of me but her father. I have to remind myself of this when some triggers go off with us. My mom's mother was in a mental home for years after birthing 4 girls. I never met that grandma. Any stories out there anyone wants to share. Get off your chests, whatever...
My ex brother in law's family was a classic study in mental illness. Some serious problems ran through his mother's family. She was in and out of mental institutions most of her life. It's possible that she might have been able to cope with a couple of children, but she had eight. She'd go off to the hospital for anywhere from a few months to a year and the kids would be parcelled out to relatives, orphanages or foster homes. She'd get better, everyone would come home, another baby would pop out and the process would start again. I blame the husband for a lot of the problems. He should have not fathered all those kids; he should have done something, defied the Church or used self-control. My ex brother in law was mentally stable somehow but most of his siblings suffered problems ranging from minor to very, very serious. He refused to have children and pass on the mental instability.
I have a grown GD there has some serious issues mentally, but has not been diagnosed. Hubby has a psychopath for a brother and then that brothers oldest daughter has turned out to be every bit as sicko as he is, Other than those few do not know of any others.
This has got to be classic cause of mental issues, just having one baby women suffer with post partum depression as they call it in the mental illness world. Everything changes and to have more and more babies, omg... Men and priests and clergy need to experience this mess in one's life.
My mom was bipolar, hospitalized twice and the second time they told us she might not be coming out. However, shock therapy, lithium and Thorazine finally got her released. She was never really “normal” though. Finally, because she didn’t like the way her medications made her feel she stopped taking them and went full bore manic. Of course there was nothing I could do about it because she just felt GREAT! and they told me she had not harmed herself or anyone else. Terrific.