Sometimes I worry about myself.

Mental illness seems to run in the family; it's not just my mother. Her whole entire family seems to have suffered from it to some extent. I remember hearing about some great aunt who went crazy. There's my uncle, who I recall was obsessed with germs and spent hours just washing his hands. From what I've heard about my mother's parents, I'm fairly certain they were not mentally healthy either. My aunt, however, is the only one with a known diagnosis: schizo-affective disorder. She's bipolar, schizophrenic, and also suffers from dissociative personality (multiple personality) disorder.

My dad has some sort of anxiety-related problems. It's probably secondary trauma from being around my mother for so long.

Just a few weeks ago my I found out from my brother that he has had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

My aunt says not to worry, that I'm probably past the onset age for schizophrenia. For family members of schizophrenics, however, the risk of schizophrenia is ten times greater than that in the general population.

So I've told my husband that the day I start exhibiting any of my mother's symptoms he is to take me to the nearest psychiatrist as soon as he can; because that's about all that can be done.