growing up with a mentally ill parent causing anxiety

[dt_nyc]

Hi all, this is my first post here.

For me, I know that my anxiety comes from growing up with my mother who has borderline personality disorder (im 20, no longer living at home).

I guess im wondering if anyone elses anxiety/depression is related to having a family member with a mental illness, and how to break free from it all.

[mamascrazy1985]

My mom has bipolar massive depression and social anxiety and smothered me when I lived with her! I was her cruch it takes time to really get out I have been living on my own for 4 yrs now and hardly talk to my mom but I still have anxiety from depression! Good luck

[CindyE]

My mom is bi-polar, but didn't know until after I was grown and on my own. Dad was alcoholic. Yep, things were kinda crazy sometimes, I guess I didn't realize how much it affected me until much later in life. Growing up with it, and having friends who also had alcoholic parents, it seemed not so dysfunctional! Just recently I finally had to admit that I'm kinda messed up.

[hesson81]

I didn't find out that my mom was mentally ill until I started seeing counciling for my Anxiety. I just always thought she was working herself into Paranoia Dither. When I started to tell my coucilor what happens to her, i started to understand that she has a real problem. She used to call me thinking people are following her, she always thinks people are coming into her house, even thinks people may stair at her when she sleeps.... All the mean while I just thought she was paranoid. Evedentally it is some kind of minor pyscosis. I have found this all out in the last 6 weeks or so. There was a lot of abuse from her growing up as a child that I thought was healed, but I now know that it has put an imprint on me. Especially since I have two young ones now. I work myself up into a dither worrying about them, because I don't want to create the environment that I had growing up for them.

Like everyone said, You have to get it out, do what you have to do. I'm still recovering from a recent episode. I hope visits with a councilor, and effort by me will bring me to a speedy recovery. Some people may say talk to a close friend or a councilor. I would try a councilor if you can. I have talked to a close friend that I found out went through similar issues like me growing up. He instilled alot of paranoia (thinking i was going to get worse) in me, because he's not trained to deal with it.

I haven't been dealing with this for long, but I suspect anxiety issues are like ocean waves, no one on this board have the same exact problem from the same exact issue. It all varies. Reason I say this is, your recovery may be easier than other's and vise versa. So you almost have to play your own game. Your not facing other people's issues, just your own, and you can over come it.