Anita,

That does sound very accurate to how my mother acts. She certainly has some kind of personality disorder. She always needs attention and exaggerates everything. I’m not totally sure how her behaviors affect my life. When she wasn’t acting this way she was very kind, very responsible, very dedicated to us. She had a very rough life, so I don’t hold a lot of animosity towards her outbursts growing up, but as they continued and even got worse over the past 10 years, it has gotten more difficult to deal with as an adult, because I don’t know how to help her and I don’t know how to handle her emotional distress and erratic behavior without getting angry. I rely on close friends for a lot, and rely on myself for pretty much everything else, including being financially sufficient. There have been times where I felt really scared not having a “safety net” of sorts, and when relationships end I guess its even more painful to feel alone because I don’t have that close family security.