My mom was diagnosed with OCD and an anxiety disorder. For a while she was pretty medicated. She and my dad were divorced when I was too young to remember. She dated a few guys here and there, but they were okay. She used to be a pretty cool mom. She finally married my step-dad when I was around 3-4. He seemed pretty cool. They might've been married for a year or two when they were divorced the first time. I still liked the guy and missed him, but I guess he really screwed her over and was lazy. Then when I was 6 they were married again and made it about another 10 years. My mom was super paranoid and gave me "the talk" in the weirdest way. She got out all her toys, a kama sutra game, and some sex position books. Told me all about them, what they were for, why people did that, etc. It made me really uncomfortable, but I tried to block it out. She also had a habit of walking around naked. That being what I was raised with and never being told not to do that affected some of the events in my life. My cousin and I would go to a camp for about a week during the summer. I would get a pretty awesome sunburn every year. One summer when I was 7-8ish I came home with a sunburn and was alone with my step-dad. He told me I should take the hottest bath I could stand and soak in it for a while. While I'm drawing my bath and getting undressed my step-dad comes in my room and asks me if I want to see him naked. I gave him a funny look and said no. He asked why not and said I'd see boys naked when I got married. I told him I never wanted to get married and he said okay then walked out. It freaked me out and I told my mom later when he wasn't around. She confronted him and he denied it. I never heard anything else about it. I guess he started using that first chance to deny things as an opportunity to turn every little thing I did into something I could be punished for. I was actually grounded for the first time when I was 6 for having a bad attitude, but a couple days later I was ungrounded. After I turned 8, if I even looked at him funny I was grounded. If I played video games instead of making him a glass of tea, I was grounded. If I was suppose to be cleaning my room and took a break or fell asleep for some reason, I was grounded. If he caught me sleeping while he was awake he'd scream and scare the shit out of me. Little things I said or did, I was called a liar and grounded. So, I started lying about grades, whether my room was clean, my friends. My mom never said anything to him about it and always seemed to take his side. The rest of my family didn't care for him and would try to help me catch a break by getting me out of the house as much as they could. I never knew how to talk to anyone about how I felt or what was going on. My mom was pregnant with my sister around this time and I guess didn't really want to deal with much. After my sister was born, I had to babysit her and get up with her in the middle of the night. It even got to the point that she called me mommy. If I didn't wake up before her and take keep her from making messes, crying, etc. I was yelled at and grounded. My mom decided I needed more of a challenge in academics, so she sent me to one of the best schools in town. My grades started falling dramatically around this time and I was so scared that he would be ugly to me and ground me that I'd started forging one of their signatures on progress reports just so I didn't have to deal with it. I eventually went back to my old school because I couldn't handle the daily bullying I received from students and a teacher I'd had my second year at my new school. My grades started going back up and my last year in elementary was pretty enjoyable. When I was 13 my little brother was born and I was again the designated babysitter/mother. When I turned 14 and started to get boobs, my step-dad made a point to make comments. He would offer to bathe me and walk in anytime he wanted, whether or not I was clothed. Wouldn't make sure I was decent beforehand. One night I got really sick and just wanted my mommy. So, I took a bathe and while I was waiting on my hair to dry I sat in her bedroom and passed out naked. My step-dad worked nights and she'd go to work in the morning shortly after he got home. She left me asleep and naked in their bed, and he fell asleep next to me. I'm assuming she told him I didn't feel well because he let me sleep in and took care of his children for once. Around noon he decided it was time to wake up and wrestled with me to get me awake. I got him to stop once and was trying to wake my self up better. Soon after he came back and started wrestling with me again a little rougher. I was trying to get away when he pulled me back and I felt his finger slip inside me. I managed to turn over and he started wrestling with me again. I kicked his previously injured should out and got away. Immediately put some clothes on and stayed in my room most of the day, checking on the kids occasionally. I didn't tell anyone for a long time because I figured they just saw me as a liar anyway. When I was 16 I started experimenting with drugs. My finds liked to chug Robitussin (so stupid) so that's what I did. The first time I smoked pot, I got caught. My mom was mad, my step-dad to seemed to think it was pretty funny. Before my sophomore year of high school my family gathered in my out living room (mom, step-dad, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa). They were trying to figure out what to do with me. I finally told them, with my step-dad in the room, that I was uncomfortable living with him. My aunt and uncle told me I could stay with them for a while. 2 days later my step-dad threw a fit and destroyed the living room. He called my mom on the way to work running his mouth and saying they should get a divorce. My mom seemed to agree and filed. She and my siblings stayed with my grandma for a bit while he cleaned the house. I did okay in high school. Still experimenting with drugs here and there, and became a little promiscuous. I'm not proud, but I've moved on. My step-dad would ask my mom about me and she'd let me know. I asked her to keep him in the dark and said it wasn't his business. I associated with some pretty trashy people for a whole during my last year of high school and shortly after. I graduated a semester early so I was pretty free to do whatever I wanted for a while. After work one night I went to a party where a guy I was "talking to" was hanging out. He told everyone he was my pimp and told them he'd give them the "homeboy price". When I showed up he was passed out drunk and these 2 guys start telling me what he was saying. This was all news to me and I got noticeably upset. One of the guys told me he though I was pretty and said he didn't really believe that asshole anyway. Made me feel good. I started dating that sweet guy who told me I was pretty and he proposed a little over a year later. He pampered me and successfully helped me break all my worst habits over a long period of time. When the wedding came around we were so happy, but also expected shit to hit the fan. My bio-dad even came to give me away. After the ceremony we spent an hour and half taking pictures while we were still sober. During this time my mom was getting drunk and not paying attention to her kids. Her new boyfriend kind of was, but not all that great. My little brother saw out wedding sand and thought it was a toy. It went from white, blue, and orange to brown pretty quickly. I wasn't angry at him, I was angry with my mom. I walked up and asked her if she knew what her son did, then told her what happened. I didn't scream or yell, but I was upset. She immediately put the blame on me. This happened immediately after pictures what was I suppose to do. It was hectic. How was it my fault? Why wasn't she helping? All of that combined with all the frustration I had in my life. All I said was get out and walked off. All I heard was my grandpa say that wasn't cool as I walked off. My, now husband, walked over to calmly handle the situation and was going to try to get them to stay. While he was filling my grandma in my mom was in his ear about how he was controlling me, how he liked to tell everyone what to do, blah blah blah. None of that was true at all. All I could think was that she was just so angry that she couldn't control anything in her life that she was projecting it on him. My husband finally turned to her and told her she was about the shittiest mother he'd ever seen, and my grandma shoved him. He definitely wasn't hurt, but that pissed him off. We had to have security because of the alcohol at the ceremony, so he called them in there and told the what was going on. Not to get anyone kicked out, but because nobody was going to listen to him anymore. He didn't care if they stayed, but security said with we had to leave or they did. We weren't going to leave our wedding. They told my family they just needed to go. That was a weight lifted off my shoulders. I always felt conflicted. Like I had to walk on eggshells around them, but I wanted to show them they weren't in control of me. I've been happier without them than I've ever been. My family always showed that you should avoid problems and they'd just work themselves out at some point. They never actually handled anything and would just give everyone the silent treatment. My husband has helped me handle my issues and helped me understand it's okay to stand up for yourself.

TLDR; My family never handled problems and would try to go around them, or pretend they never existed. I'm happier without them than I've ever been.