Reply #2: i don't know for sure, but i'm damn near certain she's never gotten any treatment before.

[fizzgig]

my fil told me the other day that she's been different the last few months and a few signs here and there, but the signs never came in a way that they added up to anything being noticeably wrong. that said, my experiences with and understanding his family all indicate that i am dealing with very, very emotionally repressed people with a less-than-enlightened attitude toward mental health (now doesn't that sound miserably judgmental). the fact that my husband refuses to acknowledge his own depression and fights me over going to counselling tells me a lot. my fil agreed with me when i suggested counselling for he and mil, both individual and together, but we'll see if he follows through. but i honestly don't know if they're aware of what kind of ugliness this might entail and i don't know that they're equipped for it. there's a lot of darkness and ugliness that's been ignored by his family for a long, long time.

maybe i'm being overly dramatic, maybe i'm way over-thinking all of this, both are entirely possible. but if the last 20 hours are any indication, i know at least my husband has realized there's a lot of shit that needs dealt with and that it's not going to be pretty or nice getting through it.