Mental Illness, Stuttering and Gross Dysfunction: My Story, My Pain, My Survival

There are families that are dysfunctional with all small letters, others dysfunctional with a capital D, and then there are families that are dysfunctional with all capital letters, and this is your family. Growing up, the author’s life was far from being perfect. With her parents’ constant fighting (never knowing when it would start, but sure in the knowledge that it would), her older brother’s indifference, her sister’s bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and her younger brothers’ grossly disrespectful manners toward her (including their tendencies to do the wrong things), it’s no wonder she has kept a lot of anger inside her. And this, she believes, was the cause of her stuttering. This condition has been a debilitating factor for her, robbing her of confidence during her formative years. Yet she persevered, despite all the familial baggage, and managed to finish college and become her own woman. S.L.C. was born in Revere, Massachusetts and now lives in the town of Chelmsford. She completed her studies with a bachelor of science degree in nursing; she has been a registered nurse for more than twenty-five years.