ABSTRACT
A raised eyebrow, a slight tilt of the head, pursed lips, or a shoulder slump was the language of anger and tears in the New England Yankee/Waspy family that I grew up in. We were always smiling and looking good. We actually were featured in Look magazine as a model, happy American family for their 1949 Thanksgiving photo shoot. We were so well-mannered and seemingly cheerful, one would never have guessed what lay ahead for the six of us: my mom would commit suicide, my father and sister would explode into psychoses, one of my brothers would suffer lifelong addictions, and my younger brother would struggle with addictions, but is now blessedly in recovery. And, of course, one of us became a therapist.
