underwater wrote:
Yes, to some people it's like the New Testament never happened. Has your brother had any kind of therapy to deal with his bucket of issues? Have you tried being really blunt with him - telling him he's spent his life being angry about just about everything, and that he will always find new things to be angry about unless he starts dealing with his emotions? I think that if you want to have a relationship with him you will have to push back quite a lot, as in establishing rules for polite behavior. Otherwise it'll be Groundhog Day.
It must be rough on their kids to live in a household with so much rage.
He hasn't had any therapy, unfortunately, and he's always had a lot of anger issues. Our dad was really abusive to him (physically and emotionally), and my brother was very defiant and rebellious growing up. They got into terrible screaming fights, while I hid in my room or under the bushes outside. My brother would pick whatever political or lifestyle choice guaranteed to annoy my parents the most--in his teenage years, he was anti-Viet Nam, anti-government, pro-drugs, and lived in a hippie commune, which annoyed my patriotic veteran Dad. After my brother got married, he turned to conservative politics and conservative religion, guaranteed to annoy my Mom, who is liberal politically and belongs to a liberal Christian church.
His older two sons left home at age 18 and joined the Army (so there). The youngest son gets along with him well by mainly ignoring my brother if he rants.
I feel bad for my brother, because he's defined his life in opposition to somebody else rather than making decisions based on what is best for himself or his family. In trying to be different from Dad, he has become the same.
_________________
Diagnosed Bipolar II in 2012, Autism spectrum disorder (moderate) & ADHD in 2015.
23 Jun 2016, 4:17 pm
for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.
