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Nov. 8, 2021 – On her own mother’s mental health disorder. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But I don’t think she was schizophrenic. That’s the problem. I think a lot of times people do these diagnoses because maybe they’re having a psychotic event, but back then — this was in 1958 or ’59 — I don’t even know exactly … It was shortly after I was born, so it could have been hormones involved. But they gave her shock treatments, and she was sent away for about three months to a place in Asheville, N.C. But when she came back … she became an alcoholic. She wasn’t on medication and she didn’t get any therapy because they just did things like that back then. It was like they would send women off and they were “cured.” … Back then, it was something that you hid, especially in a small town. It was just shameful. And she didn’t really drink before she had the shock treatments, but she became an alcoholic afterwards. And I think that’s how that’s how she dealt with it. She just drank to numb herself, really.
I think she was just superdepressed. She didn’t have the mania, so she wouldn’t stay up all night. I just think she was extremely depressed and couldn’t get out of it, she definitely needed something to … help her balance out her chemicals.
