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So I saw an interesting book in the waiting room before my first psychologist appointment today: They F*** You Up: How to Survive Family Life by Oliver James. A quick scan of the blurb showed it’s about learning how to deal with your past in order to fix your present. Sounds perfect. Here’s an exerpt from Amazon.com.

This poem is quoted after the dedication (”To my mum and dad, the principle cause of this book“):

This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

– Philip Larkin

That pretty much sums up most of what Dr H and I spoke about.  She was very impressed at how clearly I expressed everything that’s been going on from day x in response to her question “So why have you come to see me?”

I told her it’s because I’ve been in and out of various counseling sessions for a good part of my youth, so I have it rehearsed.