I grew up in what I can only describe as a war zone. My biological father and mother would fight constantly. My mother physically and mentally abused all of her children. It started with spanking for no other reason than dishes not getting done in a reasonable amout of time. Her favorite phrase was "spare the rod, spoil the child" from the bible. After the spanking got old, I can only guess, she would just hit us with her fists or anything handy like brushes. She would blame medication that she was taking to excuse her behavior. I never saw her taking said medication, but she did drink a lot. It was my own personal hell for 10 years at least. Since then I have had periods of joy, but mostly depression, anxiety and BPD. I worried when I had children that I would somehow be the monster my mother was. My son is 10 and I have never hit or abused him. I will never do so. Sorry if this brings out memories for someone else, but I just wanted to get this out.