Wondering if anyone can relate? History of mental health issues in the South and child-like behavior?

Looking back, my family seems to fit stereotypical caricatures of Southern men and women with mental health issues: "redneck." Now, that doesn't mean that anyone in my family is schizophrenic, schizoid, or sociopathic, but I'm just wondering, what the hell? Where did they learn to act this way? Has anyone done research on mental illness in the South? I'm curious to know how far the leaves fell from the tree, its history, and is it just the South or is it the general population? I mean, truth seems to underlie every stereotype.



Just to throw out some examples, nearly everyone in my family is an alcoholic. Going on weirder, my mother, aunt, and maternal grandparents all act like children ranging from the ages of 7-12, speaking even in child-like voices; now, my mom and aunt have both been to college and graduate school, I would have thought that they would have matured. The latter is by far the more disturbing of the two in my opinion. When I was a child myself, often times I had to play the role of an adult and still do with other adults 3x my age. To add to that, attention deficit disorder flows freely within my family, and I happen to have been diagnosed. But, I can't help but wonder, how much of it is learned? My attention deficit disorder seems to clean up fairly nicely when I'm away from my family and place myself around well-adjusted, intelligent adults, albeit medication does help me regardless of my environment.



I guess the most I would like answered is does anyone else have a family with adults that revert to child-like mannerisms? I feel as if I'm insane and the only person in the world dealing with this. These are functioning adults with jobs, so what makes them "lose it" and revert to being immature, extremely impulsive - with little self-control - children?



Most of all, it's just embarassing.Wondering if anyone can relate? History of mental health issues in the South and child-like behavior?Paraphilic infantilism is a paraphilia characterized by the desire to wear diapers and/or be treated as an infant[1] or toddler. One who engages in infantilistic play is known as an adult baby (AB). About one in three adult babies is also a diaper lover (DL),[2][3] so they are collectively known as AB/DLs.[4] The majority of infantilists are heterosexual males.[5][6]



Paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishes differ in self-image and the focus of attention. They can coexist in individuals, however, and they have some similarities. Neither includes a sexual preference for children.[1][7] There is no singular, archetypical infantilism, but a range. Some fantasize about being free of guilt, responsibility, or control, whereas others might not. Some act indistinguishably from a baby at times, while others practice in a way that would be unnoticed by passers by on the street. The desires and tastes of infantilists vary around common themes of diapers and babyhood.