This is self-work, and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford.

At self-work, we discuss psychological and emotional issues and what you can do about them,

whether that's learning self-acceptance, taking action, or seeking therapy or treatment.

Eight years ago, I extended the walls of my practice to reach those of you who might already be

knowledgeable about mental health treatment, but also to those of you who might say you'd never

darken the door of a therapist. And yet, you are here. I'll answer your questions while I invite

you to take a few minutes for your

own self-work. Thus began my mother's prescription drug addiction. As she went from doctor to doctor,

her anxiety only growing and causing other problems, other drugs were prescribed. One was called

equineal, which was a minor tranquilizer.

There was another or barbiturate, fiorinol.

She took Librium and she used them daily for over 30 years.

Welcome to this week's edition of Self-Work.

My mother would have turned 100 this week, a feat that she would

have hated, actually. Even on her 50th birthday, she left our hometown coming to visit me in Memphis

as I was moving into an apartment off campus. I'll never forget her showing up in a sparkling

white shirt and silk pants, hose, and most likely wearing a girdle.

She wasn't much help, but she bought fried chicken for everyone, as I recall.

She was a mother and wife during the 1950s and 60s who didn't have her own career, who got an allowance from my dad,

and who I bet my father never saw without makeup. She was beautiful,

very thin, and smart, all of which she was supposed to be as a woman in those years,

an excellent organist and pianist who rarely played, and a wife and mother of three. And she was

...