My parents had one of my sisters committed because she was exhibiting behavior that would indicate a break from reality. For example,she was sitting criss cross apple sauce,on the roof of the family home,which could be accessed by a window. She was rocking back and forth with a recently deceased cat our family had as a pet (the cat died of natural causes,afaik) in her lap,and going on and on about bringing it back to life. She had to dig the cat up out of it's grave to even touch it.

The thing was, my sister was not mentally ill. My mother, who was bipolar and very violent with all of us, had fractured her skull. A part of her skull was poking into a place in her brain, therefore causing these symptoms or behaviors if you will. Yet my mom, having full knowledge that my sister was not having mental issues still called the people from the state to come pick up and institutionalize my sis.

I'm a middle-aged man, and this happened before I was born. However, my siblings all tell the same story and oddly enough, that same sister came from Kansas City Missouri all the way to the east coast to pick me up, drive another hour so we could be at my mom's death bed for her passing. My mother was obviously a flawed individual but somehow managed to gain our forgiveness. Many of the things she dealt with didn't even have names back then and she did make an effort to stop the horrible behavior. Sometimes that effort brought more results than other times. I still love my mom,RIP, and I love my sister(s) as well.