My parents died within eight days of each other in the period following Christmas. I was able to get counselling and am now unpacking that relationship and trying to get my head round how it links into the rest of my life. I'd already acknowledged that my mother was abusive and my father emotionally unavailable - patterns that I did not repeat with my own kids, thankfully. But I'm trying to find links between what happened back then and the anxiety and depression that plague me now. They must be there, and I need to take it out and look at it.