Barbara remembered very little of her early childhood. She was told that her father; of Italian ancestry, had abandoned the family prior to her birth (but there are no records that mother ever married the man). Mother, an impulsive, paranoid, disorganized woman, told Barbara that during her pregnancy with her she prayed for a boy and was depressed and disappointed when she delivered another girl baby. Mother's pregnancy with Barbara was unplanned; the "husband," a chronic alcoholic, reacted to the pregnancy by beating his wife viciously. Immediately after the birth the "father" abandoned the family. Barbara's birth was uneventful and she was named after mother's sister, a warm, indulgent, overly dependent woman who enjoyed nurturing hurt animals and caring for strays (traits which became important parts of Barbara's personality).

Barbara recalls being told she was an active, friendly, lovable, cuddly, but demanding baby. Her earliest memories included cutting her thumb at age 2; feeling sad when Frances was removed from the home; and witnessing an accident in which her stepfather sawed off two of the fingers on his left hand. She also recalled that mother was chronically drunk and often stayed away from home for days. When Barbara was a year old a new man moved into the house. He would soon become her stepfather and assume full responsibility for raising her. A passive dependent, emotionally empty, emasculated man, he was Barbara's source of protection against her mother.

Barbara's mother came from a family in which child abuse, neglect, and alcoholism were rampant. The intergenerational problems were clear cut. The maternal grandmother, like the mother, was a chaotic, disorganized, alcoholic woman; she abused her daughter (Barbara's mother) and abandoned her, dying when the mother was )0. The maternal grandfather, an ineffectual man, never remarried and lived with his daughter until he died of tuberculosis when Barbara was 9 years old.

Mother was the oldest of four siblings in a family which included two boys and a girl. The siblings were described as being "at each other's throats"; the family relationships were characterized by intense jealousies, rivalries, and sadomasochistic interactions. Mother had been designated as the "tough," "mean" sibling, a tomboy who was always ready for a fight, and who was violently anti homosexual. Barbara described her mother as always ready to throw a punch. She was a nagging, complaining woman who shouted obscenities and behaved erratically and eccentrically. While the mother refused to talk to anyone at our clinic, her phone conversations, letters, and meetings with the nurses suggested that she had an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. She was an intrusive, impulsive, dangerous woman who periodically stormed into her daughter's house and took over the family, insisting on bathing her adolescent grandson and inspecting his bowel movements. At times Barbara had to call the police to have mother removed from the house. Mother would then stand on the street shouting up obscenities to her daughter (calling her a "whore," "cunt," and "lesbian"). (see TRANSSEX - THE IMPULSIVE PSYCHOPATH: BARBARA/BRIAN PART III)