This actually happens, for example, this troper has a huge dysfunctional family, and her friends are either megalomaniacs, depressed, have bloody strange parents, attempt to gnaw her arm off or are just... normal, which is itself a dysfunction.

Wait, WTH?

This troper is continuously amazed at how many of her friends and classmates have dysfunctional families, usually in the form of abusive fathers. It's far from unheard of among her blood relatives, too. Meanwhile, her own family is so disturbingly idyllic that some associates have actually speculated on what manner of horrible dysfunctionality we must be hiding.

In a bit of a Subversion, THIS Troper actually feels BAD because he had a relatively good childhood, with loving and supportive parents and a good sibling relationship, compared to many of his friends of coworkers.

This Troper has had that problem as well, although she does have a batshit crazy extended family which she doesn't see very often.

Same here. My life isn't exactly milk-and-honey either (example: I actively avoid my dad, and plan on moving really far away once I can have my own house, which has cause many an argument). But compared to some people I know, its not too bad.

Apparently, the TroperIRCChannel.

My family. My mom is bipolar, my dad is nice until he goes psycho on your ass, and I have a mental issue/issues unknown as of now. My mom has three brothers, two of which are druggies and batshit insane, and one that is comparatively normal but swears a black and blue streak ''in front of his 8 year old daughter'', and their mom is a deranged artist. The rest of my family is either dead or in other countries. Aren't we a BigScrewedUpFamily.

Well, my family, and friends, are pretty much the definition of this. My maternal grandmother is an alcoholic who hides her whiskey in Diet Coke bottles, cheated on her husband with my biological grandfather, and killed her husband to please her lover. My mother, one of two children that came from the affair, is emotionally unstable, is getting out of her second marriage now, is an ex-alcoholic, and had a nasty habit of screaming at me for little things when I was young. She also threw a bicycle helmet at my head. Her brother is a clinically depressed janitor who mops floors for a living, is dominated by his nasty wife and her brat son, and has a druggie son who barely provides child support for his kids. My paternal grandmother is a cold woman who was talking about a cute dress she saw the other day the day her husband died. My uncle is an otaku who is in his late forties and lives in his mother's basement. My aunt, the most normal on my father's side, has 4 kids, one of which ended up being a sex offender. My father is dead, but apparently was a diabetic chain-smoker, according to my mother. My friends include a sex-obsessed lesbian with daddy issues, a delusional girl who lies a lot, a neurotic guy obsessed with homework, and a girl who made a bomb threat to our old high school who we kinda ignore. I am not any less dysfunctional than them though. I am on medication for depression, have arthritis at 18, vary between insomnia and sleeping too much, was horribly bullied until high school, am gay, and have extremely bad ADD. That's just the big stuff. I could write a novel on the little stuff as well.

...it's mild or at least ''significantly subtler'' by the standards of this page, since my parents aren't abusive and none of us are ''complete failures at life'', but this troper's family is pretty dysfunctional.

My mother takes the "my way or the highway" approach to everything, to the point of refusing to listen to criticism at all, and has basically no empathy for me (except if whatever's causing me distress is something she also finds disagreeable, which doesn't happen too often).

My father is the closest thing to a ReasonableAuthorityFigure we've got, but absolutely refuses to mediate between me and my mother even though it's effectively impossible for me to get her to listen on my own, and -- although he no longer attempts to actively ''stop'' me, just tries to guilt-trip and/or scare me into compliance whenever the topic comes up -- makes no secret of the fact that he would, essentially, prefer it if I never left the house after sunset. My mother is more laid-back in this regard. (Both of them are very worst-case-scenario people, but for different categories of risk: my dad sees disaster on the horizon whenever I'm downtown/out after dark/both, and my mom expects every physical stunt to end in injuries or broken furniture or both.) I'm reluctant to apply the trope OverprotectiveDad, though, because he doesn't seem to have any problem with the idea of me ''dating''.

My sister started out as a SpoiledBrat DevilInPlainSight who could get away with murder, being the parental favourite. She grew into an obnoxious fangirl with the self-awareness of a herring, and up until quite recently displayed a bizarre naïvete. And while she's ''relatively'' less bratty than she used to be, she's still arrogant (in standard teenage fashion), very selfish, and will noticeably act much nastier -- ClusterFBomb ahoy, in particular -- when our parents aren't around. Although, honestly, I hate her a lot more than is really proportionate to how she acts in the present, even accounting for the fact that I'm forced to spend ''way'' too much time in her presence; most of it comes from the fact that she represents just about everything I hate, or would hate to ''become'', in one convenient package. (This sounds like hyperbole, but I'm dead serious.)

And, finally, this troper herself is a ''far'' cry from the poor sympathetic Woobie. I'm the absolute epitome of InsufferableGenius and TheSnarkKnight, with a habit of insulting everything that displeases me. Although I keep it to standard DeadpanSnarker fare these days, as a child I would viciously attack every false step my parents made that affected me (I don't do this anymore because I don't have the energy for a long, painful fight every time... and also because I've realised parents are ''people'', who are both fallible and worthy of empathy, rather than some kind of distant vengeful gods). And I'm the only thing standing in the way of the three of them being a completely normal family. (Originally this was because my combination of anger issues -- picture a prepubescent berserker and you'll have the gist of it -- and precociousness made me a major burden on whom normal parenting techniques were unreliable at best; now I'm just a mood-souring sarcastic jerkass.)

This troper comes from a (mostly) normal, stable family, but that doesn't mean we aren't dysfunctional in some aspects. Most of my family are Christians who think I'm crazy/being deceived by Satan for believing science before the Bible. We're all black, so naturally my family preferred corporeal punishment; I wouldn't call it abuse, but I still feel bad that they chose to discipline us that way and I kind of resent them for it. Also, my parents and I rarely see eye-to-eye because they have this whole {{tough love}} shtick and like to use BecauseISaidSo on me, which pisses me off to no end. And I'd like to see my little brothers break a few bones, because they're horrible little monsters who get away with everything and think I'm supposed to do what they say when they say because it's somehow my "responsibility" as their older brother to answer to their every beck and call. Maybe my situation isn't so remarkable and that's just typical family interaction, but it's not like I have another frame of reference.

Between the depressed, clingy mother who has the constant need to take every bad thing that happens and make herself the victim, the emotionally abusive, insomniac diabetic father, and the extended family in which everybody keeps dying and everybody else is depressed as a result of that, I'd say this troper has a pretty substantial example. Also, we're all alcoholics.

Many of the darker entries on troper tales imply that this ''entire website'', or at least this portion of it, is this trope. What are we, the land of misfit toys?

While it's impossible to know, one could probably take a guess that it's just the law of averages at work. That is: Someone has experienced something nasty in real life. Said person reads about it on TVTropes and goes to Troper Tales to share their experience. Given the shear number of people in the world; and the nastiness of it at large... I guess I'm saying it's not a surprise that people with problems congregate wherein said problems are described.

This troper's family is defintely this trope. My mom, for a really long time, was a drug addled, manic depressive nitpicker, who snuck alcohol to my wedding reception despite us having a dry one for my husband's family (they're Mormon). My real dad left when I was a year old, and when I was 11, I got an abusive, alcoholic, rage filled stepdad as a replacement. My little brother (half), pays kids to do his homework, can barely read, and is growing up with the same sort of rage that his dad has. My extended family can't stand each other, and family reunions become either drunken brawls or passive-aggressive snarkfests. My husband's family? Eat dinner together, pray, have movie marathons for fun, sing together, and genuinely love each other. It's eerie to be around them, considering what I grew up with.

This Troper grew up in psych wards and group homes. Just try entering one of those; basically EVERY girl has children due to incest rape from their male relatives. One thirteen year old girl was gang raped so bad that she had to get surgery on her vagina, and that's not even the worst.

The joke among my classmates at college is that if there are normal people here, we certainly don't associate with them. Almost everyone is either mentally ill or has a chronic physical illness. It probably comes of the fact that it's a women's college in the middle of nowhere, so it seems like a safe place to send your beloved toy daughter. What people don't take into account is that if you come here normal, your classwork ''will'' make you otherwise. The girl who lives directly under my room keeps having to borrow my nail clippers. It took me a while to realize this is because if she had her own, she'd self-harm with it. So every time I put it in the pulley bucket (yes, we MacGyvered a pulley!), I fret until she sends it back up. And since about 50% of the people here are gay or bi, there's a lot of {{Gayngst}}, too...

This troper's friend used to live with a family unit that seemed out of a reality tv show- said friends fathers girlfriends husband (an elderly man she's still leagally married to) lived in the garage underneath the house all the while his wife and her boyfriend were for the lack of a better word 'together' and from what little time this troper spent with the friends family the were even weirder than the friend described, this tropers friend has fortunately moved out since then.

Lampshaded in this troper's group of friends. As my friend frustratingly exclaimed: "Why are no one we know happy or normal!?"

This troper's friends and family fit this trope to a tee. Some are megalomaniac, some are super-narcissistic, some have self-worth issues, some have parent issues, some have anger issues. Sometimes this troper wonders why he and his friends don't all pilot giant robots.

ThisTroper's family. Oi... Not as bad as some people's; but let's see here... My mom's side of the family has various psychological disorders sprinkled throughout. This includes a fair helping of OCD (most prominently in my mom and myself, but present in my grandma and brother to a degree as well), one schizophrenic aunt, heaps of depression, alcoholism aaaaand one member of said family was molested by a priest. Except it happened long before the last decade of abuse scandals, so when he spoke up (1970s - born in the late 50s) - so needless to say he wasn't believed; and that spiraled into drug abuse in addition to alcoholism. Now that he's kicked both of those habits he's got a gambling addiction. (Worst thing? He's a fantastic guy.) - Note how this is just the mom's side of the family? It's the small side. My dad's side (or rather, specifically my dad with the rest having these in much smaller increments) has... yet more alcoholism, drug abuse (both my dad before he cleaned up); also TheFundementalist (my dad AFTER he cleaned up), tons of "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child" cranked up to 11. What's especially frustrating about that last bit, is while it was clearly abusive, most people don't see it that way because spanking is still considered fairly normal in most of the US. That it happened every day for the most minor of infractions doesn't seem to get through to most people. That it's left me pretty well unable to trust people further than I can throw them also tends to not matter. Oh yeah and ThisTroper's brother was molested by someone within the family. Did I mention my parent's divorce took 4 years because aforementioned dad actually fought it tooth and nail? And then there's me (hi!), with major depression, OCD, and a heap of other issues. The worst part of course being: It could be worse. For all that I still count myself pretty lucky.

Hoo boy, me and my girlfriend and our families certainly qualify. And I'm limiting this to us and our parents, if I went to her grandmother or to my grandmother, her brothers or their mother, the list would never end.

I've been in chronic, seasonally varying depression since I was 7. I'm now 20. Also, I have history of eating disorders and escapism since stuffing food into my mouth and burying myself into books were the only ways to make myself happy. Oh yeah, I've been suffering from body dysphoria and major trust issues. I apologise a lot to people and have hard time saying no since my parents were constantly fighting with my mum always using me as a tool to get my father to agree her ("Stop that, can't you see you're scaring your son?!") and my coping mechanism was making myself as small and pleasant as possible. I'm the normal one here. Also, I have to consider myself lucky since I've always known that no matter what, my mum would defend me from anything and she would have never used me as a human shield, a luxury my girlfriend and her brother never had. The latter was once used as a human shield since their mother knew his boyfriend wouldn't hit the kids.

My dad's an alcoholic who has been abusing all kinds of substances since he was a child. Ditto for my uncle, who died of alcoholism ten years ago. And oh yeah, their mother is also an alcoholic so it clearly runs in the family. He used to get really drunk every single weekend (he probably does that even more now) and proceed to tell how me and my mum are lazy, good-for-nothing leeches that just live on HIS hard-earned money. My father's substance use and traumatic childhood (when chopping wood as a child, he hit his foot with an axe, and what did his parents do: yell at him for ruining his new shoes. Taking him to the doctor - out of question, that would've been expensive!) have left him empathetically on a child's level. And not a nice child either, think more in the lines of a school yard bully (who's strong as hell and two meters tall). His behaviour is highly narcistic.

My mum is extremely pushy, overprotective and controlling emotionally. But she's actually kind of subversion since she's got over most of her problems! She was sexually abused as a child by her stepfather (her supposed real father) who also killed her puppy in front of her when she was three years old, used to be seriously depressed, has tried suicide, and... I'm sure she hasn't even told me the worst parts. And oh, she used to be the LoveMartyr for my father until he dumped her. After that her life (and mine, in turn, since she no longer needs to confide in me) has just improved.

My girlfriend has been seriously depressed for years, has eating disorder, major trust issues, hard time saying no to people... Wow, we really suit each other! Quite a lot of her problems are thanks to her mother's alcoholic, abusive long time boyfriend (they've been together on and off for at least ten years, been married at least twice...) and the fact her mother was seriously depressed when she was young. She tried to commit suicide once, and my girlfriend was the one to find her. Did I mention that happened back when she was still in elementary school?

My mother-in-law to be was also sexually abused as a child. When her mother found out, she called her own daughter a whore. Unlike my mum, she hasn't recovered from it. Doesn't stop her from using other people and scamming money out of them, though.

This troper's family is kind of like this, with a depressed parent, disabilities for yours truly and a father who is always concerned about his church before his own family D:

This troper's family. To start, her mother came from a very poor background where she had 7 siblings who were very poor and homeless and whose father (my grandfather) was abusive during the time due to the Vietnam War. She now has diabetes,but it is actually going away, Thank God. Unfortunately, she also has a condition that makes her somewhat bipolar, but never acts that way and she takes medicine for it. Her father had lost his father (my grandfather) when he was 8 by drowning and had when he was playing with his brother (whom he barely talked to growing up after I was born), was accidentally shot in the ee with a BB gun, rendering him blind in one eye. He and his two siblings were also poor and raised by a single mother. Also keep in mind that they were African Americans living in the south so they faced quite a bit of racism (Especially her grandfather, who was mixed). This troper's sister has Asperger Syndrome (Luckily, she is becoming more social and less introverted). This troper's brother is probably one of the best off of the three of us and is spoiled rotton, as far as I know. And for this troper, before surgery a few years ago, she had strabismus in her left eye which caused her to become less self-confident and turn into a painfully shy girl as she grew up, although she is slowly but surely coming out of her shell. Also, this troper is actually the second-oldest of the family, since her parents actual first child was born dead. Btw, this is this troper's immediate family, which, believe it or not, compared to the rest of her family, is doing much better off. She's thankful for the blessings her extended family may not have and that her immediate family is still together.

Me and my group of friends seem to be a lot like this.

I am really shy and not good with people, also asexual, a bit of an AdultChild and the kind of person who is OlderThanTheyLook and I come from a big family (with a very complicated family tree!), where I always end up looking after the babies. I always worry about what people think of me, and I worry too much about things, when im not being silly and hyper.

My best friend does not understand people very well, and a lot of people dont like him cause hes very sensitive and easily upset and when hes upset, he gets really angry.

My other best friend is TheWoobie of the group, shes been in a lot of abusive relationships, got in an online relationship with a creepy stalker guy (and has since got a StalkerWithACrush who keeps following her round), with a very overprotective dad (stepdad actually, her real dad hasnt seen her since she was a baby)

My other friend has various medical problems that she has to cope with, and she is in a relationship with a man who doesnt treat her well, but she doesnt think there is anything abusive about it cause he doesnt hit her, but shes still very upset by what he does, but worries about leaving him cause she doesnt have enough money to buy her own house.

Theres other friends of mine who have issues too, including a guy who has problems from being abused by his father til he was 8, a girl with heart problems, several teen parents, and a girl whos a carer to her mom, who is ill.

This troper's ex-best friend and her family. First, there's the ex-best friend in question. She first had sex at age 8. She's currently 14 and has had sex numerous more times, supposedly without her parents caring. Towards the end of sixth grade, she started a false rumor that she was pregnant and when the vice-principal confronted her about it, she lied and said she was raped. Her mother used to smoke, but promised she wouldn't do it anymore. She broke that promise. Her father once drove drunk and killed somebody. He also smokes. Her step-father is a smoker who always wears the same clothes and plays online poker for a good portion of the day every day. He's been letting his Autistic six or seven year old son (ex-best friend's step-brother) play whatever M or A rated games he wants to. Her older brother is an underage drinker and used to be an underage smoker. He once blew up a street sign for kicks. Her step-uncles both smoke and never change clothes. I normally wouldn't have a big problem with everyone smoking, but I didn't yet mention that my ex-best friend is ALLERGIC to cigarette smoke. Her grandmother tries to control a lot of her life.

This troper's RPG Group. The GM (me) is a Schizoid asexual, aromantic, loner who pretty much only sees the rest of the group when its time to play, Player#1 is an obssessive compulssive geek that can't make his mind about anything, Player#2 is an omnisexual histrionic control freak, Player#3 is a depressed and submissive jock, Player#4 is a perky goth with trust issues.Player#5 is actually a Jehovah witness that for some bizarre reason player with us, and is the normal one.

This Troper is under the impression that he can't be in any kind of close personal relationship (family, friends, etc.) without the relationship being completely dysfunctional.

This troper is a ShrinkingViolet who doesn't make friends easily, but my closest friends always end up having more problems than me, despite usually being more extroverted and seeming more normal. I'm a good listener, so maybe it's just that people really like to vent, and that everyone has problems.

This troper not even going to actually list his family members and their flaws because A)its probably nothing compared to everyone else listed on here, and B)it might confuse you. He'll just give you the basics: One TedBaxter, one BrattyTeenageDaughter, two TooDumbToLive (They're both married to each other.), one CompleteMonster, three EnfantTerrible's and TheAlcoholic. Want to know the funny part? That's not even all of them. Said troper is basically desensitized to all the crap that goes on around me and waiting until college. Probably why he's called "The Good Boy".

This troper is feeling almost normal after reading the previous entries. Her father and stepmother are okay and those sides of the family are, too, although her paternal aunt sometimes seems a bit of a cloudcuckoolander. But then there's her mother, a chronically depressed sociopathic stalker who seems to regard everybody else as... things that should do anything she wants. Everybody else = her children and ex-husband. This troper's brother is still living with her and seems to be an epically stoic woobie. This troper herself has gotten mosly sane after not living the last three years with her.

This troper has discovered that she and her friends all qualify for this. One girl, who always seems rather chipper, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has had several awful moodswings when she forgot to take medication. Another is an AxCrazy StrangeGirl whom I worry about constantly from reading something she wrote talking about feeling alone and sad most all of the time. A wonderful boy with a sunny disposition apparently has a VERY DarkAndTroubledPast and has recently gotten over cutting, though his self-esteem could use work. This troper is depressed, hates herself with a passion, and self-harms. We somehow end up balancing each other out into being cheery and enjoying each other's company.