question: I am terrified that I have a mental illness, I am a mother of 7, 3 are biologically my children 4 are my step children, I have never been without any of my children for more then a few nights and this year for the first time they are all gone at the same time for 10 days. I am lost, hopeless, directionless, and it is only night 3. is this my own anxiety or something more serious? The last time I felt this way was 2 years ago when my bio children's father got 3 overnights a week, I never got better, just shut down until they were home until my step children moved in, then I was still mom and was able to cope or forget that some were not here.