Helen has always needed long hours of work to distract her from the pressures of marriage, motherhood and her own anxious temperament. Although her husband Howard has tried to convince her to quit working because they have enough money, she refuses to give up this sphere of life in which she has real autonomy from her family responsibilities. Unhappy in her marriage and constantly struggling with her son’s mental illness, work allows Helen an escape. It is also, perhaps, the way she handles her own mental illness. It seems possible that Helen’s father, like her son, struggled with anxiety, depression…