feeling overly responsible for outcomes/interactions.

When I google this phrase?

I get a bunch of Adult Children of Alcoholics links.

Go figure - my mom's dad was an alcoholic (verbally abusive); my mom was teetotal (still is, far's I know).

Brothers? Both drink like fish.

Me? Can't really handle the stuff - a little now and then goes a long way, mostly it just makes me feel ill. And no, it's not the 'guilt' - I got over *that* some years ago, thank goodness. In fact, my mom's 'over-the-top'ness about it always seemed pretty silly to me, though I respect that people gotta do what they *think* they gotta do.

***
Also, *all by myself* :-), independently, and *then* one of the Google hits, came up with the idea of 'over-responsibilty' being something a person might do when feeling 'out of control'.

Like me with the neighbor, fearing she'll retaliate in some way if I don't jump to respond to her quick enough (*she's* an alcoholic, which I'd never really witnessed up close before, as I rarely see my brothers. But all the reading I'd done on it for other reasons sort of prepared me to not only not take it personally but to deal with it pretty straight-forwardly. Whew. But I still have to *remember*: She's *not* like other people. Her brain kind of slips and slides around, and you never know *which* side is going to be 'up' at any given moment.)