No my family doesn't have a history of mental illness only my cousin (intense depression) but i wouldn't say we're anymore prone to illness than the majority of people.
And yes we picked out the seeds and stems; did a real nice job of breaking it up. I guess it was the tin foil, but my friend got a nice high just giggles and shit like i hoped mine would be. Anyway my friend is getting a new pipe soon so we definitely won't be using tin foil again. I just hope it was the foil.