Mental Health

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About Suicide and Suicide Safety Planning (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 2 years ago by VubDapple to c/mentalhealth

0 comments fedilink

Hey folks. It's me, VubDapple. I'm a (not so active but still present) mod for this community and also a mental health professional. Recently there was some upset at this young community's rule about posts concerning suicide. I thought I'd offer a few thoughts about suicide and where things seem to stand right now. Sorry for the delay in my response; things have been rather busy in my life.

Suicide is a super frightening topic for many people - with good reason. As such, it is difficult to figure out how to manage discussion of suicide in a public and anonymous volunteer forum so that everyone's needs are best met. A few issues come to mind that have to do with such balancing of needs:

How to balance the needs of people who want to discuss their suicidal thoughts against the needs of other people who would be triggered by reading it and would really like to avoid it? Suicidal ideation is really common within groups of people who self-identify as having mental health issues, so on the one hand it is reasonable to discuss it. On the other hand, the very nature of the topic feels dangerous to many, sometimes because it might trigger one's own suicidal thoughts and at other times because there is concern that if not handled properly any discussion could make the issue worse rather than better.
How to know what the risk is that someone who is suicidal might actually attempt suicide? Many people who are suicidal are not in imminent danger, but some really are. Because this judgement is difficult to make, and because no one here including moderators is able to take on an actual care-giving clinical role, it is reasonable for us to treat all suicidal discussion as potentially dangerous.
How to best care for a suicidal person? This community is simply not able to provide any actual suicide prevention service! There is nothing like /r/suicidewatch here at this time! The community is not staffed to care for an acutely suicidal person.

The recent rule adjustment (Rule #4) has been made to try to strike a balance between the competing needs of community members. Basically, it's okay to acknowledge the existence of suicidal thoughts or thoughts relating to self-harm but we want to discourage extended discussion of such topics, precisely because no one here is able to take on an extended care-giving role in the manner a professional caregiver would and because there is a reasonable chance or at least reasonable concern that extended discussion might make things worse than they already are. The best advice that can be given at this time would be to seek professional mental health care.

I can shed some light on how to know when suicidal thoughts are considered acutely and immediately dangerous and when they are not by providing the following psycho-educational information.

Mental health professionals divided the universe of suicidal thoughts into "active" and "passive" categories. I like to offer the metaphor of a "poison flower" to help people recognize how these categories work.

Suicidal thoughts are a developmental process that starts small and grows to become a threat. Think of a flower seedling - it is very small at first - just a shoot coming out of the soil. As it grows it develops tiny leaves and the stem gets larger, the leaves get larger, etc. in a developmental process. Eventually a bud forms, that bud opens and then we have a flower. The universe of passive suicidal ideation is just like this flower during its developmental phase eg., before the flower blooms. The universe of active suicidal ideation is like the flower after it has bloomed. Active suicidality is much more dangerous than passive suicidal ideation.

Passive ideation usually starts with a feeling of overwhelm; a sense that a person simply does not have what it will take to manage the situation they find themselves in. As it grows, the passively suicidal person becomes aware of the thought that they might be better off dead. Often this thought is frightening at first; the people who experience it do not want it there and see it as a sign that they aren't well. A further development of the suicidal process but still passive suicidality occurs when a person finds themselves fantasizing about how they might end their life. The thoughts may still be unwanted and at this phase of the developmental process there can be a sense of a growing struggle between the thoughts of dying and the desire to push those thoughts away. An even further development might occur when a person starts taking seriously the idea that they might actually kill themselves. At this late stage of passive suicidal ideation there may still not be what we call intent, but nevertheless the suicidal person may start researching how they would end their life.

The turning point between passive and active suicidality comes when three criteria are met: 1) there is intent to harm one's self, 2) there is a plan for how the person will harm themselves, and 3) the person has access to the means to harm themselves. The term intent means that the person has come to regard the idea of suicide as something they will carry out. The term plan means only that the person has picked a method for how they will die. You don't need to have a "good" plan (eg., one likely to be lethal) in order for it to count that you have a plan; any plan will do. Finally having access to the means for committing suicide means having access to the tools and materials that the person would use to end their life. When all three of these criteria are met, we mental health professionals consider the person to be actively suicidal. When the criteria are not all met then we consider people to be more passively suicidal.

Suicidal ideation is not a one-way process. People can move from not-suicidal to passively suicidal and then later to actively suicidal, but it is also true that actively suicidal people can exit their active suicidal status back usually to passively suicidal status, and then even later become not suicidal again. It's important to keep this in mind because of what some call the "suicidal trance" eg., the tendency, as a person becomes more and more actively suicidal, to believe that suicide is the only reasonable response to what appears to that person at the moment to be an endless and entirely hopeless set of life problems from which suicide is the only escape. Most of the time it isn't true that the person's life problems are actually endlessly hopeless, but it does tend to feel that way when you're in it.

There is no hard and fast rule for assessing danger here, but the general idea is that passive suicidality is less acutely dangerous than active suicidality; mostly because with active suicidality by definition there is intent to die and the person's energies are marshaled in the direction of finding a way to make that happen in a manner that is simply not the case when a person is more passively suicidal. Passive suicidality is dangerous in that it may become active later on, but most of the time when someone is passively suicidal they are not going to go home and kill themselves any time soon. Active suicidality is a crisis. The actively suicidal person needs help and they need it as quickly as it can be found. A good way to gain that help if there is no other resource around would be to go to a hospital emergency room and tell the staff there that you are actively suicidal. Such action might help best in the short term because at least in the USA (where I am located) the healthcare system is broken and there easily might not be follow up care provided which would be needed, but it might be better than nothing.

What sort of care does a suicidal person benefit from? If you know of someone who is suicidal and the right solution is not immediate hospitalization to contain a crisis that will unfold very very shortly if urgent measures are not taken, then what is the right solution? It used to be the case that mental health professionals were trained to ask suicidal people to "sign a no-suicide contract" whether actually or metaphorically. It turns out that this doesn't help much. These days, in addition to whatever therapy they may provide mental health professionals are trained to help passively suicidal clients by helping them complete a Suicide Safety Plan.

The Suicide Safety Plan is simply a list of resources that the suicidal person can think about when they are tempted by the possibility of harming themselves. It is designed to help a suicidal person to maintain perspective about their larger situation even as the "suicidal trance" beckons them to die, and to remind the suicidal person of the techniques they can use or the resources they can call upon if they are feeling especially tempted.

Anyone can make a Suicide Safety Plan by answering the following questions:

What are the warning signs in your behavior that signal that you are becoming increasingly suicidal?
What are the ways you have available to calm or sooth yourself that might lessen your need to suicide?
What can you do to make the environment safer for you (like getting rid of the means of harming yourself)?
What are reasons for living? Often this one boils down to "Who would be harmed if you were to die?"
Who in your personal life can you talk to about how bad things are?
Who are the healthcare professionals you can call on if things get really bad?

I know what you might be thinking! A lot of people looking at these questions have told me that they can't see it coming, they don't know how to sooth themselves, there are no valid reasons for living, they have no friends or people who care about them and that they can't access healthcare because it is too expensive (which is often true in the profit-obsessed USA unfortunately). Even so, it is worth trying to engage with these questions so as to write out methods and names and resources as well as you can. Even a little bit of hope and a little bit of planning in advance can become critical in a crisis, making the difference between life and death.

A final word about reasons for living. Many times suicidal people have told me that even though they have children or loved ones, that their children will be better off without them alive. Such is the warping influence of the suicidal trance which commonly argues that the suicidal person is and can only be a burden and that children or loved ones will be better off without them. This simply isn't true. Children get FUCKED UP when their parents commit suicide. Loved ones get FUCKED UP when their loved ones commit suicide. Particularly for children who lose their parents to suicide, the effect is to traumatize them rather permanently for the rest of their lives. I have seen it up close and personal. Nothing I might say can make the influence of the suicidal trance less strong, but at least hear me in that this part of what that trance says is a lie. Nothing good comes of suicide except maybe that your own personal pain is discharged. The others around you will suffer. If you don't want to contribute to the suffering of others, please consider looking for another way. That other way might be very hard to find or very expensive to access, but when it is life or death, it's a good investment to make.

General Suicide Information

https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/index.html

Suicide Helplines In the USA: call or text 988

https://findahelpline.com/i/iasp

https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/

Suicide Safety Planning:

https://www.verywellmind.com/suicide-safety-plan-1067524

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-recovery-coach/202306/how-to-develop-a-safety-plan-to-manage-a-suicidal-crisis

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Nobody cares, society doesn't care, humans suck, I hate everything, life is pain (heavy venting) (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

2 comments fedilink

Trigger warning for everything I guess, idk, just ranting and screaming into the void here, read at your own discretion.

Very bad idea to vent about what I'm about to vent about in a mental health community of all places, but don't got much else to go to these days so, fuck me I guess.

spoiler

Actual unpopular opinion here (and very rambly/incoherent, be warned) but: I'm so, so, SO fucking exhausted and utterly SICK of being forced to bottle myself up, to rot and suffer forever, to be stuck in a rut against my own will - to be condemned to never, EVER have anyone in my life in ANY shape or form but for abusive, manipulative, narcissistic pieces of shit. All anyone or society has to say to me - if they even bother in the first place - is "save yourself" "go outside" "keep to yourself" "seek therapy" and that's it, that's ALL I get, then get told to fuck off if I don't take that as gospel.

Not even gonna bother to comprehend that some of us AREN'T stupidly lucky, rich, have loving parents, any actual friends, and can afford anything we want at will? That some of us live in the global south with VERY little options or things to do? (Not mentioning the whole "no democracy, no rights, no freedoms" thing that most of the world still shares in common-) That there's less and less to do outside anymore in the first place? Everything costs money and is only getting more expensive? That mental health professionals are not a magical fix for literally fucking everything and everyone - not even mentioning that most of them Do. Not. Give. A. Fuck. About you other then taking your money? Not gonna bring up how inefficient and backwards mental health care is in general? Not even gonna bother to acknowledge all my experiences with all of this shit and how utterly useless it all is? No? I'm insane for even questioning that? Okay then, guess I'll die alone and be blamed for it.

The only reason shit like the right to die isn't cared about is because we want more labour and people to exploit, we would rather inflict infinite suffering upon others to gain more for ourselves then bother with ANY semblance of care or mercy to those that genuinely do NOT want to be here and NEVER asked to be born. Fuck. All. Of. You.

Even acts of "kindness" and "tolerance" are temporary and done only to look good in the public and slowly regain control over people, look at the complete 180 turn going on right now against queer people, who I sadly happen to be apart of. Not the first time this has happened, every goddamn time throughout history ANY progress is made for JUST a brief moment in history, humans being humans lose their shit and push us back 500 steps backwards for years and years on end, we're stuck in an infinite loop of our own making, and refuse to change, instead blaming others and throwing "you must change" "you can't control others" "save yourself" while those same people do whatever the fuck they want at your expense, and don't you DARE question it or else. So that's fun, we'll never change, this is how it's always gonna be until the end of time...

"Get help" = I don't give a fuck and am saying that to look good, be rich or die/end up in an insane asylum loser lol.

"Find ways to cope" = shut up and figure it out on your own, or else we'll mock, lecture, berate, and harass you over it until you completely shut the fuck up and vanish out of everyone's sight, and even then we'll still laugh at people like you because your a loser, cope lol.

"Find things that you enjoy" = I don't care, don't care if your completely dead inside and nothing makes you feel good or distracted beyond 2 seconds in a day of brief vague enjoyment that gets harder and harder to achieve as you completely run out of coping mechanisms, go away, you make me feel bad, just ignore all your feelings or something, go stare at a wall, idk, idc. Oh and we'll also randomly make you feel guilty about doing things you enjoy and not working literally 24/7 and contributing to society over yourself non stop just because, and then blame and harass you for getting stressed out and confused lol.

"Save yourself" = I don't give a fuck about whatevers stopping you from actual doing anything and want you to go away, you make me feel bad, ew.

"Nobody owes anyone anything" = the only vaguely truthful quote people toss around, but also perfectly describes everything I hate with humans: we don't owe each other anything, including basic necessities, peace, stability, compassion, support, dignity, to live without fear of constant violence and discrimination for not perfectly conforming to what others want out of you, etc etc. unless you have something to give that they want and for however long they want it, then fuck you, die lol. Oh and we'll blame you for it too, all your fault buddy, should've pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and been more to our liking and or rich, your stuck in a self limiting loop bro, nobody will save you :)

"Go outside" = I'm very fortunate and privileged, live in a bearable society, am fortunate to have stuff around me other then exclusively work, the same small 3 public parks at most, and basic necessities and literally nothing else, and assume everyone has the same privileges and will NOT comprehend anything else.

"Seek professionals" = go to people who just want your money and may or may not even help, or even make things worse and toss you to the police, but we don't care, shut up you asshole - how DARE you criticise therapy as not being a magic fix for everything??? We're giving you HONEST, TRUTHFUL advice and you DARE flame us for copy and pasting the same bullshit over and over again on anyone dealing with anything??? Go away loser, die, be stuck forever chasing after self help scams, medication to "fix" you, not being able to work because of mental health and not being able to fix said mental health because of money which needs work ("your self limiting bro" sure, whatever you say...), and ungodly expensive therapy that very clearly isn't working for you for the rest of your miserable existence lol.

"Be yourself" = presenting how you wanna present to a certain degree (but also not really but we're not gonna say that out loud lol-), so long as it's trendy and cool to do so as well, but if tomorrow we suddenly change our minds then fuck you, you don't deserve to exist anymore, don't care if your minding your own business and not harming anyone - ew, your a weirdo, die, we're gonna make it our whole goddamn life mission to make sure you and anyone like you will NEVER rest for a second lol.

"You can't help someone who can't help themselves" = I legitimately could care less about you and am barely hiding that anymore but I'm still gonna gaslight you over it lol, oh what's that? Life will literally NOT give you a single opportunity to do anything about your situation and keeps violently beating you down again and again everytime you make ANY vague progress on anything? You've done this and tried that for years and years? Have nothing to fall back on? No support, no friends, nothing? Skill issue, have the same tone deaf copy and paste pieces of "advice" and fuck off, save yourself crippled and handicapped loser, go take a walk or something lol.

"Never rely on others" = oh what's that? You've had an abusive childhood, never had any friends, any love, any support, anything at all and are starving for anything at this point? Your completely and utterly lost because of how much society has bashed you into the ground and need an anchor to heal and build yourself back up to avoid drifting off into a black hole? NO, SUFFER FOREVER, EW - HOW DARE YOU NOT BE A MODEL CITIZEN NPC??? HOW DARE YOU THINK FOR 1 SECOND??? HOW DARE YOU WANT OTHERS TO GIVE A FLYING FUCK??? NOBODY OWES YOU ANYTHING, HUMANS ARE TERRIBLE AND AWFUL - STRANGER DANGER - KEEP TO YOURSELF - SAVE YOURSELF - EVERYONE IS THEIR OWN ISLAND - DO LITERALLY EVERYTHING BY YOURSELF (somehow?) (galore) - except when it's convenient, on media, and makes us look good then we'll suddenly pretend we're all family and ignore any and all mentions of our hypocrisy and make you look deranged to others instead and rally them against you lol :)

So on, so forth, it never ends, don't even get me started (toxic/fake positivity, fake empathy/sympathy, following trends and norms no matter how unhealthy it is for all of us long term, how little of a fuck we give about how normal and common abuse and neglect is, how children and teens are nothing but property to society and have no say in anything, politics and religion as a whole, most cultures and mindsets in general, ageism, sexism, gender, capitalism, our hatred for honesty, difference, expression, vulnerability, minorites, losers, etc. unless it's convient or beneficial for us to think otherwise, how moronic and fucking evil we are, how greedy, how selfish and inconsiderate, how bloodthirsty we are, how hypocritical and double sided we are, how much we just can't get enough of suffering and agony and will NEVER stop fucking ourselves over and over again and blame it all on each other just because, etc etc. just - fucking everything man, it LITERALLY. NEVER. ENDS. It's an infinite list-), everyone's a fucking hypocrite, nobody cares, everybody's just out for themselves and to feel good, and thinking for just a split second is enough to get you forever outcasted from all of society, forever. Ignorance is bliss. Literally. Anything else = endless suffering.

No creature on earth is as cruel as man. Unless your stupidly lucky, an NPC that can walk through life without a thought, or are rich enough to ignore all of society or influence it directly: there's nothing good about us, we're worse then ANY other animal out there. I wish I was born a bird man, this is hell...

Pick your poison I guess: forever be alone and isolated and fend for yourself 24/7 until the end of time, or be forced to perfectly conform to others demands and MAYBE you'll find community, maybe. People literally just can't comprehend anything else, it's either hyper individualism or hyper collectivism, this is all you get.

Anyways, alien rant over, I know I'll get dogpiled into oblivion for venting all of this out there, I know how people are so, whatever, back to my daily rotting and unable to do fuck all else but despair, shut up, and suffer until I go insane and burst. No hope. No future. Nothing. Forever. I love life.

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Mental Health Resource List (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

0 comments fedilink

For suicide hotlines world-wide: https://www.therapyroute.com/article/helplines-suicide-hotlines-and-crisis-lines-from-around-the-world

For trans people, NB or gender-non conforming people: https://trans-resources.info/

Trans resources

In a Crisis?
Trevor Project	Connect to a LGBTQ understanding crisis counselor 24/7, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the U.S. It is 100% confidential, and 100% free.
Trans Lifeline	Trans Lifeline’s Hotline is a peer support phone service run by trans people for our trans and questioning peers. Call us if you need someone trans to talk to, even if you’re not in crisis or if you’re not sure if you’re trans.
Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World	Hotlines available internationally
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)	RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org & rainn.org/es

Thought it would be good to copy over some resources from /r/trans and a few other places. I won't get all of them, so comment some more .

Resources------------------------------------	Descriptions
r/Trans Discord	The official discord server of r/Trans
The Orchard	If you are questioning your gender or would like to help people who are questioning their gender, The Orchard is a discord server meant specifically for this.
Trans Lifeline Resources	More than just the hotline, they have a great page linking to many resources, including but not limited to... ID Change Library, Community-Based Crisis Support Resources, A Binding Guide for All Genders, Microgrants for some legal and medical fees, and much more you can easily search.
VRC Trans Academy	Discord for a VRChat based Tans community with events and resources in discord and inside VR. (They even have free voice-training classes)
A Place For Marsha	A Place for Marsha is one of many start-up projects aiming towards helping Trans individuals and families in increasingly dangerous states to a safer place.
The Trans Resistance Network (TRN)	Formed to ensure the survival of gender diverse people and families through strategic coordination of resources for relocation, alternative systems of gender-affirming care, mutual aid, and community defense.
Erin’s National Informed Consent Clinics Map	Erin Reed’s informed consent map lists every informed consent hormone therapy clinic.
UK Stonewall Housing	If you’re LGBTQ+ and live in the UK, facing or experiencing homelessness, or living in an unsafe home Stonewall Housing can help.
Rainbow Passage	Providing transportation for individuals in harm's way, with a focus on bringing them to the Sanctuary States and Cities. Safely escorting individuals to communities with the necessary legal, financial, educational, and medical resources to meet their needs.

For any recommendations please comment! This currently is just a combination of the old pinned posts. Suggestions are welcome!

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How are you all doing? - Weekly thread (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

14 comments fedilink

Talk and vent about recent experiences, thoughts, and emotions. Anything is allowed.

I just took over this community, which has been inactive for many months. I hope you will all find it a safe space for you.

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Yesterday was pretty strange (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

9 comments fedilink

Usually I am a person who is generally reasonable I think and mature. However yesterday it all went 180 degrees. It all started in the morning, I already felt very energetic on that day but not in a good way so to say but in this kind of way like when you drink too much coffee and can't calm yourself.

I had to drive for an hour to my family member. While driving I already felt certain disconnection from external world as if it all was a bit foggy. Alright sometimes happens whatever, it will pass soon enough. However there was unplanned roadblock and huge traffic jam that I suddenly found myself in.

Stuck in it I really got restless, I couldn't find music that would soothe me. Finally Lana del ray Black Beauty. Wow I felt so high like on some drugs when listening to it. I started to think that other people stuck in traffic jam can hear what I play in the car as it was on max volume and I liked it. I thought: hey maybe I am this sort of DJ right now and should serve them something good and we will all have a good time.

Strange thinking.

I felt kinda out of it. As the traffic jam dispersed I had unreasonable yearning for drifting. Every bend I tested the limits to the wheels traction, excited what will happen if I push it too hard but my engine is too small for any oversteer. Still, my style of driving turned violent.

I managed to get to my family member even though I was bored out of my mind by an uneventful journey for some reason. It was like an itch I couldn't scratch.

Anyhow after some time with my family member it became apparent that she is a bit demented today. Okie dokie I mean you just gotta not listen to her too much and do stuff you think is good according to the plan. However she for some reason wanted to give money to certain neighbor lady that did some half assed 'repairs' in the past but never asked for money. And my old lady did go outside and gave her 85 dollars when I took a nap.

That really rustled my jimmies. I got very suspicious. Who is taking advantage of my family member? It felt like a personal attack on me and I couldn't let it slide. I must solve this and see what the heck is happening.

For some reason I took a heavy wrench into my pocket. I felt excited and sort of like finally some kind of itch is being scratched. I asked my grandma with an innocent smile who she paid to for that 'service' or whatever that neighbor demanded payment for. I got the address.

Excited, grinning I went to the address that was a very short distance from the house, smiling the whole way for some reason.

I called on the intercom 'hello I am here to see ms xyz', the staircase door opened and I stepped inside and went for the door, straight to the doorbell.

It was getting kinda foggy my reasoning and everything. I just remember I was smiling and looking very deep in the eyes and was very polite but I felt like I could do anything in that moment. Like I wanted to see some signs in their eyes, of hostility. I wanted to see something in their eyes that would make me go bonkers you know. I waited for a signal.

I don't remember too much. It was a bit of a blur but after some very strange but polite and calm conversation I have left the building. I remember feeling unsatisfied. Something was scratched but only partially. The longing was still there. I didn't care about the money. My driving didn't improve. It wasn't enough.

I kind of still feel it on the ends of my teeth like there is some kind of electricity on my palate, like a hunger maybe, but I feel like a much more reasonable and sane person today.

I think it will pass completely during the coming days and will not show itself unless some kind of weird situation arises again that will require taking care of. I think that you have to take care of your business and solve things, otherwise people will rob you and use you if you let them. It is all very personal if someone exploits your grandma while you are there taking a nap. It felt good to take care of the business but it didn't quite felt fully satisfying. There is still something unresolved here.

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I have gotten the advice to not date until I am better... (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

42 comments fedilink

I have been going to therapy off and on for years and whenever I bring up my desire to date and my difficulties with it I have gotten back to just work on myself and online I have seen "if you aren't happy alone you won't be happy in a relationship". I have major depression and have had it for years. Am I supposed to just hope it goes away? Wait until my entire life has passed?

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Does this happen to anyone (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 1 week ago by kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E to c/mentalhealth

6 comments fedilink

This might look stupid and completely insignificant compared to other people posting here, but this community looks the most appropriate to ask, so here is the situation : sometimes when I wake up (and only then), i have huge, existential fear (panic) that I will die. It lasts for a dozen of seconds, it's the only thing i can think about. The fear is profound, and infinitely large, there is nothing i can do to stop it myself.

Then, all becomes normal. The fear disappears and i am back to being a functioning individual.

The fact that it happens regularly, with a strict pattern (only at wakeup), tells me it is some chemical sude effect of sleeping (?)

Just for the record, i am aware this is nothing to worry about, i am not trying to get attention lol. i just wanted to know if anyone experiences the same

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Do you get these shizo/paranoid/whatever attacks too? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

8 comments fedilink

So, I am autistic, I dont really have friends except online, and i have a few other diagnoses like suspicion of schizophrenia and suspicion of psychosis. And, about once a year, I start walking down a hallway of insanity, ending in a big multiple day long paranoid attack- where I just lash our at someone and try to ruin their life because of some really insignificant thing. Last time I lashed out at someone because I misunderstood something, and I went down a paranoid spiral where I would try to ruin their life because I thought they wanted to ruin mine.

The time before I lashed out at someone and said that they were conspiring against me.

So, is there any way to prevent this? At least My therapist says I'm ok to go after the next few sessions. Also, I don't want medication or go to a clinic.

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Idk what to do (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

9 comments fedilink

I’m new to this app and loneliness led me there. I’ve been feeling so Hmmm so heavily alone lately and again o just woke up from a bad dream. I just wish I had someone or support and it really hurts that I don’t

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How can you escape toxic people if you're too hurt from them? (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Lost_Soul to c/mentalhealth

16 comments fedilink

I'm 21/male and already lived on my own but I was forced to move back to my toxic parents 2 years ago because I wasn't able to live on my own because of my depression that was caused by the trauma from my parents (the only alternative I had was being homeless).

I was taken away from my parents when I was 12 and the fact that I now live with the people again who are the cause of my misery makes me feel like I'm paralyzed and I don't know how to escape this situation.

I'm a very sensitive person and always seek positivity and thoughtful interactions. Especially my dad is the exact opposite of that and is the most direct and rude person I ever met in my life. Every time my dad see's me he lectures and devalues me in the most direct and aggressive tone imaginable to the point where I'm too afraid to leave my room when he's in the house. He even criticizes me when I don't touch the door properly and leave fingerprints or when I left a few water drops at the sink as if I murdered someone and he leaves threatening messages on paper across the house. And everywhere he goes he spreads negative energy. (I'm obviously not doing anything wrong and he's just dissatisfied with himself and he makes way bigger/actual mistakes.)

As a highly sensitive and reactive person this makes me deeply depressed and makes me feel I'm incapable of escaping it on my own. I know that I have potential but I can't use it because the circumstances are paralyzing me. It's like being trapped in hell and the fact that this hell is so damaging/hurtful to me makes me unable to escape. I feel like it's destroying me!

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When They Become the Person You Wanted—for Someone Else (www.psychologytoday.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

3 comments fedilink

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"How did my child grow up to be so depressed?" (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

15 comments fedilink

Literally my parents.

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I (29M) am not very sure what Im getting off my chest, but I just wanted to talk to someone. (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 2 weeks ago by AlonelyMuppet to c/mentalhealth

3 comments fedilink

I figure I should share a little about myself so here goes.

I grew up in a segregated community that also happened to be religious, and as such was raised that way. I no longer identify with who I was raised as. However, due to the nature of my upbringing, my focus was more on growing academically and professionally.

I'm an immigrant, I completed my Masters degree (Chemistry) about a yearish ago, employment was rough but I finally got a job though it's not in my field.

I am taking this as an opportunity to focus on myself, decipher who I am, and getting to know myself better. Hopefully, in time, I'll be able to transition to a job in my field. But it's been lonely, I am in a new town, I left my friends behind, and I have come to realize that I have a rather negative world view.

I have never been with anyone romantically, at least as far as physically is concerned. Dating is not something that I am interested in right now, because I want to focus on "fixing" myself, before trying to meet someone.

I've begun to worry that I won't succeed in life. I haven't attained what I wanted professionally, I'm just starting out in a new country. I have a limited romantic experience. My mind worries that perhaps I made too many mistakes to where I cannot gain the future I had wished for.

Challenge my outlook? Give me your tidbits of information/advice? Thank you for taking the time to read this. :)

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my phychiatrist doesn't think I have schizophrenia anymore (lemmy.ca)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

1 comments fedilink

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I don't think I can do this anymore (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by latenightnoir to c/mentalhealth

56 comments fedilink

I've been crying almost daily for a year now, while trying my ass off to keep a stiff upper lip. I've been desperately hanging on to the standard justifications (maybe tomorrow it'll be better, can't let them win, this will pass, won't rain forever, etc., etc.) out of sheer inertia, but I honestly can't say that I believe any of them.

I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out which way to take it in life, what to do with myself, but all I feel is the walls closing in. And they're suffocating me. The world is a fucking mess, my life is a fucking mess, I'm completely alone save for a couple of acquaintances with whom I have no true relationship, my close family is entirely dead (which, if I'm being perfectly honest, isn't all that different than when they were alive, except I've been grieving the death of my mother for five years now and it doesn't seem to end), and I'm getting old.

There is nothing which makes me want to wake up in the morning anymore. There is nothing to get me excited anymore. There is nothing to look forward to. And I don't think I'm depressed, because depression felt like letting myself sink in lukewarm tar. This feels like a desperate, rabid sadness, like my soul wants to shred my skin off and just howl itself apart. I can feel my innards wanting to live, truly live, to experience at least some satisfaction, some sort of enjoyment, but I don't know what I could do to get there.

I used to love being creative, but now it's as though that pipeline got clogged up with rotten socks. I used to love interacting with animals, but all I conclude when thinking about getting a dog is that it would be unfair to that poor creature to have it bunk up with my despondent ass. I used to love hanging out with friends, but all of my friends turned out to be people who were only looking out for themselves. I used to love my country, but there's nothing left to love around here anymore. I used to be fascinated by nature, now all I see is how little sense it makes and how worse it's getting due to climate change. I even used to love loving someone, but now I just think about having to go through the process of dating and I'd rather just throw my soul away than have to do that again. I loved smoking weed, now it's just a waste of money, because I'm just as miserable when stoned. I haven't felt joy in... I don't even remember how long, but most definitely not in the past decade...

And I'm so... so fucking tired. I feel more tired than I've ever felt in my entire life. And not "I need more sleep" tired, it's as though I'm one of those old cars abandoned in parking lots, with busted wheels and corroded bodywork, with weeds growing through the upholstery. I don't feel sick, I feel spent. Utterly spent.

And I don't think I can do this anymore.

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I just realized life is nothing but one big disappointment. (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Lost_Soul to c/mentalhealth

2 comments fedilink

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How prevalent is the topic of mental health in America compared to Germany? (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by wondering_mind to c/mentalhealth

4 comments fedilink

Hey there, I’m from Germany and have mental health issues such as depression and was wondering how prevalent this topic is in America.

Here in Germany this topic has become extremely normal and pretty much everyone seems to openly talk about it even with strangers sometimes. We have a lot of therapists but it’s often hard to get an appointment since medical care in Germany is free and they have overwhelming numbers of people and the therapists don’t have enough availability to accommodate everyone. The therapists I had so far were pretty good since they really seemed to care about me and often did overtime and such to talk.

I wonder if it’s similar in America that a lot of people go to therapy and openly talk about mental health. What is the situation in America like? Do you have many therapists (especially in rural areas) and how easy is it to get in/finance? Or would you say this topic is generally more frowned upon in America in comparison?

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Anyone else feel like their mind is blank, difficulty with memory, forgetting words mid sentence, general mind fog, and tired? Why do you think this is? (lemmy.selfhostcat.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

15 comments fedilink

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Enough with the Anti-MH Posting (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

4 comments fedilink

Listen. Y'all need to understand something. I know systemic issues are bad right now. But the constant posting of "I'm not supposed to be happy when society sucks!" needs to stop. This is supposed to be an affirming space with positive attitudes towards mental health and mental health treatment in general.

When you encourage others to STOP GETTING TREATMENT because society is bad?? You are posting anti-MH content.

When you say "It's not normal to be well-adjusted to a sick society", you are posting anti-MH content.

The point is not to be "happy". It's to find meaning, build a life worth living, make choices consistent with your values, and manage the stressors of a fucked up society more effectively so that you can actually do something about it.

But instead, I am seeing posters around here telling each other to drop out of therapy because what's the point with Trump in the white house. Are you freaking kidding me???

Please remember that the universe being harsh and society being awful has always been the default. It is our challenge to find a way to thrive in those conditions. If you still don't get it, I encourage you to look into the work of Viktor Frankl, a psychologist who drew from his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. The work of therapy begins with rising above the suffering. Not from turning away from it.

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How is Involuntary Institutionalization supposed to help? (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 3 weeks ago by andros_rex to c/mentalhealth

3 comments fedilink

You can’t openly discuss suicidal feelings with a therapist, because then they can strip you of your rights and send you to a place that might be the hospital out of One Flew Out of the Cookoo’s Nest - and then charge you thousands for the stay.

The hotlines are the same - a 988 call seems to be “wow that sounds hard” until you say something for them to call 911 on you for.

Inpatient is almost like punishment. “I am so sad that I want to no longer live” - “we’re going to shove you into a filthy room, force feed you medication, and give you fifteen minutes of ‘therapy’ before we send you back to the outside world (without your job now too, because you missed work)”

The almost shitpost of a response I hear is “at least you’re alive!” Yeah - with some more lovely sights and images and smells and sounds that’ll flood my brain when I’m trying to sleep at night.

“It’s just for stabilization! For long term care, you need to seek outpatient services” - doesn’t exist here LOL

Is anything about the mental health care system designed to be functional?

Like, I don’t even want to be dead. I want to be alive, but in a safe place. The likelihood of me getting to a safe place is evaporating more everyday. My family abandoned me almost two decades ago. There’s just nothing for me here. I can go to my LPC twice a month and talk about how stressed out I am - but none of my problems are getting better.

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Definitely feels this way as a therapist right now (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago by ickplant to c/mentalhealth

110 comments fedilink

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I think the pleasure is killing me (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Lost_Soul to c/mentalhealth

13 comments fedilink

Being born in 2003 I experienced a glimpse of the world when everything wasn't hyper connected and everyone didn't yet have a phone with all these addictive social media apps and I really miss those times.

Having a very addictive personality and suffering from depression, ADHD and OCD it seems impossible for me handling the freedom of being an independent adult in this modern world. I recently posted something that it feels like everything nowadays is designed to maximize capital at the cost of harming people.

Basically early on in my childhood I developed an addiction to technology getting my first Nintendo and basically having no restrictive parenting which made me watch TV everyday all day long since I was a kid (also to escape the trauma I experienced).

Now I'm in this dark hole where all I do day by day is waking up, consuming media, watching porn and listening to very depressing music for years. And it is eating me up. It doesn't give me any joy anymore and it feels so uncomfortable.

But the fact that I become more and more miserable and insecure strengthens this urge to escape reality and makes it impossible to stop. And I guess I'm just too weak to change it. I lost my hope in life years ago when I gathered all my inner life that was left in me and shared my feelings with a girl I fell in love with but she didn't share those feelings (even though she showed strong affection towards me before) which created the ultimate insecurity and destruction of my self worth/believe in me and took away the last little bit of light in me.

I always had this inner craving of getting rid of all the external tech and artificial stimuly and just living in nature almost like an animal. That might sound strange but biologically we're not much different from our "caveman" ancestors and living the "new-way" in this modern society feels so wrong and unnatural to me. Even if it was just for a few times a week I would love if I could just be outside in nature with similar minded people and somehow just live "primal" like hunting animals, climbing/jumping things and just having fun together like playing in a lake etc. That's the deep urge inside me but I can't fulfill that because I don't see a way for that in this society.

And it is only getting worse with all these upcoming technologies like VR and AI that give me nightmares. I don't want any of this since it feels so uncomfortable to me but I feel like it's being forced on us and being so miserable and hopeless makes me addicted to it. And it's this easy way of passively experiencing and being part of something that made me search for answers at the wrong place since I thought the tech might make me happy and used it to feed my misery. And I think I'm nothing without the tech.

I feel like I basically sold my soul to the pleasure and live in pure misery waiting for my life to finally end, but it doesn't. This slow death is so painful.

The fact that I had all these potentials like being somewhat smart, athletic etc. makes it even worse that I'm wasting all these opportunities with this content consumption. I used to go to the gym and had somewhat of a life but that faded away with said disappointments and the misery I'm feeling.

I don't take any drugs and I don't even eat unhealthy food like candy but I just can't get rid of the tech. There also is this strong fear of missing out and not being "ahead"/"smart" by knowing about the latest tech but the strongest thing is the fear of facing the world/reality with all my insecurities and being disappointed and embarrassing myself cause I'm not likable/capable enough and getting rejected/not fitting in.

But no matter what I tried I can't escape the pleasure since I don't have any restrictive guardian and I'm incapable of doing that for myself.

I wonder if anyone else here has similar experiences like this or has any thoughts on it.

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The “pandemic of abandonment”: Navigating friendships five years into COVID-19. (thesicktimes.org)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/mentalhealth

1 comments fedilink

Key points you should know

It is very common for people with Long COVID and those taking COVID-19 precautions to experience grief over lost intimacy with friends. In a Sick Times survey of 2,586 people, 81% reported having lost friends over differences in COVID-19 precautions.

Disability studies scholars say there have always been people who were not able to risk going out in public, but COVID-19 is leading many more people to experience the ableism of our social world.

Being hurt by friends who do not take COVID-19 seriously has made many people afraid of the emotional risks of making new friends, leading to even more loneliness.

Making friends with other disabled people can be one powerful way of combating isolation. “Access intimacy” refers to the support that comes from having another person understand access needs on a deep, nonjudgmental level.

Letting go of friends that do not share values (around COVID-19 or other things) and focusing on specific relationships where COVID-19 practices are aligned can lead to overall better relationships. One way to do this is to join a local clean air collective or mask bloc.

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How can I stop obsessive OCD thinking and constantly seeing the worst case scenario in everything for no reason? (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Lost_Soul to c/mentalhealth

15 comments fedilink

Hi, I 21/male have depression, ADHD and most likely also OCD.

No matter what happens I constantly think about the smallest things that they ruined my life and that I can't progress/let go of them without being perfect.

I destroy my whole life that way cause this always prohibits me from enjoying life because I always will find a thought and reason why I can't commit to life and enjoy it.

It could be the silliest thing like I can't follow my passion because someone criticized me or something.

Like if my brain constantly searches a reason for why something might ruin me.

I have this feeling of being unable to do stuff when something didn't work/turned out the way I wanted it to, like as if there is this barrier that paralysis me. I think that something I did (or someone else did) ruined my life and that I can never undo it anymore. And I have so much shame and regret over my actions.

I obsessively always see the worst of every little thing and it doesn't make any sense and mostly is completely unreasonable.

I'm wasting my whole life time and miss all the great life opportunities which I deeply regret.

Is there any way I can escape this toxic negative cycle that keeps me stuck in this overthinking?

Because it's like my brain constantly finds a reason to not do the stuff that would actually help me and take me forward.

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Why is no one helping you and just let you suffer? Why are humans so unfair and cruel? (self.mentalhealth)

submitted 1 month ago by Lost_Soul to c/mentalhealth

24 comments fedilink

I'm a 21 year old guy and struggle with depression for my whole life because of traumatic things I experienced from my parents.

About 2 years ago I completely lost all my spirit and willingness in life. I fell into this dark hole where I'm not able to do anything on my own anymore and had to move back to my parents since I wasn't able to live on my own anymore.

Since then I spent the full 2 years completely alone in my room every single day and haven't been outside or met anyone since. I only get outside maybe once a month to buy groceries but except from that I don't see the world anymore, have no activities to do and live with pure hopelessness, no money and very little food.

Even though my family knows all that and I'm crying out for help, no one is helping me. I've lived in many facilities before, went to therapy and have a psychiatrist but all they do is talk but that's it. I tried my very best but realized that I'm just not capable to live on my own.

And then all my parents do (especially my father) is treating me the same way like when I was a kid that caused my depression in the first place by letting out their dissatisfaction/frustration with themselves on me and baselessly blaming/criticizing me for every little thing. And all that is just making it so much worse and harder for me to get out of the situation.

They let me suffer in hell until I go insane or die.

I don't understand why this world is so cruel. It feels like no one cares about people who suffer.

I don't get that. If I was better off and knew someone in such a situation I would do everything to help them and give them what they need. Why is no one helping and just let you suffer like that?

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Thought it would be good to copy over some resources from /r/trans and a few other places. I won't get all of them, so comment some more .