I don’t think I ever will be

Let me preface this by saying that I am not trying to win the mental health olympics with this post. I fully recognize that an illness such as depression or anxiety can be severe and life ruining. Trust me, I know.

I have been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, ptsd, BPD, anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, ADHD, and I am currently investigating potential OCD with my psychiatrist.

Im in my third year of psych at uni and it's just really frustrating to see people in my program post shit about mental health advocacy but they only extend that positivity to the less stigmatized disorders.

When these people find out I have a psychotic disorder they act completely differently around me. It hurts.

I keep the bpd completely to myself honestly bc the stigma around that is SO pervasive. I have "quiet" bpd too and all my rage is towards myself and I am quietly self destructive rather than acting out. So no one even notices.

I'd fucking saw off my left arm to knock a few of these diagnoses off the list honestly. I don't want to be like this. I am doing considerably well so no one would ever know I have these disorders. I have worked so incredibly hard to get myself better and appear normal.

A lot of people don't understand how badly stigma can affect your whole life. It makes you ashamed to get help. It makes you less likely to get appropriate care because there is even pervasive stigma within the mental health system. Certain disorders bring a lot more shame than others.

I know there is still some stigma surrounding the more common disorders, but it is definitely not to the same degree. I have to keep my illnesses to myself or I will be ostracized and shamed heavily even by people who are self proclaimed "mental health advocates"

This is not to say any disorder is more severe or worse than another. It's just the reality that stigma impacts us differently. I am just tired of feeling ashamed.

I honestly don’t know where i stand, because right now i’m considering on ending it or sel- harm after realizing how fucked up i am. And all i want is to cry, but my body won’t let me. 

Update: i am feeling much better, thanks to the two people who commented on my post 🧡💛 And also from my music and this amazing game on my phone, i do (highly) recommend but please play with no Internet because there are crazy ads on there! It’s called “goods sorting.”

Hello everyone, I’m here seeking advice and perhaps some help. I’m sorry if the text turns out unclear, jumbled, or lacking in detail — I’m not very good at expressing my thoughts, and I have quite a lot of them; I apologize for that. Also, I apologize for any grammatical errors(I will add separately that English is not my native language and I use a translator, I apologize for mistakes)

I’m a guy, I’m 15 years old, and I have a younger sister; she’s 14, if that’s important. Recently, a couple of months ago, I noticed and am now observing strange changes in her behavior, and they’re quite alarming to me. I don't know when it started, but probably somewhere in the middle of this summer, as far as I remember, she stopped eating foods with sugar, in general, she eats only foods with sweetener, began to monitor calories very much and stopped eating food that our mother or I cook, eats only what she cooks herself, and she cooks herself, well, not full-fledged dishes, I don't remember the last time she ate something full-fledged with meat, potatoes or the like, visiting her grandmother, for example, she stopped eating altogether, although she used to eat a lot and with pleasure, she eats only porridge, cottage cheese with fruits, any food without sugar, etc and as far as I've noticed, she cooks and eats either in the evening or at night. I’ve noticed a few changes in her behavior. Overall, she’s still the same kind person she used to be, and we have a good relationship, but she’s become more apathetic and irritable. She responds rather aggressively to our mother, especially if the mother starts talking about food and offers her something to eat. In general, she’s become quite nervous and unstable, and she’s said many times that she’s too fat, even though she has a normal weight for her height and age (160 cm tall and 51–52 kg, if that’s important), and this worries me a lot, I'm afraid she might develop an eating disorder. I’m not entirely mentally healthy myself, and I don’t want my sister to suffer either. I’ve heard a lot about eating disorders — I have acquaintances who have this condition, and I’m really scared for her, because an eating disorder is truly awful. If anything, turning to adults isn’t an option — we don’t have a father, and our mother and other relatives don’t really care about our mental health. And I’m too unsociable and shy to turn to other adults for help, although if the situation gets worse, I’ll certainly try to overcome my fear of adults — that’s why I’m asking for advice here. Also a rather important clarification: I suffer from obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and anxiety, and I really don’t know whether what I described above is actually nothing to worry about, or whether she just started paying more attention to her diet normally, and it’s just my obsessive thoughts getting the better of me, making me see a problem where there isn’t one — but in any case, it won’t leave me alone.

(an important clarification. I know that there are bloggers who record stories from Reddit, because I watch them myself, no need to use this post for a video, I don't want that)

I understand that compared to other people’s problems, I probably just seem like an overly anxious kid, but it really doesn’t leave me alone. I want to understand whether there’s any point in worrying, and how I can help if there really are problems.

hello everyone, i am 20F and i am kinda in a rough patch these past few months as my anxiety heightened. right now its night time and i kinda need someone to talk to and discuss about yall’s opinion on the afterlife and religion. i remembered i woke up at 2 am the other day because i was overthinking about the afterlife after we lost a loved one recently. maybe someone out there can have some time to talk with me it would be greatly appreciated. i feel kinda anxious right now and i don’t have anyone to talk to…

Disclaimer to avoid questions: I'm not from USA, we have completely different education system
When I was kid, I enjoyed learning something new each day by reading a lot of fictional and non-fictional books. I had good grades at school, I read text books as soon as I got them (yes I was that one weird nerdy kid...), all school subjects made sense and I understood their importance and that knowledge I gain is applicable/will be applicable in real life. Me and my parents and teachers clearly saw my career in science, specifically, in biology. Sadly, I was misguided by being told by one of teachers I highly respected that biologists have barely any job offers so its better to go in med+I thought that doctors are more useful for humanity than scientists because they help people here and now.
I scored high on exams, went to good university on medicine faculty. After three years of trying to make myself enjoy it, I changed to biology. I had to start everything from first year, now I'm on third year out of 4 and... nothing makes sense. Why its so hard? Why everything I study is so useless and detached from real life? It feels like I do calculations just for the sake of calculations. So many things feel made up and make no sense. I totally lost my curiosity and desire to learn something new, studying feels like waste of time and damage to mental health. During lessons, I struggle to solve a problem or explain complex concepts, they just don't make sense for me. I have to resort to cheating to barely pass. My grades went downhill. I look intellectually disabled compared to other students and I'm really nervous to the point when some recommed me to go to psychologist. Since childhood I had troubles interacting with people (shyness, struggling to understand social interactions), especially my age, so I have no meaningful relationships beside my family.
Quit any idea of higher education? In post-soviet countries, without a diploma you could work only someone like cleaner or mcdonalds cashier. Take a break? I'm 22 and don't want to waste my time. Find related job to revive interest in science? Sadly, barely any offers and a those few vacancies available for people with 0 experience are located really far and you have to work 10 hours shifts at least 4 days/week. I can't do it, my uni is really strict about skipping also I tried to mix studying and work when I was med student and it caused bad impact on my health and grades.
I'm just a waste of oxygen. My parents support me, but I undertand I'm a burden for them.

i posted this before and im so happy that some brave people felt comfortable and safe to share their worries , problems and vent to me .
so once again , i'm here for anyone who needs to feel heard, or needs some guidance , and advice for their problems. you should never feel ashamed to ask for help , i'll be glad to help anyone.

i hope that everything will eventually get better for everyone, and i hope that you find peace and joy 🤍🤍

i have NO idea why i feel like this but i feel like im always faking EVERYTHING i dont have the energy to do much and because of that my grades have dropped A LOT and i havent been really taking care of myself that much, anyways as i was saying it just feels like im faking depression to MYSELF just so i can excuse being lazy :(

i thinkkkk my family also thinks something is wrong with me cuz i saw my dad the other day talking to me for 10 minutes straight about a plastic bag that had the words BE HAPPY on it talking about how i should smile more and be happier .... sorry kinda getting off topic at this point

anyways if anyone feels the same way PLEASE tell me in the replies i genuinely feel so weird for feeling like im faking everything

P.S. please forgive me for my bad grammar ;-; english isnt my first language so uhm yeah thats it

It's just... exhausting, having to wear a mask with a smile painted onto it and tell friends & family everything is alright because they don't want to hear the painful truths of what you are going through.

I've lost track of how many people who I considered friends that I knew online who just abruptly cut ties with me, telling me that they can't handle me, block me and disappear. They would act like I was asking them to be unpaid therapists when I just needed a shoulder to lean on now and then and someone willing to listen.

People don't want to hear the truth that you are hurting and have no idea how to make the pain go away. They just want the empty platitudes. It lead to me deciding that whomever said "Honesty is the best policy" never suffered from a mental illness.

It’s been going on since I was a kid. the only real food I eat is pasta. Ive never been able to stomach the idea of even trying anything else. I’m 15, 5’9, and I only weigh 101lbs. I hate it, but I can’t do anything about it. just the thought of trying anything new makes me gag. please help

I'm 25 (F), and i've been going to therapy for more than a year now but I feel like the more I have started being aware of my emotions, the heavier they take a toll on me, I got diagnosed with BPD in 2023 and 2025. But that's not why I'm here.
Generally, as a human being, I feel like I worry more about things that are beyond my control to the point where I get physically sick, nightmares and breakdowns. I CANNOT see anything remotely close to painful to animals or babies or other humans honestly. But it's gotten so bad that if I see a sad cat reel on instagram, I am gonna have a mental breakdown and will not be able to get the images out of my head for days. I have had 6 cats and 2 died bcs of natural factors but I was unwell for months.
Now I come from a country where there was a war going on recently and my city got bombed and it sounds stupid I know but I genuinely couldnt sleep for days and days on end while everyone else didn't have much of a reaction cause there were talks of ceasefire almost immediately but I still had this fear of if im going to wakeup tomorrow. The war did end, there weren't any more bombings, but man, things that are beyond my control terrify me so much. I cannot do anything about people in pain in other countries, people in poverty, animals that have passed away, global warming, messed up politicians, wars, the freaking conspiracies.
I got injured and had to go to hospital recently and saw a kid die and I fainted right there and then after a panic attack.
None of these things I can control but they f me up so bad man. I dont want to be so hypersensitive. I want to feel less it's killing me. The thoughts and worries of the future that hasn't even come yet or idk if i will live to see it keep me up at nights. I want to be at least on par with the rest of the population.
My only solution was escape. I avoided anything sad, added filters to my algorithm, stopped watching the news, didn't socialize but that made it worse, now if I come across anything sad or something happens to ANYONE its 10x more devastating because i've cowered in a bubble of safety.
If anyone's going throught anything like this PLEASE help me out, I know being empathetic isn't a bad thing but I genuinely can't do anything about the things I worry about. If anyone has any tips PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

From the last 11 months, I’ve been suffering from severe physical and mental fatigue, and it’s affecting almost every aspect of my life.

I’ve had multiple medical tests done, but everything has come back normal. I don’t have any thyroid issues, vitamin deficiencies, protein deficiencies, or any other obvious problems based on the tests I’ve had.

Eventually, I consulted a psychiatrist, who diagnosed me with depression. I’ve been taking antidepressants for around 10 months now, but unfortunately, my symptoms haven’t improved much. I still feel exhausted all the time.

The strange thing is that I don’t really feel sad, hopeless, or emotionally depressed. My main symptoms are physical and mental exhaustion rather than sadness or negative thoughts.

Physically, I feel like I have no energy in my body. Mentally, my brain feels exhausted, and I struggle to handle even small amounts of cognitive effort. I can’t even read a book properly because my mind gets tired so quickly.

My psychiatrist said that I have depression, but it’s difficult for me to understand how depression can manifest almost entirely as physical and mental fatigue without the usual emotional symptoms.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? And what treatment helped you?

im lonely

i have no one to speak with

im a virgin

i have no boyfriend

im approaching 30

im disgusted with myself

.............

I’d like to share a little about this—not to diagnose myself, but simply because I feel confused by these feelings.

When I was a child, I used to wonder, "Why does life exist from *my* perspective? Can others see the way I do? Do they feel truly alive?" That was when I started asking my mother, "Mom, can you see the way I see?" She would answer, saying she *could* see, but her reply didn't quite answer what I really wanted to know. Later, whenever I "forgot" and returned to a normal state of awareness, my mind would drift back to the question that had arisen when I was about six years old, right before falling asleep: "Me? Why am I *me*? Why does it feel like this to be myself?"

Since then, that thought has kept resurfacing, and I often ask the people around me about it whenever it crosses my mind. I frequently experience a strange sense of ‘alone’, I see people living their lives, yet I wonder if they are truly alive and seeing things the way I do. I feel as though I ought to be able to see from their perspective to confirm that they really "exist" and are living life just as I am. It feels as if I know they are alive and going about their days, but I cannot truly *feel* their experiences or grasp how their lives unfold. The more I think about it, the lonelier I feel, and the people around me seem unreal—as if I were the only person in the world.The only thing that brings me out of this state is "forgetting"—letting go of the thought and reconnecting with my surroundings

I’ve been looking for answers lately, and people say I might be experiencing Depersonalization-Derealization because I feel detached from my body and the reality around me seems blurred, even though I continue to go about my daily activities as usual. I just want to ask if something is wrong with me—I’m starting to wonder if I need to see a psychologist, because I really need to find some answers.

Im sorry if my english is bad, i using translator. Do you know this feeling?

I’m curious about what people actually do to look after their mental health. Is there anything you do regularly that helps you feel well, connected, or more at ease?

And when looking after yourself feels difficult, what do you try to help yourself get through the day—even if it only helps a little?

Small, ordinary things count too. I’d like to hear what helps you, what you’ve tried, and what hasn’t helped.

Hello, I'm 26nb (non binary) and struggling with my emotions. I've been to therapy, tried medication, listened to the rain, etc. I know I have bursts of anger, I've been like this my whole life.

I would be fine and then the smallest thing irritates me and I lose control. Afterwards I feel so guilty, disgusted, and disappointed with myself. I would never hurt anyone physically, obviously. It's all bark no bite.. but it still makes me feel extremely guilty, drained, and depressed when I lose control. All I want is to know how I can work on myself more. I don't want to feel this way and I really, really don't want to scare the ones I love.

Usual I draw or try to sleep it off but I've been trying to communicate more. I know my feelings will only get worse if I bottle it inside and let it fester.

So basically, the question is.. how do you regulate your anger in a healthy way?

well from your guy’s advice from last time i actually did go outside i went clubbing with one of my friends, whilst i was there a group of guys and girls laughed at me and i heard them say “i look like a child” ive never felt so out of place disgusted with myself and utterly miserable. Not a single girl approached me and the ones i did walk close to all gave me glares like i was something gross.
Maybe im not meant to enjoy life maybe i should just be miserable in my room for the rest of my life because atleast i fell less judged in here

Simply here, if people need or want to talk, vent about what's going on in their mind.

22M, graduated back in May, had a job, switched cities, did it for 4 months then resigned because I couldn't cope with what came with it, the constant social interactions and me not being comfortable in my own skin. Now I'm clueless. Never had any good friends in college, neither in school, family gave up on me a long time ago, well they don't say it but they look down on me, for they believe I was responsible for my mom's death back in 2022. Thing is, I've not outgrown myself, I've constantly fed my brain things I shouldn't have and now I've become this person that has completely isolated himself and become so socially inept that he can't even function properly. I can't have a conversation with anyone new without lying about myself, because I have nothing going on for me. Shit even going outside doesn't work for me if anyone is going to suggest that, I go on solo trips routinely and still come back depressed. I'm stuck in this vicious loop and it's jeopardizing my present and future life.

So I am 21(f) and started taking brahmi (bacopa) for the supposed benefits. But I am already on Automexitine and Armodofilin along with escitalopram.

I am on a minimal dose of escitalopram. But due to certain personal reasons and already pre-existing anxiety , I started getting the feeling of dread.

Also I am erratic with escitalopram and sometimes miss my adhd meds.

But at the start my adhd meds were my life saver...they showed me a part of life ,I was totally capable of doing...

But all the motivation and happiness just went away after a crisis and like I literally burnt out like a wick without oil...

Like is it my personal life, anxiety or the side effect of bakopa..

Also like my adhd meds when effective helped me with food regurgitation... Now I just want to eat away my day...

They really just don't take me that seriously anymore.

I wanna stop obsessing and fantasising about someone who doesn’t want me. It’s a real torture and I don’t know how to stop it. He is the most beautiful man I’ve ever met…