YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I just listened to this, and a great podcast. When Scott Thompson was talking about how he perceived his cancer as a way of waiting for the right trauma, it reminded me of a conversation I heard on the woman who created 'The Vagina Monologues'. It would be interesting to see if medicine starts to li...

Hi Marshmallow, welcome to the forum, and congrats on your diagnosis! I know that may sound weird, but I think that knowing that someone IS wrong, and it having a name can feel a lot more comforting than wondering if maybe it's all in your head. I was the same myself, and it's a struggle I have now ...

Thanks Manuel and Cinnamon, Manuel: That's exactly how it was in my family, and especially with displeasure. I think that's why my anxiety is off the scale at the moment. I was conditioned to expect retribution on some level for speaking my truth, and because my mom was so polite in the first email,...

an update... My mom emailed me. It was pleasant, simply asked me about some current event issue. I'm part relieved I don't have to make the first move, part angry she doesn't seem to respect my wishes (I asked her to wait for me to contact her), I'm wondering if she's trying to step over this-we don...

Hi Cinnamon, Thanks so much for your reply. I have been developing a small group of friends that I'm starting to realise like me for me, and not for what I can do. It's hard for me to accept that at times, and I find I can overcompensate or panic that because I've not heard from them, I'm no longer ...

Just for reference-in my letter, I have offered to visit her, but I said I think I should stay someone outside of the home. I find everytime I go back, I revert back to 'I'll do it, because I'm useful'

I've lived away from home since I was 20. I actually hated my home life since I was 7 and wanted to move away then. In the last couple of years, I've had a breakdown and started therapy. A lot of my issues (intimacy, esteem, anxiety) stem from my family of origin, and I'm making peace with the fact ...

...and I feel absolutely, positively terrified that the possibility that it's all not going to be enough has entirely eluded me up until now. It feels like the degree of cataclysm that will follow my failure is only proportional to the amount of preparation I've done to PREVENT my failure. Dichotom...

Thanks jessy, I want to feel and believe that-I really do, and I intellectually know that it's true, but quite frankly, all this self-discovery sucks. I feel like I'm coming to the heart of some stuff where I'm basically struggling to accept myself for me,and instead of being relieved, it feels like...

Thing is, I dunno if I'm holding back. I can only assume I am, but sometimes, I have to say I honestly don't know. It feels like just when I think I've gotten to the bottom of my issues, there's yet another trapdoor for me to open up and explore. For example, I met up with a charity I wanted to volu...