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

It took me forever to start being compassionate toward myself, but once I did it made a huge difference! It started when I was talking to my therapist about things my father did to me when I was a child, and of course my inner critic was piping in, telling me that I was just being a pussy about what...

JBR: You sound like quite the caregiver - which is very common amongst us depressives/mentally ill.

Hey tony, Glad you joined! This forum can be a great help, but it definitely isn't a substitute for actual, face-to-face therapy. (And psychiatrists aren't great therapists, imo) Look at no or low-cost options, as Stina suggested. Obviously you are craving something, but it isn't money, sex or food....

Hey Stina, Welcome to the forum. Typing your problems alphabetically? I'm thinking OCD. LOL! Yeah, I've tried the computer friends thing. It's ok, but it's definitely no substitute for the real thing. Of course, I pretty much never see friends anymore. I hope I will take action to make that change i...

Thanks for the encouragement and support, guys! Heart, (Quite an appropriate screen name, btw) You are more than welcome for the hope! I wouldn't say I have "overcome" depression entirely but I have definitely won a BIG battle in the war and feel better than I have in at least 10 years. It...

You probably don't have it, but I mentioned it just in case. A friend of mine was interested in TMS for herself, and I kind of worried that she had hypochondriasis because she always had some major illness no matter what. I didn't want her to spend the money on TMS is she was just going to conjure u...

I'll be blunt. It sounds like your former therapist was a worthless bitch. Let's move on, shall we? Before I begin, it is possible you may have hypochondriasis, which is a very real illness. Please don't take offense. I only mention this to inform you of other possibilities before you spend tons of ...

TMS worked wonders for me! It was what finally got me over the last hurdle in my path. It's MUCH less invasive than ECT and there are no real side effects. TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate part of your brain, where as ECT uses jolts of electricity. TMS isn't painful and is an outpatient treatme...

Hey in_media_res, Sounds to me like that therapist just wasn't a right fit. It's completely normal to feel abandoned and confused and angry. Some therapists are better than others, and her termination of your therapy probably had more to do with her inability to help you - not your ability to be hel...

Wherever you go, there you are. The relationship you need to work on the most is your relationship with yourself . Once you begin to have compassion for yourself and befriend yourself, that paralyzing feeling of profound loneliness will lift and it will be much easier to make friends on the outside....