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

Wow. It has been so long since I have posted. I feel like a different being. I have found a new tribe and am so very thankful. There are so many issues still to be healed but I actually feel human. I feel valued. I can see that none of us are perfect and that we all have a shit sandwich to eat in ou...

Hands down, the dumbest thing anyone has said to me was by my mother. She said that I could not kill myself because I am loved. She has no idea that I want to die because I don't love myself. It makes no difference to me if other people profess their love. It means nothing. They are bull shitting me.

At what point do we take a step back. A break from therapy? When do we find the space that is as good as it is going to get? What is the goal? Where and how do we say "Ok. I am as good as I am going to get. I have a mendal illness. It is a part of me that will never go away."? Is it even o...

I feel as if I have let the darkness rob me of all of life's gifts. I look around at the people I know and see the love that they have for their children and lovers. I can't tell if I do not have this love in my life because I don't want it or if i don't feel as if I deserve it. I feel as if i am mi...

The darkness is back. Fucking darkness. I will fight you. I will. I will throw all of the skills that I have learned at you. I will meditate. I will care for myself. I will exercise. I will eat well. Fuck you darkness. You may win in the end. In fact, I know you will. I won't give up without fightin...

I have seen instant love. Well, maybe not instantaneous but pretty darn close. I drove some puppies to their new families. The experience was magical. That is the only word for it. I took the frightened puppies out of their crates, one by one. Handed them to their families, one by one and saw the ma...

Thank you rc. I take what you say in a kind way. I am fighting as hard as I know how. I fight the darkness every day. I know lots of people do. Some days I get tired and angry. I ask myself why am I fighting so hard. It seems so much easier to give in to the darkness. It is much less effort to sit i...

MM...it seems as if those negative thoughts are like alien invaders. They sneak up on us and zap us when we least expect it. I know how you feel. I went for weeks without negative thoughts and then , Wham! The you suck thoughts came roaring back. Low self esteem thoughts. Not good enough thoughts. T...

Thank you MM. Isn't hope a wonderful thing? I has kept me from giving up so many times. I has kept me trying every different therapy that there is. .Hope has helped me to hold on for one more day, and then one more after that. Hope has told me that not everyone is like that cruel person. Hope is the...

I so wish that you lived closer to me. You strike me as a good person to talk to on those nightz when we can't sleep. Self compassion is so easy to talk about but so difficult to master. Why is it that we are so quick to belittle ourselves and yet so willing to give others the compassion that we nee...