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

I know that I have a personality that wants to grab onto something that makes me feel good and not let go. I know that it wouldn't take much more than access to something I enjoy to kickstart an addiction. The best deterrent for me is that the people that I associated with when I was messing with dr...

I can definitely identify with phone anxiety, and I never had a speech issue. I just feel like my tongue is going to stop working and I won't be able to convey my point. Yet, I spent many, many years of my life arguing on behalf of patients on phone calls to insurance companies in order to have clai...

It's Father's Day, and never got to talk to my Dad. I am fortunate, because I have a father that I adore. He's not perfect, he's human. He isn't expressive with his emotions, but I know he loves me. He did his best to shield me from my mother's nastiness, though in the last decade, I've seen her wea...

I don't have experience with Postpartum Psychosis, but I am so sorry that your friend is dealing with it. I was afraid after I had kids that it would happen to me, thankfully, it never did. I can understand how, in the haze after a baby is born, this could happen. You're so tired, and if you already...

Smoking cigarettes. I feel like a pariah, I know that its socially so passe, but it's my crutch and a compulsion. Its the only one I have, honestly. :roll: I get bored with alcohol because I have a really high bar to pass before I feel any effects (5+ drinks) and what is the point of drinking if not...

This episode was so cathartic for me. Thank you so much Paul, for doing this one. I was listening to this and thinking 'do we have the same mother'? The gambling addiction, the begging for money, the false idea that the mother has that the siblings don't communicate about her bad behavior, the manip...

Monogamous sex in long term relationship is tough. I worry about maintaining desire in my marriage of 11 years. If she's not sleeping in the same bed with you regularly, I'm sure she's missing out on a lot of potential sex. I understand weird sleep schedules, but even when I'm having bouts of insomn...

Thank you so, so much oak.

I wake up and fight every day to get through the day. I know I have so much to be grateful for, and I just want to enjoy it.

Hugs. I am sorry you had to deal with a father so cruel and uncaring. Sometimes cutting out people like that completely from your life is the only way to proceed. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Toxic Parents by Susan Forward. It helped me a lot in the way I approach contact with and ...

My brother is 8 years younger than I. There's definitely a generational disconnect between he and I...I don't understand him. He got into oxys when he was about 18, and because he can't tell the truth to save his life, The exact circumstances of how are unknown to me. He claims that his gf's dad had...