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

Greg said: "If you spend most of your life thinking about others, everything will go fine. As soon as you start thinking about yourself, that's when things go awry. It's just not as complicated as we've made it. That's my -- that's how I need to process it. ... And when I had that very simple u...

Hello, brownblob. I remember your welcoming words on my intro post, and I see how helpful and kind you are to others as well. I too feel a bit left out whenever Paul says things about us not being alone (what, exactly, does that mean?, I always wonder, because it doesn't really seem true for me in a...

WDW: Add my compassion to rivergirl's. What a terrible web of experiences to face. I hope you'll look at the links rivergirl suggested, and I really hope you'll come back soon and share more of what you're going through. Anyone going through such a storm ought to have every possible source of suppor...

Welcome, Tater888! The issues listed in your profile are mine as well. When I filled out that part of the profile, I didn't realize it was asking for diagnoses, so what shows up as my "issues" is a thrashing attempt to sum up my life's struggles in a bit of prose; childhood and adult sexua...

Sir-knob-head, Are you still with us? I'm so inexpressibly sorry for what you've been through. *So* much of the anger you express is just like mine -- the futility, the unfairness, the idiocy of reality's/life's arrangement, the apparently endless-until-death taunting struggle. I haven't gone to oth...

Hello, SconicCat24. I don't have much in the way of ideas or advice to offer; I "cope" with my anxiety by isolating. I retreat quickly from others with anxiety, despite feeling compassion and kinship, because I know from experience that I just don't (yet) have the skills and stability to h...

oak: I'm *so* glad to hear things are moving along for you. You are fortunate, yes, to have access to the benefits you've been making such good use of, but you couldn't have made use of them if you hadn't managed your fear, and taken the steps necessary for emerging from a very scary spot. I don't a...

oak: Awesome. Carry on. You will get through this. A gently offered suggestion: Canceling appointments, though it can trigger feelings of fear, shame, and guilt, does not make one a jerk. If you unlink "jerk" from canceling appointments (maybe insert a deep breath between the two), it will...

I found this interview pretty upsetting. I was aware of it at the time, but have been surprised at the strength of the residual effects. I recognize that we're all works in progress, and that talking about difficult topics is bound to lead to people saying things that others find upsetting, but this...

P.S. oak: Is there a friend you could call and ask for help, just the hand-holding type of help? I once had a friend tell me that he'd helped a friend by watching her mow her lawn. That's all she needed: just the witnessing presence of a friend to help her find a bit of motivation and focus. Maybe s...