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

Hello,

I'm a relatively new listener, and new to the forum.

I experience dysthymia and anxiety (social and generalized), and I also overeat and have negative body image (I always label myself as being fat) and low self esteem, and I'm really sensitive, too. As a child, my needs were rarely met.

My issues often get in the way me of living my life, but I am getting better at living with them... I think (it's hard to know how things will pan out in the long-run, of course)... anyway, I'm a bit better than I had been a few months ago. I'm currently experiencing a longer stretch of "good" days... actually, I'm kind of at this "off" stage now (not as good as I had been, but I'm managing to keep the depression at bay)... I think I'm better-able to noticing things (like my feelings), and I'm continuing to make good choices... somehow... I'm not sure how I'm doing it. It's been 2 weeks. I feel like I can easily teeter back into my depression, but I'm feeling hopeful this time (I've said that before, though, so I'm not desperately holding onto my current state...). I assume others can relate to this pattern. It is hard to function in society when there's a lot of teetering.

I went off my anti-depressants in November, and I'm currently attending a support group for persons experiencing GAD -- it is great, as the people in the group and the facilitators are nice and kind. I attribute a big part of my doing better to being part of this group. This podcast has been quite helpful, too.

Just an intro and a hello, to basically get my feet wet.

Hello ugmo, welcome to our little forum! Make yourself at home in the threads and topics here.

Forum tips: You can keep up with all activity on the forum by clicking “View active topics” under the main Board index. And when you post, you can subscribe to the replies by clicking on “Subscribe topic” at the bottom of the page – this also allows you to subscribe to new replies of any topic that interests you.

Congratulation for being so self-loving to yourself to join a support group - it take courage too. All the best, cheers, keep the lines of communication open, we here are cheering for you and for your greatest today and tomorrow.

just dropping by to say hi, hope you are doing good at the moment.

Glad you're here. I hope we could help each other with our issues.

Welcome! I'm glad to hear you are having more good days! I deal with chronic illness along with mental illness so I totally get what you mean about measuring your life into good and bad days. I try to embrace the bad days too but like all hard things, that's easier said than done. Big hugs to you.