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

Hey. I'm Dan, I'm in my early 20's, I'm from Scotland and have been listening to the podcast since 2011. I thought it was about time I started using this forum too.

I don't listen consistently each week but I have listened to every episode. I tend to save them up when I'm happy so that when I plummet into a depression (like I have right now), I can binge listen to 5-6 episodes in a row.

For years I thought that I had Social or Generalised Anxiety Disorder...until now. I'm not going to go into detail as to why I have fallen back into a depression or what caused me to come to a new realisation of what I have...because...well...at this stage; writing it out is more upsetting than therapeutic...but, I now believe that I have Borderline Personality Disorder.

I will be starting Group Therapy as well as One-To-One Therapy in August.

And before you ask, no I'm not ginger, no I'm not wearing a kilt, no I don't like eating haggis and no I don't play bagpipes.

-Dan

Hi Dan! Glad to meet you even though you're no good at adhering to cultural stereotypes.

Tho I'm one to talk. I'm from Canada and I'm not clean, polite, or a lumberjack...and my least favourite thing is being cold.

Welcome Dan! Here are some great borderline resources for self-help: http://www.reddit.com/r/dbtselfhelp

All the best to you, we here are all cheering for you and for your greatest today and tomorrow!

Hey Dan, I notice you didn't mention you weren't eating shortbread in your list of stereotypes, so I'm going to assume you ARE definately eating shortbread lol

I wish you the best of luck my friend

I'm not going to bother quoting everyone and severely botching it.

So in a nutshell...I love Canadians, I'm grateful for helpful links...and of course I eat shortbread!

Welcome Dan,

Scotland is amazing. I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when I was there and loved it.

I hope group therapy and one and one go well for you. I am guessing it is DBT if you think you have borderline. The great thing about borderline PD is that you can learn new skills and change your behavior so you no longer qualify as it : D.

I was hoping I could break out my kilt, but alas.

Hey,

Thank you

One to one is good thus far, I find the time flies in though. Not starting Group until Tuesday.

I don't consider myself to have BPD...I just think I might...I don't really know.

Luckily for me it's relatively cheap and the therapist is a lovely woman, listens well and is very informal (which I like).

Sounds great, Dan!