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

Listening to the podcasts and reading the discussion here has re-hashed a thought I pondered a lot back when I was in group settings(mental hospital and outpatient programs). I know there are millions of people who feel/have felt the way I do, but I'm not sure I have ever heard a backstory as trauma and conflict free as mine. I was never abused or faced with the stresses of discrimination (LGBT, Race, etc.). I do, however, have ADHD and other issues that have been vaguely classified as a non-specific learning disorder... but I have yet to come across anyone whose mental illness nearly as severe in relation to such minor learning disabilities. This doesn't make me feel guilty or stupid for having had so many emotional problems, but it does worry me. People's stories of recovery always include coming to terms with past issues or conflicts that sparked their mental illness, and I wonder how I can recover when there seems to be no root issue I need to work out/come to terms with.

Yeah, I know this feeling. I have kept myself very "safe" my whole life, so no dramatic traumatic stories to tell. My brain is a sponge soaked in anxiety and grandiosity and self-loathing and fatalism and doom - it just always was like that, no need for triggers.

Please don't feel bad, you don't deserve it. Everyone wants you to have the greatest today and tomorrow, exactly like how you have compassion for the people around you who you see suffering. All the best, take care!