Anonymous-EmpathyAI/Distortion-Analysis-PACLIC39 huggingface dataset:
Patient question: From Lebanon: Growing up I thought what my dad used to do was completely normal and I had accepted the bad behavior. But by the time I grew up I realized that having someone mentally abuse us with harsh words and sometimes physical aggressiveness, it was too late. Recently he loses his mind, he spies on us all leaving devices hidden in our cars. He and my mother have been seeing other people openly, they can’t get a divorce because he’s gonna make my mom’s life hell if she leaves (has happened). He wouldn’t stop calling and showing up everywhere and threatening to hurt her. And if she stays it’s all the same, it’s horrible. He’s even dating her only best friend to make matters worse. And he keeps pointing fingers and saying that mom ruined his life while all along he was the one who was always losing his temper and threatening us and making our lives hell. He’s pretty much normally a very caring generous person, but he’s lost that bit because there’s like a little devil in his head sparking up a thing to get overly mad about … this is not even scratching the surface of what I have to say but I’ve tried taking him to therapy. He just won’t go and we can’t afford a good therapist. I need help because I’m on the verge of breaking down. 24 years of my life have gone by with horrific waves of madness. I just need to help him. I don’t know where to begin.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: From the U.S.: About 2-3 months into our relationship, my boyfriend continued to press me to tell him the number of men I slept with. At first, I tried to deflect the question but I had to answer him. I lied and gave him a very low number, because I knew he was a jealous man. But I felt so guilty when he said he was really glad I waited for him, so a few days later, I decided to tell him. But when I sat down to tell him, I couldn’t tell him everything so I revealed to him that there was one more. He had a very tough time dealing with it, and he made me promise him that there was no more. Months went by without me feeling so guilty about it.

Distorted part: I lied and gave him a very low number, because I knew he was a jealous man.
Dominant distortion: Labeling
Patient question: When I started my job at a grocery store 3 months ago I would have really bad anxiety. I was generally an anxious person before but being a social environment only made it worse. I’m very bad with people and putting on that happy/cheery customer surface attitude. It got to a point at times I was choking back tears because I was so anxious. My sister did let me have some of her prescription anxiety medicine at first, which is know is wrong. I also took kava root and 5-HTP on top of that. I was more comfortable being really tired all day than being anxious. Since then, I have been self medicating with a supplement called Phenibut and on occasion 5-HTP on top of that. Phenibut is said to be effective for social anxiety and can help bring you out of your shell. I take the maximum serving size listed (which is roughly 1060mg). after I got used to it it has been very helpful. I’m not intimidated by my male coworkers anymore, I am comfortable answering the phone and I can talk to customers without fear. This is something that works for me. Obviously there is no therapy attached to self-medication, but if it is effective, does that still make it wrong?

Distorted part: When I started my job at a grocery store 3 months ago I would have really bad anxiety. I was generally an anxious person before but being a social environment only made it worse. I’m very bad with people and putting on that happy/cheery customer surface attitude.
Dominant distortion: Overgeneralization
Secondary distortion: Should statements
Patient question: I am a college student who has just completed his freshman year, and will be continuing my education as a permanent on-campus resident. Since my junior year of high school, I have been experiencing something that is hard to sum up in simple words, so I will do my best to describe my symptoms. As far as the memory can stretch back, I have always had difficulty remaining positive and maintaining focus. I am forgetful and often lose track of conversations that I participate in. Lately, my issues have evolved. My sleeping and eating patterns have changed, I am increasingly irritated and angry, and I am begininng to make poor life choices as well. I also feel generally depressed by the state of the world, often finding myself lost in thoughts that seem to be existential in nature, but more relative to my surroundings rather than myself. My self-esteem is either very low, or about that of a normal individual. I have begun to experience periods of blinding aggravation and anger, as a result, I am lashing out at those around me. I have never been like this before and I am beginning to feel as though I have some form of mental disorder that is beginning to surface, or at the very least, it is becoming more announced. My childhood seems to be what is on my mind the most these days, that and well, my current state. I come from a background of poverty. I was raised by a single mother who has done her best despite her faults. For a period of six years me and my sibling experienced domestic abuse from her previous boyfriend, ages 8 to 13. The circumstances of my childhood have begin to harbor on my as I grow older, straining my relationship with my mother. I experienced no physical or sexual abuse. I am aware that my paragraph jumps from various topics, but I tried to coordinate this vast array of issues in the best way I could, please bear with me. I thank you for your time and I hope that I have been understandable.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: I am desperately seeking help because I feel something wrong with me but don’t know exactly what it is. I am always anxious and my emotions are so disturbed to the point of not feeling what I want to do the next moment. Just this thought can make me panic and I had a severe panic attack before. I think I am unable to work or to resume my life. My doctor thinks that i shall work no matter what despite how many times i told him i am unable to work because my emotions are so disturbed. He gave me “Arpiprazole 15mg” once a day. I don’t know what is going on in my head, i feel nothing but anxiousness, i have no different moods or emotions and my mind is busy and empty at the same time. I don’t know if i want to eat or to sleep or work and at the end i do nothing. If i don’t have any idea how i feel, how can i lead a life then!! Please help me figure out what’s wrong with me and if my doctor is right pushing me to work?

Distorted part: I am desperately seeking help because I feel something wrong with me but don’t know exactly what it is. I am always anxious and my emotions are so disturbed to the point of not feeling what I want to do the next moment. If i don’t have any idea how i feel, how can i lead a life then!!
Dominant distortion: Emotional Reasoning
Secondary distortion: Magnification
Patient question: From the U.S.: I am currently on my second medical leave due to worsening insomnia. I have always struggled with depression, but my depression has only worsened now that I am unable to function at work due to sleep loss. I feel therapists and psychiatrists always want to treat the depression and don’t know how to help with my sleep other than medication. I have read everything on sleep schedules, sleep hygiene, exercise, and now my parents want me to go to an inpatient psychiatric ward. The only solution I see there is constant structure and collaboration of care. I have seen sleep specialists and medications haven’t helped me. I will be out for 4 hours and wake up completely exhausted. Just looking for advice as to best next step so I can function. I just received a genetic test from a psychiatrist to check for which medications I would respond to.

Distorted part: I feel therapists and psychiatrists always want to treat the depression and don’t know how to help with my sleep other than medication.
Dominant distortion: Mind Reading
Patient question: What are these behaviors I get from my boyfriend? Never answer a direct question, instead would say “here is what I will do”, silent treatment a lot, would always change the subject of discussion often by criticizing me, circular conversations, would interrupt & lose his temper when I was calm & logical, reason would not work, would say ‘I don’t care if I am illogical’, would get angry when I wouldn’t, would pay me back money in small increments dragging it out, I cancelled a date saying I was tired he said he would be tired the whole next week, said I wasn’t good because I didn’t encourage him to eat better, said I must see him 3 times a week no less, he would tell me how to say things what to say, would compare me to previous girlfriends,word play, like telling me that ‘accusing’, ‘texting’, ‘saying’, ‘meaning’, were all ‘different’, changed his Facebook status to single after we had been intimate & denied it even tho he knew I looked at his page, did it to anger me, demanded long periods of avoidance after losing temper.

Distorted part: changed his Facebook status to single after we had been intimate & denied it even tho he knew I looked at his page, did it to anger me,
Dominant distortion: Mind Reading
Patient question: I previously was in an unhealthy relationship on and off for about 5 months. we weren’t in love and it was mostly just a sexual relationship — I lost my virginity to him the first night, I realize my choices led to me to this place and I fully accept the responsibility for the heartbreak and the sadness that I have because of these decisions.

Distorted part: we weren’t in love and it was mostly just a sexual relationship — I lost my virginity to him the first night, I realize my choices led to me to this place and I fully accept the responsibility for the heartbreak and the sadness that I have because of these decisions.
Dominant distortion: Personalization
Patient question: From the U.S.: My second husband does not seem to like my son. My son is 16. We have been married 7 years. We have 2 sons together a 1 and 6 year old. He doesn’t say much to my son. He does not say many negative things to him, but he constantly complains to me. He complains over simple issues like he drank all the soda.

Distorted part: My second husband does not seem to like my son.He doesn’t say much to my son. He does not say many negative things to him, but he constantly complains to me. He complains over simple issues like he drank all the soda.
Dominant distortion: Mind Reading
Patient question: From a 19 year old male in Belgium: So my first issue is I recently have been very self-conscious about the way I look. I daily look myself in the mirror many times a day. Sometimes I feel good looking and I am happy, But then just hours/minutes/days later I feel ugly and it goes on like this on and on again, I can get really depressed and cry sometimes because of this.

Distorted part: Sometimes I feel good looking and I am happy, But then just hours/minutes/days later I feel ugly and it goes on like this on and on again, I can get really depressed and cry sometimes because of this.
Dominant distortion: All-or-nothing thinking
Secondary distortion: Labeling
Patient question: From the U.S.: Hi. This story has been in the making most of my life and seems a vicious circle that I cannot solve to both our liking & to my annoyance. All my life, I have felt mostly ignored & criticized by my mother. She came here from Europe at 21 after meeting my American father in Europe and marrying here. They were educated, but, I feel, “missed” the 60’s revolution and both seemed a little “square.” They also seemed to have learned much, but I always felt a little deprived for some reason.

Distorted part: All my life, I have felt mostly ignored & criticized by my mother.They also seemed to have learned much, but I always felt a little deprived for some reason.
Dominant distortion: Emotional Reasoning
Patient question: Hello, it’s a quite pleasure to meet you. I’ve just recently realized that I think I may have a problem. It never struck me as odd before, yet it was so obvious. There are two different “me’s” besides the normal me. They are two extremes. There is the extremely obsessive and overly emotional one that I have nicknamed “Loony.” Then there is the emotionally empty, intellectual, and analytical one that is the “Bored” one.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: There are movements that people do that make me feel very angry and horrible. It’s one of the main reasons I’m happy this school year is over. When someone in class would tap their feet on the ground/move their feet repetitively, click their pen, tap their hands on their desks, etc., I would feel so angry inside. I always had to use my hands to block it from my view or cover my ears. One time the girl next to me wouldn’t stop swinging her feet and I spent the whole class with my right eye closed so that I didn’t have to see it. I also have an anxiety disorder, and I’ve had to leave class many times to try to calm myself down in the bathroom because it gives me so much anxiety. Math class was the worst; the boy next to me always tapped his feet and made beats on his desk with his pens, a girl in front of me was always swinging her feet, and another girl was always bouncing/shaking her legs. I was always irritated and had so much anxiety. One time I left the class crying which I think scared my teacher a bit.

Distorted part: There are movements that people do that make me feel very angry and horrible.
Dominant distortion: Personalization
Patient question: Hello. I have become very worried about my mental state in the past months. I feel as if I have been becoming more and more dissociated. It’s very hard to explain. My brain feels foggy, fuzzy, and sometimes absent. My frontal lobe, to be exact, feels disconnected to the rest of my brain/fuzzy/hazy/heavy. My vision feels strange, it almost feels as if I’m looking at life through thick glass. I have been having severe anxiety attacks, where I feel as if maybe I am not real or there is an alternate version of myself that has done very bad things. Sometimes I sleep very badly because my body feel extremely on edge and heavy. Sometimes it doesn’t feel as if i am doing something, like I will walk into a room and not remember the walk from one room to another. Sometimes i feel as if I am floating or my body is not exactly in reality. I have full body tingles, shaking feeling. Sometimes I feel like everything is happening so fast around me and i am not a part of it. Voices sometimes seem very far away and uncomprehensible. I am very very afraid as I learned today that my cousin is schizophrenic. I am 18 years old and I take 40mg of Prozac for depression and anxiety. Please, please give me some answers. I am very scared. I haven’t felt like myself in ages.

Distorted part: I feel as if I have been becoming more and more dissociated. It’s very hard to explain. My brain feels foggy, fuzzy, and sometimes absent. My frontal lobe, to be exact, feels disconnected to the rest of my brain/fuzzy/hazy/heavy.
Dominant distortion: Emotional Reasoning
Patient question: I need to clarify what it is that causes such anguish with this person. When I feel I really want or need something from my husband, if it is not mutual, it never comes about. I can ask, I can cry, I can be adamant, I can restate and explain my feelings, but there is no response.

Distorted part: When I feel I really want or need something from my husband, if it is not mutual, it never comes about. I can ask, I can cry, I can be adamant, I can restate and explain my feelings, but there is no response.
Dominant distortion: Mental filter
Patient question: My husband hired a female worker on January 19, 2015, and admitted to him via text that she is in love with him. She is aware that he is married with kids, yet she is still trying to pursue him. Sadly, my husband seems to like it when she flirts with him, causing him to flirt back.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: From Canada: I met an American who is living in The Philippines online a few months ago. She was promised a modelling job when she got there. When she got there things were not as they seemed and she ran away from where she was supposed to work. At the time I was gambling too much and was tired to losing money to gambling. So I decided to donate money to her to pay for her power bill. It felt good to donate to someone in need instead of spending the money on gambling. But overtime I realized that she constantly wanted money.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: I married 18 years ago with 1 child. 20 years ago I loved one of my classmates, but I didn’t have any attraction to him. At that time he did not have any idea how to make a relationship with any woman. That hurt me a lot so I married with my husband who loved me and tried 3 years to date with me. One year ago I found my love and we started a relationship. We live in two different countries, but we visit each other in a third country for the first time after 20 years. Both of us paid a lot of money to see each other and at that time I had unforgettable sex with him. I cannot avoid him. He has all I need and want. He is showing me how much he is regretful about the past. Both of us feel amazing and we want to keep this relationship but both of us have family and we cannot avoid them. My husband is a very nice guy and I do not have any problem with him but I decided to marry him only because I did not get any good feedback from my love at that time. Me and my love are both very responsible for our families but we decide to stay together. The sense we get is wonderful even though we are far from each other, but we talk every day and he is trying very hard to qualify to immigrate to the country where I live. Like he started learning English to get a English language certificate. My question is how we can continue this relationship without affecting our family? Is it possible? Also I would like to tell you both of us have Masters degrees and we never had this kind of relation in our life. And base of our personality and job position and family situation no one can guess that we fell in love. We are both very logical and reasonable people, but we both do not know how we can handle this love. Please avoid religious advice because it will not help. Thanks in advance.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: My dad is emotionally abusive to me and my mom, has been for years. I didn’t realize in till this year after a series of conversations I had with the school councilor. When the councilor asked if I had ever feared physical violence at home was kind of an AHA moment. She also pointed out behaviors I thought were normal as abusive. That combined with my own research on emotional manipulation led me to the conclusion that a lot of the behavior at home wasn’t ok. The problem is that before I realized that I was able to control my emotions. Im not really allowed to ever be upset at home. I’m required to be the adult in the household all the time and I have the lucky job of being marriage councilor and therapist to my dad. which means he gets to rant about his life to me, usually topics like our finances, my moms emotional stability, their sex life, his health and approaching death, etc. I’m expected to give advice about these things. I’m 17. It’s too much stress. I;m never allowed to talk about my difficulties without being yelled at but expected to help my dad figure out marital issues. This has led me to be incredibly depressed and anxious, along with suicidal thoughts and self harm. Im not allowed to go to therapy.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: I was raped when I was nine years old. The abuse I suffered lasted for several months, but I have only a handful of memories, like brief flashes, and some of them are not even visual. I am so mad at myself for not being able to remember more, it makes me feel like maybe I’m making the whole thing up. I also hate that when I think of my abuse directly, I mostly feel numb. Replaying the memories in my head doesn’t upset me, I feel nothing at all. My problem is that I am obsessed with rape. I can’t stop compulsively seeking out movies and tv shows with rape in them. I don’t get pleasure from this, instead it’s like a form of self-harm. I get so hysterically upset from watching rape scenes, they give me what I call “emotional flashbacks” where I feel like it’s happening to me now, and I can feel all of the emotions that I felt during my own rape. I don’t know why I do this because it hurts me so much, and it takes hours to recover from. It’s like I need to trigger myself with these scenes and feel these things in order to prove to myself that my experiences were real, since my memories are so pathetic and easy to doubt. I usually feel so numb about my abuse, triggering myself like this is the only way I can make myself feel. I can’t stop, I think about rape all the time, it’s always in the back of my mind, and whenever I hear about a rape scene in a movie, I look it up right away, even though I know that doing so will hurt me. Why do I do this? What’s wrong with me? (age 24, from UK)

Distorted part: I am so mad at myself for not being able to remember more, it makes me feel like maybe I’m making the whole thing up. I also hate that when I think of my abuse directly, I mostly feel numb.
Dominant distortion: Personalization
Patient question: From the U.S.: I have been in a relationship with my girlfriend for 4 years. I have found a situation similar to mine with the title of “My Girlfriend Lost Her Feelings” answered by Dr. Marie Harwell-Walker on PsychCentral. However, I wanted to further the question into what actually the person who will be waiting can do.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion
Patient question: From the U.S.: I’m 18. Over the last year or so, I have noticed that I seem to lack (or have way less) sympathy and empathy than my peers. There are more minute things, such as never having cried at any movie or book… ever. It’s disconcerting that when I watch sad movies with my friends/boyfriend (i.e. war, Holocaust, cancer/disease movies, etc) I am almost unmoved and so easily move past it. The other day I saw a WWII movie with my little sister and her friends (all age 11) — who should clearly have less emotional depth than me — all cried, but to me, the movie was just interesting and entertaining.

Distorted part: Over the last year or so, I have noticed that I seem to lack (or have way less) sympathy and empathy than my peers. There are more minute things, such as never having cried at any movie or book… ever.
Dominant distortion: Should statements
Patient question: From the U.S.: I am 43, in a LTR with a man who has full custody of his four kids ages 10, 14, 15, & 19. I have full custody of my three, ages 8, 9 & 12. We have been together nearly a year and things are completely committed and long term. We talk a lot about the future but mostly it seems to be framed in terms of a time when our kids are grown. He has met my kids and I have met all but the 14 year old on separate occasions. He says he is afraid to introduce me to the 14 year old because she has scared off women he’s dated in the past even made them cry.

Dominant distortion: No Distortion