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danthareja

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cognitive-distortion

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I have been suffering severe anxiety for almost 8 months now and I have tried everything from changing my diet to meditation to no avail. I was numb for 4 months straight and I have had difficulty breathing for nearly three months straight. I have been to the doctor numerous times and most of them said anxiety. Finally, after a visit with a psychologist a two days ago, he recommends that I take Praxil and I have not used them yet. I want to know what is your experience with Praxil or any other antidepressant?

I have been suffering severe anxiety for almost 8 months now and I have tried everything from changing my diet to meditation to no avail. I was numb for 4 months straight and I have had difficulty breathing for nearly three months straight.

7Overgeneralization

My 16-year old sister is not the social type; she has very few friends and hates going out of the house. She stays in her room with the lights off for hours everyday and talks loudly to no one in the dark. I don’t exactly understand what she says but it’s never a normal conversation, just one or few words that she keeps repeating out loud. She has to stay in the dark; she hates it when anyone turns on the lights in her room. She is smart and talented but lately she has been doing horribly in school. She doesn’t even want to go to school anymore and never studies. We moved recently and now she shares a room with her twin sister so she leaves the room and goes to a dark isolated part of the house where she talks out loud to no one and hides in random spots. We are really concerned about her behavior. Nothing is wrong with our family, and it’s not about the moving because she has been doing the same before our move. We never asked her why she does that. I don’t know what to do or how to talk to her.

2No Distortion

From a woman in the U.S.: My Therapist of eight months terminated. {new job}.   I cancelled our final appts: because I could not face her. I had lied to her to test her and ultimately push her away.  She knew I think and I believe she felt betrayed.  I could tell because our sessions changed… She was in fact pushed away.

She knew I think and I believe she felt betrayed. I could tell because our sessions changed… She was in fact pushed away.

8Mind Reading

I’m 21 and recently engaged. In a few years, I may want to have children. I have two concerns: will I have to stop taking antidepressants when I am pregnant and what is the likeliness that our children will be depressed if both myself and my fiancé have major depressive disorder?

2No Distortion

From a teen in the U.S.: For the last three years, I never felt right. I started to cut myself because I wanted to punish myself because I hated myself. I am a very insecure person and I have never like one thing about myself. I was able to stop for awhile but when something emotionally threatening occurs, I can’t help but to hurt myself.

For the last three years, I never felt right. I started to cut myself because I wanted to punish myself because I hated myself. I am a very insecure person and I have never like one thing about myself.

7Overgeneralization

I have serious delusions, like every minute of every day I’m convinced I have a life threatening illness (STD’s even though I’ve never been sexually active, heart problems even though i’ve had a heart appointment and given the all clear and cancer because i’m paranoid) I HAVE HAD SERIOUS HALLUCINATIONS FOR THE PAST 4-5 YEARS THAT I AM CONVINCED ARE TRYING TO KILL ME. I jump to different trains of thought mid sentence quite often, and I change subject, leaving the other person wondering what the first one is about, which is VERY irritable. My moods are extremely spontaneous, compulsions have become slightly harder to resist and there is sometimes certain patterns that I must have in the right order. I constantly rock back and forth, until I’ll just stop and be completely still for hours. If I was to describe what being deprived of rocking was like, it would be an insatiable ache. If I can’t rock in whatever situation I’m in and I have to (because of that ache) I tend to get anxiety, and I know some of this sounds like an obsessive compulsive disorder but it is definitely not OCD. Also just wanted to see what I should do and whether or not you can be committed for schizophrenia because that is a delusion I also have, that someone will take me away in a matter of time. Also, the hallucinations have been going on for so long that I have developed an emotional attachment to them and as well as getting SEVERE anxiety when they are there, I get anxiety when they’re not. So I just want to know what I SHOULD do. I promise you none of this is fake or a lie.

I have serious delusions, like every minute of every day I’m convinced I have a life threatening illness (STD’s even though I’ve never been sexually active, heart problems even though i’ve had a heart appointment and given the all clear and cancer because i’m paranoid) I HAVE HAD SERIOUS HALLUCINATIONS FOR THE PAST 4-5 YEARS THAT I AM CONVINCED ARE TRYING TO KILL ME.

7Overgeneralization

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.

2No Distortion

Call work first thing Monday. Patient cam in with broken OD temple. FLEXON FRAME. can’t remember his last name but I printed out a remake of frame and forgot them in the printer at the front. Frame is in the lab in my cubby. What should i do? my fiance of 6 years is an alcoholic. he is mentally and verbally abusive to me every night. he drinks beer all day at work and then its vodka/diet coke all night at home. He drinks a 60 of vodka every 2 1/2 days and 24 beers every 2 or 3 days. He tells me he doesn’t want me and doesn’t need me, says you can’t fix stupid says I’m retarted…. tells me to F off, then in In the AM remembers nothing. the house we live in is in my name. his name is not on any bills or anything, but he does help with the mortgage. i dont think i can afford to keep my hose if i kick him out, even if i get a roomate. my 18 year old son started working with him at his hvac company as an apprentice. my son doesn’t drive, so he goes to work and comes home with my fiance. the company is paying to put him through schoool, and the owner of the company is also my fiances best friend, so if i kick him out, im sure my son would lose his job along with the opportunity to have his schooling paid for. my fiance smashed my truck up 3 years ago, so ever since, we have only had his vehicle. my mom has been driving me to work everyday and my fiance picks me up after work. i have no idea what to do. i feel lost and trapped. he has no intention of even trying to stop drinking, he’s told me that many times. I love him, but I just can’t take this alcoholism anymore. Last night he told me that alcohol was 100% more important than me. I,m so lost i dont know what to do. any advice would be awesome. thanks!

he company is paying to put him through schoool, and the owner of the company is also my fiances best friend, so if i kick him out, im sure my son would lose his job along with the opportunity to have his schooling paid for.

4Fortune-telling

From a teen in the U.S.: So I recently just started so see a new psychologist who was quite terrible as mine has gone on a long holiday. I have anxiety depression and from what I thought depersonalisation. It is always with me since I was about 15 and has gotten worse as I have gotten older. The world just seems a bit unreal to me but nothing looks out of shape.

2No Distortion

Hi, I have been knowing my SO for a year now, I like to believe that we have a great connection. He has told me in the beginning that he has trust issues and have a hard time letting people into his life. He doesn’t have many friends and he prefers to be home on his own which at first I had no problem with because I am a homebody myself. However, after a while, I noticed he had intimacy issues which then rose quite a few problems within our relationship. He distances himself quite often, becomes very cold. He also shared with me that he was sexually abused when he was young but he didn’t go into detail and I did not ask questions because I felt like he didn’t want to talk about it so I comforted him and we have not spoken about it since. I also know he did not come from a good background. He has also gone through my phone and found some messages from social media. The trust was fully broken then but after a couple months of separation, we decided to work out the relationship. A couple of days ago, he became very distant and I began to worry what was on his mind. He finally opened up and told me he suspects his roommates are plotting to get him. I reassured him that that was all in his head and to stay positive. He also bought a knife for protection which I didn’t think much of. However last night, he smoked a little bit of marijuana (he has before and has never acted weird) and after an hour, he began to shake uncontrollably. I had asked him what was going on but he told me he was just cold and told me to go to bed. As I am laying next to him, I couldn’t help but notice his behavior. He was still shaking, his heart was pounding and he was looking straight at the door and noticed he was holding a knife in his hand as he looked like he was prepared for whatever was going to happen. I began to worry even more and he suggested we leave his place.. it was 2am. While we were in the car, he began to suspect I was hiding something from him. He kept saying “What’s going on” and began interrogating me and went through my phone again believing I was out to set him up. I was afraid for my safety and I told him to get out of my car, he got a lyft and just left. I have not heard from him since and I am still worried about his mental state. What should I do? I deeply care for him but he doesn’t trust me and believes I am out to get him. I believe he has paranoia disorder but he doesn’t have medical insurance and I am afraid it is going to get worse. I don’t want him to hurt himself and I want to help but I don’t know if he wants help from me.

I believe he has paranoia disorder but he doesn’t have medical insurance and I am afraid it is going to get worse.

4Fortune-telling

Hello! I would say I’m very normal, and I’m happy to be alive. I am still young so I haven’t had any traumatic experience throughout my life. As soon as I’m alone with my mind I fantasizes about horrible things… It started when I was young, I always wanted to protect others, and fantasized about helping others to comfort myself. As I grew older, the discomfort of the people I would help grew larger. Nowadays, I think about people getting tortured and assaulted in every way you can imagine in order to get this better feeling of comforting someone in need. Even though I wouldn’t hurt innocent, I still think about those things at least 20 times a day. I feel so numb with my feelings, I can sympathize with others, but I don’t know how to empathize! I could easily kill people, and if I had the opportunity in an unrealistic world I certainly would. I’m smart though, so of course I never would. I feel like these feelings will grow away as I age…but it feels nice to finally write these feelings down. I don’t think you know how much I actually would like to do to others, and how it makes me smile at nights. It scares me, because I could never hurt my family or good friends, that makes me feel disgusted. Then I thought, a normal person would feel disgust for hurting anyone. So, am I normal?

I’m smart though, so of course I never would.

10Labeling

I don’t even know where to begin. I have taken quizzes and seem to be a candidate for multiple issues. Maybe I am just crazy? My moods fluctuate from normal, to withdrawn/depressed, to excited, to crying, to screaming mad and scary irritable. This fluctuation doesn’t happen in any particular order nor does each mood last for any particular length of time, but they are extreme and they are sudden. When I get angry, most of the time I can’t even remember what set me off. When I break down into tears usually its not justified and I was bubbly and happy just before the crying started.

My moods fluctuate from normal, to withdrawn/depressed, to excited, to crying, to screaming mad and scary irritable.

9Mental filter

I have no idea if this is normal or not, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it in real life if it wasn’t normal, because then they’d probably just think that I was crazy or something (maybe I am, I don’t know). I have a tendency to want to kill people and I feel addicted to the sight of blood. I get these visions where I cut peoples throats, rip their heads off, strangle them, etc. and if I feel like I’m losing control I often have to find a spot as soon as possible where I can be alone and then I’ll watch people die on the internet and I always go for the most brutal torture blood red ones I can find, but I’m running out of good videos to be honest.

I have no idea if this is normal or not, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it in real life if it wasn’t normal, because then they’d probably just think that I was crazy or something (maybe I am, I don’t know).

8Mind Reading

For the past two years or so I have noticed my emotions are altered randomly, either for some insignificant reason, or no reason at all. My emotions tend to cycle in order from being generaly content, to a lethargic, unmotivated, depressive “my future is hopeless no matter how hard a try” way of thinking. It takes a toll on my current relationship. My boyfriend and I have been dating for a bit over two years, and he says I haven’t always acted this way. It’s hard for me to take note of my own emotions, because I feel that they are norma, and logical. I often become upset about something random my boyfriend says or does (or doesn’t do, in some cases). At the time, I feel like I’m being completely rational. But in the morning, or about a day later, I realize how ridiculous I was acting. Unusually, I can’t even remember why I was upset in the first place. This just happened today, and here I am about 12 hours later, and I can’t remember why I was upset with him. It’s very stressful for my boyfriend, and it’s upsetting for me as well because he really shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of stress, and I feel my random crying and melancholy emotions are really unnecessary.

My emotions tend to cycle in order from being generaly content, to a lethargic, unmotivated, depressive “my future is hopeless no matter how hard a try” way of thinking. It’s very stressful for my boyfriend, and it’s upsetting for me as well because he really shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of stress, and I feel my random crying and melancholy emotions are really unnecessary.

0All-or-nothing thinking

I’m a medical student and I feel stressed a lot of the time. Going out helps me relax and let off steam, kinda like recharging. I’m also very close to my friends. They’re one of the best things about my life, and ever since we finished school, I haven’t seen them very often, which has been a little depressing for me. However, my parents are a bit conservative and don’t think I should go out a lot (weekly outings are their definition of a lot. They’d prefer an outing every 2 months or so.) It may seem a bit like a juvenile problem, but we’ve come to an impasse. I don’t think I go out enough, they think I go out too much, so I figured we can ask a professional to get a correct answer once and for all. I personally think outings help me keep a healthy mental state, but the debates every single time I want to go out have been mentally draining. I hope your answer would put an end to this problem, if you say I’m right I hope they’ll be convinced and if you say they’re right I’ll let go of this exhausting battle. Thank you.

2No Distortion

I have been struggling with OCD and anxiety for the past 6 months. It has been an intense 6 months and I am still struggling daily although I am trying my best to do the little things that help me to not be so obsessive over my worries. Recently, I have been worried about one day going insane and not being able to control it. I once watched a movie about a man who was able to time travel against his own will, everytime he woke up from his sleep. I know this is ridiculous but I actually thought what if that happens to me? And feared for a couple days straight. I know this is impossible and now that I look back on it, I realize that this is almost laughable. Although I no longer fear that I will be able to time travel, I’m afraid of the fact that I even feared such a ridiculous, impossible scenario. It triggered anxiety in me because I thought that I was going crazy. It was different from any other fear that I had because this was a fear that was sprouted from fiction while all of my other fears sprouted from things that happened in real life. (Ex. Cancer). I researched online and read that people who are crazy have a hard time differentiating reality from fiction. But during those two day of fear, it was almost as if It could happen to me (which I know that it couldn’t). Am I going crazy? I’m really afraid. Thank you for your response.

Recently, I have been worried about one day going insane and not being able to control it.

4Fortune-telling

From the U.S.: So this started happening summer of last year. My brother all of a sudden threw all his clothes away for no reason. He would often come to my room at night and say ask how my day was and then say things that wouldn’t make sense. For example he would say, “did anyone call you, no? I think someone called me I don’t know who” etc. Recently this year he has been locking himself up in his room, not eat until nighttime. He won’t even sleep until 4-5 AM.

2No Distortion

I have been diagnosed with depression but, lately I have come to realize I have many more problems, that I didn’t even realize till the other day..I am a compulsive liar. I will lie about anything, even simple things for no reason. Sometimes I won’t even realize that I have lied until later on. And now looking back in my life I have always done it. It’s like an addiction. I can’t stop no matter how hard I try. I will lie about the stupidest, pointless things..for absolutely no reason.

I am a compulsive liar. I will lie about anything, even simple things for no reason. Sometimes I won’t even realize that I have lied until later on. And now looking back in my life I have always done it. It’s like an addiction. I can’t stop no matter how hard I try. I will lie about the stupidest, pointless things..for absolutely no reason.

10Labeling

From a young woman in Ireland: We have been together for 3 years and neither have us have ever cheated before we have always been so faithful and loved each other so much, I know that he had taken drugs before and I’m not ok with it so he has always hidden it from me ,

2No Distortion

My parents & boyfriend got into a heated argument last year. He was defending me and telling them to back off because they said I abuse my cat. She has some separation anxiety and I spend time with my boyfriend once a week. They’re very negative about him but he has helped pay bills and helped my stepdad get a job but he lost it. I’m very happy with my relationship. They think he will cheat and abuse me. We also had an agreement that they would pay rent and bills since I was helping out before. Now they want me to help pay everything on top of my own bills. I tried to room with a coworker but they flipped out and didn’t want me to. We tried to work things out but I’m back to square one. I’m thinking of getting a foster for my cat and staying with my boyfriend till we can get our own place. I can’t afford my own and getting a room is risky. My boyfriend is going into air force so he wants to wait till he gets back to find a place. I’m not sure if I’m doing right but I feel the need to get away for my mental health. (From the USA)

I’m not sure if I’m doing right but I feel the need to get away for my mental health.

1Emotional Reasoning

From a 12 year old girl in Lithuania: I can’t tell if my mom is abusing me or if I’m just overreacting. My mom is a normal mom but whenever she gets mad she cusses, hits or ignores me. She calls me bitch, a piece of sh-t, an idiot, and more. However, when she’s on Instagram or in front of other people, she acts as if she never calls me names or stuff.

2No Distortion

I began to hear voices in my head at 24 years old which is weird because I have not had any psychotic mental history ever in my life until now. The voices sound real as if it is being transmitted to me and the voices are not loud it levels out to where I can never fully hear exactly what is being said, if I try too hard to listen it will go away but the more my mind drifts and pays attention to something else with the thought of hearing voices lurking in the back of my mind the voices come back, its as if who ever is transmitting this through to me is trying very hard to make me schizophrenic and appear as a schizophrenic person. I know I am not schizophrenic, I am pretty self aware of everything, I can separate imagination from reality but what is happening to me is full dead on real and I don’t know what to do about it or how it is being done I have been on psychotic medicine at least 4 none of them stop it I don’t think these voices are coming from my imagination I am very positive some how some way people are able to transmit voices in my head.

I know I am not schizophrenic, I am pretty self aware of everything, I can separate imagination from reality but what is happening to me is full dead on real and I don’t know what to do about it or how it is being done I have been on psychotic medicine at least 4 none of them stop it

10Labeling

I’ve self harmed on and off for almost three years. Most of the time it’s out of sheer apathy, other times it’s out of complete anger towards myself or the others around me. Sometimes when I’m angry I imagine myself doing horrible graphic things to myself and it’s oddly calming when I do.

2No Distortion

I do not drive. I live alone. I am sad. Clinically depressed. Brain surgery a long time ago and visual problems. I moved here 3 years ago. I hate living alone, but can find no solution. My husband died 15 years ago, but this past year has been extremely tough. I rode a bike, but a car hit me in July and my knee got infected. I am still limping and lost the one thing that makes me happy – riding my bike. Any ideas. I have tried all the common suggestions. Thanks.

I am sad. Clinically depressed.I rode a bike, but a car hit me in July and my knee got infected. I am still limping and lost the one thing that makes me happy – riding my bike.

9Mental filter

I really need some advice…I am in love with and involved with a married woman…she initiated the relationship…are first date was supposed to be harmless then one thing led to another and we slept together…we both have very strong feelings for each other and as time goes on we become very close friends and share everything with each other and her 3 kids adore me and I them…she says that she is no longer in love with her marriage but still has feeling for her husband in spite of all his wrong doings…she also tells me that i am amazing and super sweet and do a lot of things so much better then him..like being there for her and her kids and giving her emotional support and being a great listener…

2No Distortion

I have childhood onset bipolar disorder and have been in therapy, on and off, for many years. I have been seeing my psychiatrist for three years now and approximately one year ago, I started seeing him weekly for therapy sessions as well as med management. Over the past several months, I have been having really strong feelings for him. I know this is common in therapist/client relationships, but I think of him constantly in erotic ways.

2No Distortion

I like to pretend to be a character from a movie or book. It’s really hard for me to be honest to myself that I’ve been pretending. Recently I imitate a character from a movie with depression, social anxiety, and hallucination and I become really depressed that I cut myself, taking analgesic pills, and talked to my friend like I’m really a depressed person. I always confessed myself that I’m not pretending but I think I can’t do this forever. I’m scared I can’t control it anymore. I once became a person with bipolar disorder and I actually felt like I have extreme mood swings but if I thought about it honestly I was more like trying to have those mood swings. I like to read about psychological problems and that’s why I know the symptoms. I feel like there’s something wrong with me but I can’t stop it, it’s like I automatically imitate the character even if I don’t realize it. It’s really hard to explain because I can’t really distinguish my real self or if I’m just pretending. I’ve read about munchausen syndrome but I’m not really sure if I did it because I want attention. I rarely tell people if I’m mentally ill or anything. I even act like everything’s okay when people start to question me. This is also happen when I’m in a relationship. Unconsciously, I’ll act out as a really jealous girlfriend(even if I’m not that jealous type) or a bossy person or basically someone I’m not and I like to create some scenarios in my head and I’ll lead my relationship to that scenario and I think that’s why I don’t have any long-lasting relationship. And honestly, I somehow want to be mentally ill. I’m scared I’ll lose myself. What should I do?

I’m scared I can’t control it anymore.

1Emotional Reasoning

I have been getting hit by my dad for as long as I can remember. It has been a really long time. He really ruins my life. I am so scared to be in my own house. He abuses me physically and mentally. He punches with full force, he gives me bruises, marks that last until the next day, he hits me with the belt, and today he threatened to break my neck. He almost strangled me. I don’t love him at all. I have no respect for him and he means nothing to me. We don’t have a good relationship, I don’t tell him anything. Even if I don’t do anything wrong he will find a way to make it seem like I did do something wrong and yell and me and hit me. I can’t take it anymore. Last week I almost told my school, I really want to but I’m scared because I still have to deal with living with him until I am a legal adult. I have pictures of it the marks and bruises he has given me. I lock myself in the bathroom whenever I get into fights with him or he hits me. I really don’t know what to do anymore. He scares me more than anything in this world. I don’t even want him to be my dad anymore. He says he wishes I was never born, I’m stupid, I am useless, there is nothing good about me, I am a devil, he wishes he never had me, I am the worst kid out of all 3. He also says “why did god curse me with you”. He really ruins my life. If he weren’t in my life, it would be amazing. I can’t be with him anymore. He is the worst father a kid could have. Please help me.

2No Distortion

From England: We had an argument with our teenage son who was rude and insolent. I handled it wrong. I got angry and shouted at him. I told him to stay at his grandmother’s house until he learned manners. But his grandmother has taken his side and my brother has too including taking him on a shopping spree and spending hundreds of dollars on him.

We had an argument with our teenage son who was rude and insolent.

10Labeling

I’m quickly destabilizing my mood has gotten uncontrollable, I’ve talked to my therapist/clinician or whatever and they said they would keep me where I’m at as far as medication goes. I was in a psychiatric hospital months back and they had me on three different medications and I felt kinda good, but now I’m just on a 1 mg risperidone, and it doesn’t do anything anymore. I was on lithium, ativan, and seroquel, before I had a mental breakdown and over dosed before they took me off the medication. I really feel the need to be back on an anti-anxiety, and mood stabilizer, maybe even anti-depressant. The thing is no one cares what I have to say and my family is basically toxic af, they tell me “everyone gets angry, deal with it”. I am finally seeking help from online before I end up killing a bunch of people and this turns into a full blown tragedy. What do I do when no one listens to me? I’m not going back to that psychiatric hospital because it was a waste of time and money. I need medications but no one cares until I end up doing something completely insane. Nobody cares what I have to say unless its a full blown crisis situation. Everyone thinks I’m doing fine but In reality I’m having a terrible time, and want to kill people, burn buildings, basically try to bring in the second coming. How can I find someone who will listen and get me put on a pill that actually works?

I need medications but no one cares until I end up doing something completely insane. Nobody cares what I have to say unless its a full blown crisis situation.

4Fortune-telling

I want to start by saying I do not hear voices that are not my own or have hallucinations, I do not see things that are not there and I can tell what is real and not real. And part of my thread is copied from another thread, because that person was able to better explain pieces of what I couldn’t, it will be in quotes. “I find myself having full blown imaginary, complex A-B conversations with myself on a daily basis. These conversations are completely random and emerge out of nowhere. The conversations can go on for as long as hours when I’m alone and only stop when I realize it’s going on, or when other people are present. Though, even when I realize it and snap myself out of it, I still do it sometime after….I noticed that some of the triggers for these conversations are when I’m not stimulating my mind, when I watch a movie or something that sparks my imagination, or when I’m alone….The people I converse with are usually made up in the moment, but sometimes are people I know like friends and family, for example. The conversations vary based on who I’m speaking with: If I’m talking to a friend, it is usually about our common interests, past events, other friends, and in some cases re-enact past conversations, but with different dialogue. If I’m talking to a family member, it is usually to address things I otherwise wouldn’t, like an issue with them or another family member.

2No Distortion

Ever since I was around 6 to 12 years old, my mother used to hit me with a white plastic/metal rod or with her hand. She would do this every time I couldn’t do a math question or if I didn’t live up to her standard of a ‘perfect daughter’. She would talk about how perfect she was which made me feel worthless or inadequate in front of her. Whenever I cried, she and my older brother would lock me outside of the house until I stopped crying. When I was 12 or so, she and my dad had a fight about something I said, and it lead to her storming out of the house threatening to kill herself. My dad held her to try and stop her, and as she was struggling to get out she looked back at me and told me that if she died it was all my fault. This lead to me believing that everything is always my fault. I cannot remember anything leading to or after that incident, nor can I remember much of anything before I was 13. To this day, every time I hear yelling or shouting I feel really scared and my heart beats faster, even if the yelling is just from the television. So I was just wondering if this would qualify as child abuse?

My dad held her to try and stop her, and as she was struggling to get out she looked back at me and told me that if she died it was all my fault. This lead to me believing that everything is always my fault.

7Overgeneralization

From the U.S.: I started a job 6 months ago and work with a girl who seems to be a bit off. She always stares very intensely at other people and never says anything. She stands very uncomfortably close to other coworkers, behind them, next to them, etc., and never says anything, just stares and listens. She eavesdrops on other people’s conversations and reads over their shoulders on computer screens. She’s very socially awkward and we all think she has some type of disability or diagnosis that we don’t know about.

She always stares very intensely at other people and never says anything. She stands very uncomfortably close to other coworkers, behind them, next to them, etc., and never says anything, just stares and listens.

7Overgeneralization

Hi. I’m living with extreme guilt and regret. It was at a party, just over a year ago, when a friend and I shared a bed. I’m not a heavy drinker, but I get easily intoxicated. I may have had 2 or 3 glasses at most. My friend passed out on the bed, but I was awake, only being mildly tipsy. Later into the night I did the most horrible thing. I placed my hands into his pants and felt his genitals, while he was asleep.

2No Distortion

For so long I’ve really felt like I couldn’t define myself, and it contributed to depersonalization and other problems. Now looking at it I see it’s not that i can’t define myself, it’s that my definition of myself is the opposite of what i want to be. I am cautious, yet want to be adventurous, anxious, yet want to be mellow, inflexible while wanting to be adaptive, realistic while wanting the ambition realism cannot support, isolative and self-supporting while I’d rather be reliant on people if it meant I would be social, and more. I know who I am, and I know who I want to be, but the only things left uncontradicted are not any thing important. Can I change who I am to fit how I want to be, and if so, please aid me with a detailed description of how it is even possible. I really need this. If it means anything, self esteem also plays a big part.

For so long I’ve really felt like I couldn’t define myself, and it contributed to depersonalization and other problems. Now looking at it I see it’s not that i can’t define myself, it’s that my definition of myself is the opposite of what i want to be. I am cautious, yet want to be adventurous, anxious, yet want to be mellow, inflexible while wanting to be adaptive, realistic while wanting the ambition realism cannot support, isolative and self-supporting while I’d rather be reliant on people if it meant I would be social, and more. I know who I am, and I know who I want to be, but the only things left uncontradicted are not any thing important. Can I change who I am to fit how I want to be, and if so, please aid me with a detailed description of how it is even possible. I really need this. If it means anything, self esteem also plays a big part.

6Should statements

I have had strange experiences for a while now, but when I spoke to one of my friends about it they were pretty freaked out. I see figures made of shadows, and hear footsteps most of the time. I also sometimes hear the voices of two demons. I know that logically it is unlikely for these things to be real, but it is still terrifying. I have tried to be more aware of these things and ignore them while they are happening but I have had very little success. When things get really scary I can talk to my friend and ask if she doesn’t think that is what is really happening, but I don’t want to rely on her every time I think there is a sniper on the hill behind my house. For the most part I have been able to keep it a secret and be normal, but my other friends are starting to notice that something is wrong. I have taken a few online screenings just to get an idea of what to be aware of in case things get worse and I am starting to get worried that something is actually wrong. I am just generally confused and scared. I don’t know if I am overreacting. I just want someone to tell me what to do. Should I try and talk to a therapist about this or should I just keep relying on friends and hope that it goes away?

2No Distortion

For as long as I can remember people have been telling me I am depressed.  When I was young – in my teenage years- I tried counseling and complained that I was worried I didn’t know how to make friends or form emotional attachments to people.  This has continued even though I am now on medication for depression.  The only difference seems to be that I am now able to articulate what seems wrong.

2No Distortion

Now I’m in a relationship for almost 4 years with a 25 year old. The first 2 years we had a long distance relationship but now we mostly live together. Now besides all my personal problems I have also relationship issues. I am terribly afraid of penetrative sex and already have been trying for 2 years or more to do something, but without any results. Only once we got farther than usual and I felt a little pain. I even went to a psychologist but it didn’t help much. Though we have intimacy and I understand that I shouldn’t have such irrational fear I just can’t handle myself, it’s like my brain turns off when he just approaches me and I tense up, can’t relax, try to keep distance and begin to tremble, breathe faster.

2No Distortion

I’ve told my mom that I have felt depressed since the 3rd grade. I used to fake sick just so I could stay in bed all day and I’m sad to say that I still do it even today. I’m in my second year of college, so I can’t really afford to pay for my own help. Anytime I mention it to my mother, I start to cry and all she says is “I know its hard but you’ll pull through.” I constantly have thoughts of suicide and have a history with self harm. My mom has no job as of the moment and my parents are divorced. My family has a history with depression, anxiety, and even bipolar disorder, yet my mom still doesn’t seem to want to believe that I could be depressed or have suicidal thoughts. I don’t know what to do and I feel trapped.

My family has a history with depression, anxiety, and even bipolar disorder, yet my mom still doesn’t seem to want to believe that I could be depressed or have suicidal thoughts.

8Mind Reading

I’ve always been a bit weird with social interaction. Sometimes I’ll have days where I need to recharge after being around people too much, be too scared to talk to people, or more simply be content eith being alone. Though recently I’ve been hating social interaction and have felt completely numb in general. Then when I don’t feel numb, I distrust and don’t want to be close to people I trust dearly. Or I simply just want them away from me for no reason. So I’m either aggressive, numb, or randomly anxious that I’m being too distant or too abrasive.

Though recently I’ve been hating social interaction and have felt completely numb in general. So I’m either aggressive, numb, or randomly anxious that I’m being too distant or too abrasive.

7Overgeneralization

From years now I’ve been suffering from something unknown to me, and I’ve spent a long time doing some research to find on my own, I know that I really need to see a professional. I’ve been dealing with self-injury since I was like eleven, I don’t know how to explain it but it always felt like someone/something was always in the back of my mind telling me to do it because I deserved it. My beliefs are very odd, I’ve never been able to fit in my social environment and I never felt like I could, like I always needed to play a roll to fit, to put on a mask and act, and I must add that I don’t feel any desire to fit in, nor to have close relationships and I never feel comfortable with affection, or physical interaction.

My beliefs are very odd, I’ve never been able to fit in my social environment and I never felt like I could, like I always needed to play a roll to fit, to put on a mask and act, and I must add that I don’t feel any desire to fit in, nor to have close relationships and I never feel comfortable with affection, or physical interaction.

6Should statements

My best friend and I are extremely close. I have OCD, an eating disorder, depression and anxiety. She has depression and anxiety. About two weeks ago she suddenly stopped talking to me. I apologized profusely for whatever I had done. She then said I hadn’t done anything wrong but that she didn’t like my personality and that I made her uncomfortable.

2No Distortion

From a teen in the U.S.: When I was little, I was adopted from a drug family. Growing up with my adopted family, I felt like I was put down for everything I did. My parents are alcoholics. I feel like I do not love them. My grandma died this year and I didn’t even cry. I have emotionally and physically hurt my parents as they have done to me. My dad went into the hospital for 6 months and almost died and I had little emotions towards it. I have a boyfriend that I have been with for 3 years and I love him. Or so I feel. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. But he doesn’t feel loved by me. He tells me I rarely compliment him. I feel like I am bad at showing affection towards him. I used to have sexual feelings towards him but I was put on birth control and now I feel no sexual feelings. I love having sex with him. But I am not romantic. I show no romance in our relationship. But I don’t want to lose him whatsoever.

Growing up with my adopted family, I felt like I was put down for everything I did. I feel like I am bad at showing affection towards him.

7Overgeneralization

I am just trying to figure out if my childhood sexplay with a younger same sex cousin was normal or abuse. It all started with her wanting to comb my hair. She had to be 6 or 7 and I about 8 or 9. It went from combing my hair to rubbing my shoulders to us kissing. Eventually it lead to us touching. She would come over every now and then and we would experiment. I think eventually it led to oral by her suggestion because she would engage in the same activity with her mother’s daughter’s friend. I stopped once I got caught dry humping another girl who was around my age. My mom didn’t scold me but had a sit down with myself and the other girl along with the other mom to say it was inappropriate. My cousin would still come over to spend the night and rub against my leg to make me join in sexual play but I would say no firmly and kick her hand or foot off me. I guess my guilt stems from me being older. I should have known better. And I feel absolutely terrible about it. It keeps me up all night sometimes. I don’t remember her trying to force me other than the rubbing leg incident. And I don’t remember me forcing her to do anything. When I think about it I think she was far more advanced mentally than I was. My aunts house did not have the same rules as mine. The kids watched whatever they wanted even R-rated movies as they always had televisions in their room. When I would go over their house they would always call me “slow” because I didn’t get certain things. I guess being that I wasn’t street smart like them and was sheltered (no tv in the rooms only age appropriate shows). Anyway these sexual play encounters have really plagued my with tremendous guilt recently. I don’t want to think that I molested my younger cousin. I turned very mean to her to nip all attempts of sexual play in the bud. To make her hate me was a mechanism to keep us safe and appropriate I guess. She eventually came out as bisexual. I don’t want to think that I did this to her.. Please please help me figure this one out. I’ve been struggling for years.

Anyway these sexual play encounters have really plagued my with tremendous guilt recently.

5Personalization

I started going to therapy in December, after 3 other failed attempts. I’ve been consistent in going, and have really developed a rapport with my therapist. In my past, I have not been forthcoming with my feelings. I tend to hide, makeup stories of trauma to help cope with things that have happened. I was violently raped in college, and never told anyone about it.

2No Distortion

Hi. I’m married for an year and had a love marriage. We were in relation for 9 years. And I had to wait 4 years for the approval from my husband’s family for our marriage because we are in different religion and I had to convert to their religion for this marriage . My husband is working abroad and I am staying with in laws. In the first time my in laws were very nice to me. But they hesitated to spend money for my needs—where they give to my sister in law. And my in laws where jobless and my husband was giving them money for daily needs he spent around 60000 -80000 rupees and I had a job with very low salary. And my husband didn’t give money for my needs because I had job. Now I am pregnant I used to spend my own money for my needs even hospital needs. Never my in laws gave me anything. When I told this to my husband he asked thme about this had some issues. From that we decided that we will start a new life and save some money. I was thinking it was going perfect till now. Yesterday I just asked him that whether he is giving money to his parents or not. Then replied yes . And he give 50000 rupees every months to his parents for their expenses. Where I was struggling to find money. Please tell me how can I can get him to help me? (From India)

2No Distortion

I grew up in a chaotic household with a bizarre, usually absent father and a raging, abusive and hate-filled mother. Both drank, but sober she was even worse. We had to deny anything was wrong and no one helped me or my siblings. I bore most of the abuse.

I grew up in a chaotic household with a bizarre, usually absent father and a raging, abusive and hate-filled mother.

10Labeling

From Australia: Over the past 15 years since leaving domestic violence I have struggled with Ataxia which is the result of assaults to my head. I have found it hard to fit in since. My age group (I’m 72) lives a normal life while Ataxia limitations put me in another basket. I could only keep up with the aged persons.

2No Distortion

From a teen in Malaysia: I’m Asian and grew up constantly being compared to other people, especially my sister, in terms of grades, achievements, sports and basically everything. The problem was that i bad at everything, even if i were average, it wasn’t good enough at all.

The problem was that i bad at everything, even if i were average, it wasn’t good enough at all.

10Labeling

I am a 15 year old girl, I have suffered from depression and anxiety for about 5 years, but lately it’s been a lot more, for the past couple months physically I feel like I’m not controlling myself, I get angry or sad within seconds of being happy without control I’ll start to yell or breakout in violence.

I am a 15 year old girl, I have suffered from depression and anxiety for about 5 years, but lately it’s been a lot more, for the past couple months physically I feel like I’m not controlling myself, I get angry or sad within seconds of being happy without control I’ll start to yell or breakout in violence.

0All-or-nothing thinking

From the U.S.: I am having a hard time convincing my boyfriend that his kids and my kids need positive feedback, encouragement and praise for things that they do successfully in their lives. I am aware of the phenomenon of overpraise or praise for things that don’t really warrant praise (like obeying the laws of gravity). That’s not my question.

2No Distortion

Hi, I’m new and I’m not sure whether my question belongs here but I don’t have anyone else to ask. My problem is that I’m worried that I don’t have any values or interests anymore. I used to follow a moral code, I was christian and rather conservative but liberal on some issues. I loved to read and create my own opinion on many topics. During high School, which was the worst time in my life, I have changed completely. Besides becoming first an atheist, than a satanist, I have also lost all of my interest in studying or making friends. We’ve had a teacher who spend a lot of time telling us that there is no good or bad, that everything in life is relative. I believed in everything she said, reading all the books she recommended but now as years have past, I really can’t live with myself anymore. Nothing matters to me, genocides, war, politics in general seem to be unimportant. I know it;s weird but I don’t feel like a human being anymore, I used to care for others, I wanted to change the world, help those in need but ever since I went to high school I feel like I’m just a body without a soul. I regret having my moral walls crushed by this teacher, and I regret the satanist phase and I would love to get back to my old self but I’m trying for years now and nothing really changes. If someone could explain what may have caused this change in my character and give me tips on how to find my old self back, I would really appreciate it. And sorry for my bad English, it’s a foreign language to me.

My problem is that I’m worried that I don’t have any values or interests anymore.

9Mental filter

From the U.S.: 52 with adult child and one at home younger child late in life who is on autism spectrum and defiant. Disabled due to multiple medical issues (bi-polar depression, fibromyalgia, severe arthritis, chronic fatigue, neck and back pain, etc).

2No Distortion

I am a good-looking and intelligent young woman. I have a jealousy problem that is becoming obsessive. My sister in law (I’m not married but I am in a 3year relationship with my boyfriend) is two years younger than me, 10cm taller than me, a couple of shades blonder than me, thinner than me, has a better figure than me, and so on. She looks like a milliondollar earning supermodel. I am emotional, and sometimes I can be pretty dependant of my boyfriend. She is down to earth and can walk away from a guy who’s doing something she doesn’t like, just like that without doubting. This is because she has pdd-nos, not because its a characteristics of hers. But still. Then she has the greatest taste in clothes. Everything she buys I want to have, but I can’t buy it anymore because I don’t want to copy her, I have to much pride for that. Whenever I buy something that she has too, I make sure I don’t wear it around her. It’s becoming obsessive because I’m up to a point where I have pictures of her saved on my computer, looking at her online profile pages regularly for new pictures and to see who she’s talking to, making sure I look my absolute best whenever I know that there might be a possibility that she’s gonna be at my boyfriends parents house when Im there.. I’ve removed all the pictures before and stopped checking her pages cold turkey, but it didnt help because Im doing it again. It doenst make any sense because I look great and have no reason to be so sickening jealous of this girl. I just want to get rid of it.

It doenst make any sense because I look great and have no reason to be so sickening jealous of this girl.

6Should statements

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.

2No Distortion

I am a 21 old girl. I am currently in my third year at university and it’s taking a huge toll on my mental health, so much so that I have contemplated dropping out. I currently live very far from home and I have been homesick. However, my homesickness has nothing to do with missing my family and friends (not particularly), I just miss not being in university, it’s incredibly stressful; I have a part-time job which causes me extreme anxiety. I have had a severe form of social anxiety for as long as I can remember. I am terrified of people talking to me or having to talk to people and it’s a huge issue when it comes to my job. I think about it every single day even if I only work a couple of times a month. I have obsessive thoughts every single day, about my job, about my weight, my friends, my studies in university. Sometimes it gets too overwhelming. i self-harm at least once a week and take great pleasure in it. I have thought about killing myself several times, sometimes it’s really overwhelming, I go through phases where I don’t see the purpose in life anymore and it really scares me. I am seeing a therapist but he is not very helpful at all, but I am too anxious to tell him I don’t want to see him anymore. I have been struggling with my sexuality for a long time. My parents and most of my friends are too homophobic to understand, but I came out as bisexual to one of them and she’s been quite nice. I have never had sex and the idea of it scares me. It’s not that I don’t have a sexual drive, I am just incredibly anxious about sharing my body with somebody else. I have met a few guys but I can’t even bring myself to even take their shirt off. The only times I have been close is when I was really drunk. I feel too self-conscious. I believe I am in love with one of my friends but she’s straight so it could never happen. It destroys me on a daily basis. Nothing is going well and all I want to do is drink and drink. I smoke and drink too much but it’s the only thing that helps.

I have obsessive thoughts every single day, about my job, about my weight, my friends, my studies in university.

9Mental filter

…counting to certain number, punishing myself for something that didn’t go right. I’ve been constantly checking my drawers on my dresser and night stand about at least 5 to 10 times. And also my closet door to see if it has been shut properly i do this also about 5 to 10 each. Also i will check my alarm clock up to 6 to 7 times. And i will also count up to the number 37 times every night on my alarm clock. I do this in the same order every night before i go to sleep. And it seems like i can’t stop myself from doing this. I tried a few times but evertime i would try if feels like i want to punish myself for it. Also if something doesn’t go right i will also have a feeling like i want to punish myself or hurt myself for this. I would like to take an antidepressant but i’m afraid to because i have epilepsy and i don’t want it to cause any seizures. I feel to ashamed to tell my parents or anybody i know i’m even to ashamed to tell my family doctor about this. I’ve been feeling this way since i was about 24 years i’m now 32 years old i was just wondering if there is any other treatment for this besides taking an antidepressant?

I would like to take an antidepressant but i’m afraid to because i have epilepsy and i don’t want it to cause any seizures.I feel to ashamed to tell my parents or anybody i know i’m even to ashamed to tell my family doctor about this.

4Fortune-telling

From a college coed in the U.S.: I’ve been in a relationship with this guy for a year and a half now and today he dropped a bomb on me that his parents want him to break up with me. Their reason for saying that is because he was diagnosed with Anti social personality disorder (ASPD) a couple years ago and don’t think it’s fair to me. He once told me about his ASPD and I remember reading up on it and seeing a couple of symptoms that could apply to him, but also a lot of people at the same time.

2No Distortion

Hello all, I have been asking this question my all life. I have a lot of feelings toward pet like my puppy but nearly none towards humans. I tend to do things to manipulate to make them think of me as a good person who cares about them so they would come in handy when I need them. The thing is I am totally unaware of my doings when I do it but only after when I start to analyze my actions later. I realize that my actions become something natural, like it’s common sense for me to pretend that I care about someone. And when I come to sense later, I would feel odd about myself but no guilt or distress.

I tend to do things to manipulate to make them think of me as a good person who cares about them so they would come in handy when I need them

4Fortune-telling

I lie about things all the time. I make up things and tell people that that is what happened to me. I have told my boyfriend i was raped and severely abused as a child and i lie about things i don’t need to lie about. I had a bit of a tough up bringing with a lot of conflict but not as bad as i tell people. I am wondering if there is a name for this and if there is anything i can do about it? I don’t know why i do it.

I have told my boyfriend i was raped and severely abused as a child and i lie about things i don’t need to lie about. I had a bit of a tough up bringing with a lot of conflict but not as bad as i tell people.

7Overgeneralization

I’m a 35-year-old mom of 2. I grew up with a narcissistic mother & absent father. In my childhood I had to deal with emotional neglect, physical & sexual abuse, and I was bullied in elementary school. With that said, I had a lot of (cognitive) therapy as an adult and I (thought) I was doing ok.

I grew up with a narcissistic mother & absent father.

10Labeling

Ever since i can remember, I’ve been overweight and my single mother has hated me for it. throughout my childhood she dragged me to numerous doctors to “fix” me, filling my childhood with hundred of different medications and injections. she would buy clothes for me while i was at school that were far too small for me, and when i came home she would tell me to put them on in front of her full length mirror and give me looks of pure disgust when they would bulge my stomach or arms out. grunting and sniffling and asking me if i thought anyone would ever love something who was fat like me. things changed when my sister was born. on the bright side she stopped standing me in front of mirrors, probably because we no longer ever had alone time. however her rage was without measure. i rarely spoke to her for fear of being screamed at. i love my sister dearly. growing up being the unwanted one was difficult however. many times my mother and i would fight, though i would never hurt anyone i mostly just took whatever she threw my way. insults, wishes of my death, the silverware drawer, lamps. i haven’t lived with my mother since i was 14, i moved with my grandparents when i couldn’t bare her hatred anymore. i very rarely speak to her now, once in the last year- however when we speak she acknowledges her “failure as a parent”. i hear she is a meth addict, who just recently stabbed herself in the stomach with a steak knife in drug induced psychosis. i try to contact her to see how she is. i frequently do, she just never answers. when my sister and i speak of her, she tells me my mother refers to me as “the bad child” and calls me “druggie loser” which i don’t understand at all. the problem lies with me though, as no matter how long i’ve been away from her i still cannot find the strength to not hate myself. i know that i’m kind and beautiful in my own way. i know i have a husband who loves me. i know it’s all in my head. but everyday i doubt my husband’s love. everyday i wonder how can anyone love something like me? seeing myself makes me want to cry. i’m unsure how to overcome.

throughout my childhood she dragged me to numerous doctors to “fix” me, filling my childhood with hundred of different medications and injections. i rarely spoke to her for fear of being screamed at.

7Overgeneralization

I found out very recently that my mom has cheated on my dad 4 times in the past. They’ve gone to counseling each time, where she denies her cheating until finally she admits it but blames it on him “not meeting her needs.” I didn’t want to hear this in the first place but you can’t unring a bell.

2No Distortion

Recently I have been developing a friendship with my ex husband. It was a rocky marriage. Divorced 15 years ago. He has received counseling for being a peeping tom 17 years ago. Yes he peeped at my daughters. In case you need to know, he never touched them, he watched from afar. They are now in their 30’s. They hate him. He has mellowed and is regretful. He has said he is sorry to them twice and would get on his knees if he thought it would help. Two months ago we started ‘hanging out’, going places. I did not tell them because I was just seeing him and not asking them to engage in any form of relationship because I knew they would not want to. About two months ago they figured out that we had gone out of town for the night. They sent me terrible texts and threatened not to speak to me again if I didn’t not stop seeing him. I have continued to do things with him because we are so happy together. He seems to have truly changed. I understand that time will only tell. We are not getting married or even including them in the time we spend together. Neither of us remarried after we split up many years ago. We have both been very lonely, not the type to jump into relationships. So now I am torn up inside. I will be miserable if I cannot keep my friendship with him but my stomach stays in knots because I have now been excluded from my family. I am miserable without my family but would be without him as well.

I did not tell them because I was just seeing him and not asking them to engage in any form of relationship because I knew they would not want to.

4Fortune-telling

From Germany: Please help, including being brutally honest. After meeting my boyfriend on line and seeing him regularly (in person, in our respective cities, traveling together etc. often) I moved from a beautiful city to join him. Neither of us are living in our “home cities”. We are both expats in the Bonn Cologne area of Germany.

2No Distortion

From a teen in the U.S.:  Just before summer vacation my mom and I had gotten into a fight that lasted for hours. It was dumb and it was really just her yelling at me and me crying, aksing her to calm down. Eventually, it became to much and i ran into the bathroom and hurt myself, like I had been doing for months.

2No Distortion

I started going to therapy again and was recently hospitalized for depression and suicidal ideation, and that was my diagnosis. However, I have learned about borderline personality disorder recently. My relationships with my friends and significant others become intense from time to time and I always worry about being abandoned, even when they show no signs that they are going to leave me. If someone happens to leave, I feel as if it’s my fault and I have suicidal thoughts or want to self-harm. I have bouts of time where I’m really happy, then it’ll turn into sadness. There’s no in between for me. I am now on Zoloft and atarax and have been for a few weeks now, but over the last week, I have been experiencing sad moods. Nothing extreme, but it’s still there. Is all of this something I should bring up at my medication management appointment? I want to be on the road to recovery. Also, I believe I have PTSD from something that happened when I was 14. I was bullied severely and every time I see one of those people, my heart starts racing and I can’t breathe. Is this something I should tell the clinician as well?

My relationships with my friends and significant others become intense from time to time and I always worry about being abandoned, even when they show no signs that they are going to leave me. If someone happens to leave, I feel as if it’s my fault and I have suicidal thoughts or want to self-harm. I have bouts of time where I’m really happy, then it’ll turn into sadness. There’s no in between for me.

4Fortune-telling

Hello, I have not been diagnosed for having ADD since I have not made an appointment yet. I am quiet and shy person who have difficulty in focus. I have a short-term focus that I could not even focus when people talk to me. I am struggling with finishing my assignments although I started it early. It ended up finishing in the last minute which is quite messy.I daydreaming and procrastinating a lot. I tried so hard to concentrate but it was difficult. sometimes, I cry because I could not focus or listen well. I even could not focus when the professor asked questions during my presentation. I tried to consume gingko so maybe it could help with my focus or my memory, but it doesn’t work on me. am I suffering from ADD?

sometimes, I cry because I could not focus or listen well.

3Magnification

From Canada: My husband lied to me years ago and I just found out I have been married for about 4 years but together for 14. As I was browsing on our desktop computer looking for some old photos over the weekend I discovered photos from a work trip my husband went on about 8 years ago. These photos contained him and another women (selfies, dinner together and shopping). I was and am completely furious. I recall right after that trip as I saw some other photos of him with the exotic car he had rented and asked who took the pictures. He told me at that time he got people off the street to take the photos and I naively believed him.

2No Distortion

I am a 4.0 student at a very good college, and honestly I know in my heart that my life has not been horrible. When I was a toddler, my father says he physically abused me, and when I was three my parents divorced. My mother went through a slew of husbands, most of them nice people, one man not so much, he was abusive to my mother, did drugs, and killed my dog in front of me, but apart from hearing the fighting and being scared, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. This man and my mother had a child when I was 12, and from that time on, I mostly took care of her, while my mom was gone working for days away, and eventually I was decided to home school so that I would be home to care for her while my mom would leave for almost full weeks at a time.

2No Distortion

I am a fit 27 year old male and have been experiencing accidents at night for two years now. At first it was rarely, after I consumed alcohol. In the past few months I find if I consume even 2-3 drinks (enough to get tipsy) I will wake up in a wet bed almost certainly. The amount of alcohol consumed is not excessive. It is very stressful to sleep in any bed other than mine (cottage, camping).

2No Distortion

From Barbados: when i was eleven yrs old I was encouraged by my older cousin (let’s call her Jyl) to have s** with her brother (who is also my cousin) at first i objected, but she continued to pressure me so I did as she said. Eventually Jyl spoke out about the matter but never speak out about the role she played in the situation. I didn t even defend myself when she (Jyl) confessed it all, I just put on a strong face, but I was crying on the inside. Eventually everyone found out about it, as you know words spread like bush fire. In high school I was bullied for it and other rumors that Jyl and my so call friends created about me.

2No Distortion

I began nursing school in 1983 and got near completing it – to the final year. Although my grades had always been superior emotionally I was a wreck and had to drop out. However, I DID discover at this time I had hyperthyroidism, and believed that had much to do with my stress over the last part of nursing ed. I had to stop, have treatments of various sorts for that condition, and it has since been under good control.

Although my grades had always been superior emotionally I was a wreck and had to drop out.

1Emotional Reasoning

When I was 12 I was in school and behind me was the 16 year old boy and I felt something behind me in the line to get some dinner, but I wasn’t sure what it was but I felt his whole body in back which was very uncomfortable and I couldn’t see his face properly. But I wasn’t sure if he was touching me at first so I just got out of the line because I felt his hand in my back but I wasn’t sure, so I kinda let it go. So the next day I went to the line again to get some food and I felt something really close to me again and i felt a hand trying to pull my jumper and shirt and it made me very uncomfortable and he touched me in my legs and between them but I was scared I didn’t know what to do I was just frozen I would always try in move but he would always go back, so again I got out of the line. I felt like he was following me everywhere I was really scared my friends were always there to make me feel a bit more protected. It happened for two weeks him just touching me and it always got worse, so I told my head of year but I couldn’t describe what he was doing so it looked like she didn’t really care so I thought I was being exaggerated that it was ok for him to touch me really inappropriately. I didn’t eat at school for days, until one day I went and he was there and once again he touched but this time quite worse as he tried getting between legs again my friends saw so they went to get my head of year and she took him out of the line and I didn’t know what she said to him she never spoke to me about it. The good thing is that he stopped but I was so traumatized and I still am. I have nightmares all the time and flashbacks of his face as I saw him earlier this year for the first time in a year I was scared I was getting paranoid. I was stupid for not saying stop it but I was so scared. Was it molestation or was just something that didn’t matter? These nightmares are just getting worse I just don’t know.

I was stupid for not saying stop it but I was so scared.

10Labeling

I’m now 4 months together with my girlfriend. We got to know each other during a bike ride. Last couple of moths there were a lot of things that changed in her life. she had a boyfriend since 3 months (me) she started a new job (it’s tough for her because its new and it take a lot of energy) she started an evening education for becoming a win steward (sommelier) and she needs to train for a cycling vacation next year where she needs to cycle 150km each day during 2 weeks.

2No Distortion

From Romania: My parents are divorced, my father had problems with drinking and was very violent towards my mother (not towards me, but I witnessed his violence towards her many times growing up), however she tried to fight for the family. They got divorced after 25 years and she came to live with me.

2No Distortion

I am an only child of parents that are both ‘mentally ill’. My Dad (deceased since 1991, and Mother, still living in Arizona have schizophrenia. Mom has Paranoid Schizo and is abusing me, emotionally. She continues to think that I am living with her ex-boyfriend in another state and keeps asking my “why” I did that to her when it has no basis in reality.

2No Distortion

My husband suffers from depression which manifests as anger, and he is emotionally/verbally abusive. I am trying to help him work through everything, but his mother is making it harder. When I talk to her about our problems, she says stuff like “Well, he just has a short temper like his father,” or “Well, he wouldn’t ever talk to me that way.” Also, his parents are the main reason for his mental instability. It’s a long story, but he had a very rough childhood because of his parents’ choices. She acts like mom-of-the-year, while I am stuck trying to work through my husband’s and my problems without losing my sanity. How can I make her understand that a) she’s not helping, b) her son really DOES have a problem (beyond his depression), and c) that it’s serious, and not something to brush off? When I talk to her about my husband and my arguments, her first instinct is always to ask, “Should I call him?” No, that won’t help. Why would it? Its frustrating that she passive-aggressively blames me for his/our problems. Its frustrating that she thinks she can help him when I can’t. I’ve been with my husband for 5 years, going on 6 (married for almost 2). She doesn’t see the real side of him. Which brings up another question I’ve been struggling with – Why does he only verbally abuse me, and not his mother or anyone else in his family? Why do I get all of the anger and abuse, when I’m the one trying the hardest to help him and the one with the deepest connection to him? He tells me all the time it’s his mother’s fault for his problems and how she makes things worse, but of course he would never tell her that. So she gets to continue thinking she has nothing to do with his problems because it’s only me who he treats this way. I will also add that we have all been to see a therapist. My husband and I have gone together, but I don’t feel like he’s taking the treatments seriously yet, and his mother and brother went once together. His mother and brother spent their entire session talking about my husband and his problems…not their own problems or how is family has and is contributing to his problems.

2No Distortion

I am desperate. My 18 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with bipolar. The one thing the psychiatrist told me in fornt of her, is she needed to break up with her current 16 year old boyfriend who is manipulative and controlling. My daughter agreed, but within hours of ending it with him he had convinced her she was the problem and she was at his mercy. A couple days later she drove 500 miles to visit a guy she hardly knew and said it helped her end the relationship once again. She ended up having intercourse with this boy, she was a virgin and thought it was love but found out differently. She returned two days later and within a week she was begging her x-boyfriend to take her back.

2No Distortion

From a young man in Serbia: I Lack of apathy and emotional disconnection from everything. Brain feels like it’s off and that I’m only acting on impulse. I’m 20′ I’ve diagnosed myself as having Code F32.2, (Episodium depressivum non psychoticum, gradus majoris**)**

I Lack of apathy and emotional disconnection from everything.

7Overgeneralization

I was pampered and brought up in my teens, but fell in love, and married in my 18th yr. I have 2 smart children and a loving husband. When I get angry, I am unable to control my anger, I talk continuously and hurt my husband’s feelings and abuse him a lot. The argument continues until my husband apologizes even if he didn’t do any mistakes. I still think him as my lover and I am obsessed with him.

2No Distortion

From a 19 year old in the U.S.: I want to hurt people not a specific person but i want to hurt someone badly enough that i may kill them fantasizing about brings me pleasure but not sexual just pleasure a complete sense of euphoria and i want to know if there is a term for what this means in terms of who i am and if there are more like me. If there is a way for me to change before i really hurt someone I know its wrong but if given the opportunity i would hurt someone and i wouldnt feel bad but some part of me knows its wrong i guess thats why im here or its because i want to know what it is i am.

2No Distortion

I have really bad anxiety. I’ve never been diagnosed because I’ve never been to counseling, but I’m pretty positive I have social anxiety disorder. I created a fake stalker in order to get reassurance from others that I am worth something. It’s really just me texting myself. I also use it to ask people stuff about me that I am too scared to ask in person (ex: “are you actually her friend or are you faking it” I know logically my friends are actually my friends, but I have awful abandonment issues thanks to my dad. I need this reassurance in order to feel better about myself and affirm that people do actually care about me. I have extremely low self-esteem, as I’m sure you can infer. I have no support system within my family and growing up, I never really had friends until high school. I never want to ask people for reassurance because I do not want to annoy them or chase them away, so the stalker was the easy way out for me. I got pretty wrapped up in being that stalker and definitely got carried away. I texted a person I was friends with as the stalker, but now we are dating. It’s serious and I honestly believe he is the man I will marry. He gives me the reassurance I need when my anxiety is bad and accepts me for who I am so I no longer need that awful stalker in order to function. He is helping me fix the way I think about myself also. I know the stuff the stalker said hurt him because he thought it was hurting me. I am alright with keeping the secret because I do not think he will understand why I did it. I barely understand why I did it. I also do not want to hurt him. I will never do it again. I have no need to. Does creating the stalker make me a bad person? Am I crazy for ever making it up in the first place? Do I need to reveal that it was me all along or can I keep this to myself? I can’t lose him and I don’t think he would ever be able to get over this lie.

I know the stuff the stalker said hurt him because he thought it was hurting me.

8Mind Reading

Hello, I have been dealing with this problem, I’m pretty worried I might be a Pedophile, I am 16 and shouldn’t really be worrying about this I feel like but it keeps eating at me, I’ve never had the desire to touch a kid, and when I did it was before I hit puberty (as a kid myself) when I was 14 I was in a relationship with someone a little older than me (she would have been around 15) I honestly felt like I was in love with this person, shortly after that we broke up and it honestly emotionally destroyed me for a while, I’ve been diagnosed with Chronic Depression and Social Anxiety, my mother is pretty certain I have OCD just by the way I talk about things. My councilor says I am just suffering from intrusive thoughts, when I was around 12 – 13 and I would masturbate images of children would pop up in my head (I honestly didn’t think much of this because I was pretty confident I wasn’t a pedo) my first bad cycle of intrusive thoughts were HOCD thoughts, I honestly found myself being aroused my men when I purposefully thought about it to test myself, then it switched to thoughts of wanting to kill my mother, feel urges when I’d see a knife just typical things like that, but now its switched to thinking about kids, I can’t tell if I like it or not and it sometimes causes,I wouldn’t say pure anxiety but doubts and confusion, I honestly feel like I dislike it, I am currently talking to a female I think I like, she is 17 I can get erections thinking about her but I feel like it doesn’t feel as good or as strong, I felt relieved when I found out I don’t get hard over kids, but then I purposefully thought about it and started having a reaction to it, it honestly made me feel pretty bad, I would rather kill myself than be a pedo, also I don’t know if this information helps but I’m on an antidepressant called Mirtazapine which is an SSRI, could this be a problem too as I started having these bad thoughts around the time I started taking them, am I POCD or do I have Paraphilia. Please help! (From Australia)

Hello, I have been dealing with this problem, I’m pretty worried I might be a Pedophile, I am 16 and shouldn’t really be worrying about this I feel like but it keeps eating at me, I’ve never had the desire to touch a kid, and when I did it was before I hit puberty (as a kid myself) when I was 14 I was in a relationship with someone a little older than me (she would have been around 15) I honestly felt like I was in love with this person, shortly after that we broke up and it honestly emotionally destroyed me for a while, I’ve been diagnosed with Chronic Depression and Social Anxiety, my mother is pretty certain I have OCD just by the way I talk about things.

7Overgeneralization

So, I have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder for years. Recently though my health got back specifically with GI issues which are a huge anxiety trigger. GI symptoms have brought on full on panic attacks. Since my gallbladder was out back in March I have nothing but issues with food. I have lost a lot weight from 120pounds to 112 and from 112 to 93 pounds over the course of 6 months. I take anti-anxiety medication. I do guided meditation and other techniques to calm myself. But I don’t want to be like this forever. I am not even sure what this is? If you could put a name to what’s going what would it be. Trying to figure the best course for the mental health side of things.

GI symptoms have brought on full on panic attacks. Since my gallbladder was out back in March I have nothing but issues with food.

7Overgeneralization

My boyfriend and I have been together for a little under 4 years. When we first started the relationship I tried to be upfront and honest that I struggled with emotional connection and affection. I cared for him so much that I decided to see a therapist to remedy some issues that I had locked away for years. Needless to say after I opened the flood gate memories came rushing back.

2No Distortion

I don’t know how to get past this quarter-life crisis; it has been over a year. It started with a look of desire from a stranger and then all of a sudden after a decade of content marriage I felt withdrawn from my husband and confused about everything. For 3 months I tortured myself analyzing and questioning my life. I concluded I was resentful of my husband, who is a good man, for two reasons: his drinking problem that monopolized my twenties, and the lack of sex in our marriage (less than once annually). Previously neither of these were an issue for me but after the “look” I started feeling that I had missed out on my best years.

2No Distortion

Hello there, I am a 34-year-old male, happily married with kids. I love my kids and i love kids in general and have always been affectionate towards kids and infants in general. I have observed that in the recent past (since 3 – 4 years), i feel a strong urge to hurt specific infants. By hurting i mean only pinching, or slapping or scratching (basically anything that can make them suffer and cry a bit) but i don’t feel any greater harm. This feeling of hatred or urge to hurt is only for specific infants (3 infants of my wife’s sister, 2 infants of my wife’s brother and 1 infant of an old female friend’s brother). Apart from these infants, i don’t have this feeling for any other infant in the world. I like children and infants in general and do not have any bad feelings for anyone else. My relationship with my wife’s sister is very good and i do not have any problem with my wife’s sister or her husband and we enjoy a warm family relationship however i do not like my wife’s brother as such.

2No Distortion

I am in a 2-years-long relationship with my boyfriend, who is my very dear friend and I think he needs help. We are both 23 years old, live in Serbia, and everything seemed just fine (we did not argue, we had great sexual life, we talked a lot etc.).

2No Distortion

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.

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.

0All-or-nothing thinking

I sit in class, cant exactly focus and I don’t seem to be able to understand what i am a supposed to be learning. I sit there and all i can think about is when i am ever going to use this later in life. I am also one of the intellectually smartest people i know. I can process a million things in my head at once but can’t seem to put them on paper, (Which is why i got a zero on the last test, even though i had every question right) Is there anything that can help this? I also can’t ever seem to sit still unless i am very sleepy. always tapping my feet. I don’t remember things unless they seem interesting to me despite how hard i try, in algebra i don’t remember the steps to do a problem, but i get them right anyway. And sometimes when i am answering questions, like i said i cant seem to spit the idea out of my mouth or write it down. Most of these only occur in math classes, when you have to take multiple steps to solve something, not in any other because there is only one way to get the answer, (World Geo, Chemistry, English) Is all about memorization, I do not struggle whatsoever in those classes. I would rather take one test to sum up all of school instead of learning at such a slow pace. IE Homeschooling or Online Courses. If any of you are online, just wondering if there is anything wrong with this :)

I can process a million things in my head at once but can’t seem to put them on paper, (Which is why i got a zero on the last test, even though i had every question right) Is there anything that can help this?

5Personalization

I know you’re gonna look at this and make assumptions because I’m a 16 year old girl and I self harm. Most people do it to feel something or seek attention or whatever, but I don’t really have a reason for doing it. I definitely do NOT want anyone to find out because I would probably wear the Scarlett letter in my family for the rest of my life. I like how it feels to hurt myself and I guess that makes me a masochist. I don’t always cut, sometimes I bruise myself. I wouldn’t say that I’m depressed or have a mental illness that would make me hurt myself, but I just want a professional opinion on this because I regret cutting myself since someone is bound to see the scar at some point or another. I got a little carried away one night and it is a pretty big, red scar. The scar doesn’t bother me at all because I like to see marks on my body but I know my mom would probably have a stroke if she saw it. It’s almost swimsuit season you know. I do feel insecure about my body, what teenage girl doesn’t, but that does not even cross my mind when I self harm. So I am just curious as to what a professional would say because I do want help, but I am definitely not going to ask my parents for it. My older sister went off the deep end 3 years ago, and my parents still use her as an example whenever we do something wrong. My mom went through a lot with my older sister, she currently wears the Scarlett letter, and I am not about to do the same. My sister and biological father both have cluster B personality disorder, it was diagnosed, so I am wondering if I might be the same way. I don’t think I am however because I don’t like being the center of attention, and wouldn’t call myself a narcissist, but who would. Once I go off to college i hope to start seeing someone if I can, but in the meantime I am SOL. So any thoughts from a professional would be great.

I know you’re gonna look at this and make assumptions because I’m a 16 year old girl and I self harm.

8Mind Reading

I’m not in school, I don’t have a full time job, I don’t even know how to drive, and I feel like I have nothing to live for. I finished one semester in community college but I quickly realized that isn’t for me. I want to go into cosmetology school but I don’t have the money for it and my parents aren’t at all supportive. I really feel like my life is pointless. I’m not clinically diagnosed, but I’ve never truly been happy. I remember having suicidal thoughts at ten years old, and for about four years now I’ve considered myself depressed. Like I said, I don’t have a good relationship with my parents and it isn’t something I want to talk about with them. I’ve never reached out to get professional help because of this. I have no direction in my life and I have no clue what I’m doing and I see no point. I’m going through the days with no will, just getting them done. I don’t know what to do.

I’m not in school, I don’t have a full time job, I don’t even know how to drive, and I feel like I have nothing to live for.

9Mental filter

From Canada: I’ve thought for a while now I might have OCD, but I never wanted to tell anyone in case I was wrong, and anyway we really can’t afford therapy. But I’ve spent nearly all of my time when I should be doing other work researching OCD symptoms and reading the same articles on OCD over and over again. I’ve spent hours almost daily just going through all of these and monitoring all my behavior to see how much of it matches up with the symptoms. Tonight I should have been studying, but instead I just spent three hours researching OCD, and I do this all the time but rationalize it by telling myself it’s okay because I still get good grades.

2No Distortion

Hello, my name is —- and I have a question regarding my partner’s mental health. I’ve been worried about my boyfriend for the past few weeks, as he very recently seems to be displaying psychotic issues. I’ve been dating him for about 4 mos, and he, in the past few weeks, has been acting oddly. For background, we are both 20 years old. In the past year, he was kicked out of his mothers house for being transgender, and has spent some time being homeless. He recently got into an apartment, and registered an emotional support animal. He also says he is very happy in his relationship with me. So things seem to be looking up in his life, yet his mental state gets worse and worse. A few months ago he told me that schizophrenia runs in his family, but the symptoms he described his relatives as having didn’t line up with schizophrenia at all (no paranoia, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts/speech). I told him that maybe they were misdiagnosed, and that seemed to ease his mind a bit.

So things seem to be looking up in his life, yet his mental state gets worse and worse. I told him that maybe they were misdiagnosed, and that seemed to ease his mind a bit.

8Mind Reading

My boyfriend recently opened up to me about the physical abuse he experienced at the hands of his father when he was growing up. Finding this out has connected a lot of dots for me in terms of some insecurities he had expressed previously. As he told me about what he went through, I just tried to be a safe space for him to open up as it was obviously an incredibly difficult thing for him to talk about.

2No Distortion

I remember my dad raped me in the kitchen and i blacked out because i couldn’t breathe. it was very sudden. i hated him. after he did that then other men would use me. they stopped because i’m just the filth what’s left. wish i’d still be used by someone, because i don’t like being nothing. i killed my pets, gerbils and hamsters, when young, a kid, maybe 7 I tried to get the dog to give me a bj. does this mean that i am evil? even now i find myself being cruel to my cat.would i hurt my girlfriend if i ever had one? am i prey or predator? i guess i’m a psychpath and that’s why they all used me. should i isolate myself or die to save everyone else?

they stopped because i’m just the filth what’s left.

10Labeling

Hi my same age cousin has reinvented herself so to speak she tells people falsehoods about her childhood. She appears to have good sense in the present but she tells everyone including me about her times in Virginia growing up. She live 2 miles from me her whole life. She tells me and others about her 15 years plus abusive marriage where he was controlling and isolating. She was unable to contact her mother and father because of him. Only problem is she lived in same house as her mom and dad. She also says he never let her work and next breath she tells you about her working 15 years at a factory nearby. She has recreated her life where she was a victim of some type. Her husband didn’t treat her badly. No one will speak to her anymore. She acts normal today but when she discusses past it is all fiction. So strange. Let her talk for 15 minutes and she will contradict what she just told you. The central theme is she is a victim of this or that

So strange.

10Labeling

From a teen in Romania: By the time they are 18, most people have already had their first kiss and quite a lot of them have already had sex. I haven’t even come close to kissing anybody and I am terribly embarrassed by that. I can talk about it with really close friends probably because they also have a lot of different problems at this age and I feel like I am equal to them in a way because of that, even though their problems are different from mine.

By the time they are 18, most people have already had their first kiss and quite a lot of them have already had sex. I haven’t even come close to kissing anybody and I am terribly embarrassed by that.

6Should statements

I’m part of a FB group that supports women born with a congenital disease that prevents conception. I’ve noticed that a lot of women in the group, though their intentions are good, are very negative and discouraging. Everyone talks so much about trying to be strong but they seem to do nothing to actually feel good about themselves. They just wallow in self-pity like the world owes them. And there seems to be a lot of people who seem to think it’s perfectly ok to blackball other women in their life because they fall pregnant.

Everyone talks so much about trying to be strong but they seem to do nothing to actually feel good about themselves.

7Overgeneralization