Hi guys, it's Riley and I am back today with another video for you all. This one is actually really cool and special because you guys participated in it. I wanted to talk today about how age regression affects mental health. But I wanted it to be from more perspectives than just my own. So I went on to my Instagram which is at Crowns and Pencils and I asked you guys how age regression has affected your mental health. Both positively and negatively. In this video it is all real experiences of real age regressors and it's about how regressing has affected their mental health. I'm going to say right here that some of these stories may have a trigger warning on them. So just proceed in this video with caution if you get triggered easily. Your discretion is advised. So now I'm going to pull out my phone and read all of the stories. Regression has helped me a lot. I struggle with an eating disorder and it helps me care less and worry less about what I'm eating. My home life isn't great and it helps me escape and live my childhood with the correct gender and how I want it to be. My regression lets me calm down and forget about the world for a bit. The next says I have PTSD and it's really helped me a lot. Like I get flashbacks and stuff but when I'm little it doesn't happen and it goes away. If I get too anxious and I know it's going to happen then I can pop in a passie and try and regress and I'm able to avoid having flashbacks and panic attacks. The next person says for me I would have to stay like that at school. I would regress sometimes and then I get stressed about a paper. But I'm too regressed to understand it then and I get anxiety from it or sometimes when I'm playing I get like an old memory that's bad. From like a certain toy or face I'm making or a character I even get more anxiety and PTSD makes it worse. I hope these are good examples that's the only problems I have really. The next person says, Adrian has helped immensely with my mental health. I started regressing due to PTSD and over the past three years it's been really helpful in giving me motivation for things I normally wouldn't be able to do. Such as getting out of bed, eating, getting sleep and remembering to brush my teeth. I tend to rely on regression more so when I'm low and sometimes it gets unhealthy but other than that it's allowed me to actually function. The next person says, age regression has helped my mental health significantly. If I regress about once a week it helps me get through the rest of my adulting such as work. Whenever I'm regressed my mental state is much happier than when I'm big in adulting. My regression has helped me when other things happen. The next person says, so when it comes to things like school it can be really beneficial to my mental health. But it can also be really bad when I spend too much time involuntarily regressed and get behind on work and stress out. Or if I'm with friends and start to get small it's fun but if I'm alone or if there's people I'm not familiar around it makes me super anxious and I feel that anxiety for days that someone will have noticed. The next person says, I used to suffer from depression a year ago. My regression helped me overcome it. I felt happier and happier and boosted my mental health a lot. The next person says, it's helped so much. It's a huge stress reliever since I feel like everyone wishes they could be a kid again. Not only does it make me more creative but it's also helped me stay a bit more healthy. I just created juice and chocolate milk and fruity snacks. Smaller portions too. The next person said, for me it eases daily stressors and it helps me see, find and feel the joy in my life. It helps me cope and have a better relationship with food, be happier and feel cared for and love. Regression for me is a huge part of who I am nearly always so it helps me feel truly myself. The next person says, I used to suffer from anxiety a lot but age re helped me relax and forget about anything stressful. I used to age re every night and now I'm so happy and calm and just regress for fun. The next person said, my experience with mental health and regression has definitely lifted my mood but it's also made me more vulnerable. That's something that scared me all my life because I always thought people would take advantage of me. It's allowed me to have that part back in my life that I was missing. Having a childhood full of pain and manipulation caused me to grow up so fast. Regression gives me a safe space. My sister is always there to help me feel better. I think it's brought my relationship closer to them actually. My mental health has definitely benefited from regression. I make rules for myself and keep charts that keep me right on track. It helps me out of my depression mood swings and times when I feel really awful. It's allowed me to love all parts of me and not be as afraid to show who I am. It's allowed me to know that it's okay to be sad and that it's okay to feel alone. Sometimes you just gotta let it all go and just be a baby. The next person says, Adrian has helped address and heal my childhood trauma, witnessing physical and emotional abuse and receiving emotional abuse. And it's helped me connect with my childhood I lost in the process. It feels so empty to have no childhoods so I'm filling myself with love and care instead. The next person said, Adrian has affected my mental health drastically. I take meds for my depression and anxiety. I was so dependent on them. When I started regressing I became less dependent on them. It didn't cure my depression obviously but it helped me cope with it better and made me more happy and stress-free. So those are other people's experiences that I have gathered through Instagram and Twitter. In my own personal opinion, my age-gression affects my mental health a ton. When I go through periods where I'm not regressing, my mental health gets worse. I get more depressed. I have more symptoms of my schizophrenia and my borderline gets worse. And when I am able to regress and have time to regress, it helps me deal with stress and kind of gives me an outlet that I don't have in a lot of other things. It makes me absolutely so happy. But there are times where my regression isn't so happy. Part of my regression is tied to trauma. Trauma that happened to me while I was regressed. So sometimes when I'm regressed it's just sitting rolling in a ball, crying, just screaming and it's not always a perky and beautiful and fun time. But those bad points of my regression help me process that trauma when I'm in my adult mindset. Which is still something I'm having troubles with doing completely. But I'm slowly but surely getting there along with the help of my therapist and my regression. It provides me a safe space where I can go and be myself and not worry about judgment from anybody else. It helps me escape intrusive thoughts that I may have because I'm so focused on whatever I'm doing whether it's coloring or watching a cartoon. When my mind is in toddler mode, those intrusive thoughts just don't get it most of the time anyway unless it's one of those impure regression moments. I will be making a video by the way coming up soon on impure regression. So wait for that. Intergression can affect mental health in so many different ways and the majority of them end up being positive. It helps a lot of people, a lot a lot of people and our community is growing by the day and I think that's amazing. More people are flocking to this wonderful coping mechanism and I'm so happy for them that they have been able to find this and find something that will help them feel better. Alright guys that is about all I have for you today. If you like this video be sure to subscribe to my channel because I usually post once a week on this channel every Sunday. Sometimes I'll skip a week, sometimes I'll go a few weeks without depending on what's going on. But then I'll usually come back and give you two videos in a week like this week. If you want to keep up with me day to day and be able to participate in videos like this, be sure to follow me on my Instagram. It is at crayons and pencils over there and you can also follow me on Twitter which is at crayon kiddo. I love you guys a whole heck of a lot and I will see you soon. Goodbye.