something ive been wondering about - would really appreciate your input

Okay, so mental illness runs in my family. Both my parents and my brother have been diagnosed with various personality disorders.

I have always known there is something wrong with me, however i have never been diagnosed with anything. Ever since i was a little kid, ever since i can remember i have just been overly sensitive and emotional and depressed ALL the time. its just the way i am and the way ive always been. But i have my good days and bad days just like anyone else. but sometimes i get scared. Because i dont think i can live out the rest of my life being this way. being so emotional. something as asinine as a visa commercial can put me in tears and leave me in a bad mood contemplating my own mortality for the next several hours.

I am constantly sad, or being reminded of something thats sad. My mother and i were talking today and she mentioned that when i was little whenever i would play board games with people i would cry and get so upset when i didnt win. and this just made me think... so i have always been this overly emotional and easily upset. so does that mean i am ALWAYS going to be this way? i am 18 years old. this has to stop sometime, right? i cant live my whole live being this DEPRESSED and sensitive. one might say i am way too sensitive for this world i live in.

I am constantly thinking about my future. but i dont think about my future in the good way. when i think of my future all i can think about are the terrible things to come, my parents dying, my pets dying, and living without them.

i want so badly to change. i wish i wasnt so emotionally imbalanced. it really effects my day to day life. so is there anything that could help me be normal? i know you cant help someone who doesnt want to help themselves, but i do want to. i am thinking about therapy. But can a therapist really help change the way i am naturally? i guess that is my whole question here. can i be helped or am i hopeless?

 

You're not hopeless hon. You can be helped.


Therapy helps a lot. It doesn't change who you are. But it does help you work through your emotions and learn coping skills. Sometimes medication can help but that can be a bumpy ride (finding the right meds with the least side effects...etc). Together, therapy and meds can do a lot for a person.

I know how you feel. I have bipolar and for most of my childhood and teen years I was severely depressed. As an adult I started getting the manic symptoms too (had them sometimes as a teen). Now I go to therapy and take meds and I'm doing a lot better. I'm still me. Just a more stable, happier me.

 

I agree with amethystrse, I mean from what I've read its not like you had conflicts or tragedies that influenced your depression, rather its a chemical imbalance that is genetically passed.

 

Life is about choices, and only you have the choice to change.

You must make the decision to vision your life in a positive way and work towards that, only then will you see things better.

The way you come across seems like are a certain way and it cannot be changed, like the way you feel has been dumped on you and you have to live like that.
Well Il tell you nothing is set in stone, basically you need to make yourself change, you need find the route causes of what get you down and work on them, test thier authenticity. You shall give yourself a fresh start, don't look back and start a new life.

Concentrate on the present moment, as much as possible, think about what you are doing and always stay positive. It takes a while to see results but after a while of focusing your dreams will start to happen, and as the seed it replanted the roots will grow strong.

All the best of luck my friend.

ps. If you want to chat about stuff send me a message, im free to talk anytime.

Peace & Love

 

i think i am the exact same way, i am so overly sensitive that im scared of getting involved in anything incase someone or something upsets me or hurts me, ive always been this way, and i get depressed a lot too, so yeah im pretty much in the same boat as you, i wouldn't know what advice to give, i need some myself! but my heart feels for you hun, lets see whats said...

 

no one can really understand this until they've lived it. pharma, madcap we definitely have this overly sensitive side in common and looking back, i have always been this way. depression is a part of it, a huge part and occasionally i'm just a bit manic too. my life has been really messed up over all this. while i realize that i haven't reached my potential, i have little hope of doing it but i'm hanging in there. the last 10 years of my life have been the absolute worst since leaving home. i don't have any support except for a couple strangers i've met along the way. their support is ephemeral but i thank god for them. in october i was in such bad shape that i left my job and took a month long trip just so i wouldn't do something stupid. i visited some folks i met 2 years back and just being among them helped me a lot. they're spiritual and accepting people and i felt welcome in their home. i can go back and stay with them but i just don't know what that would accomplish in the long run. anyway i keep thinking that there's a better life out there for me if i can only unlock these chains that bind me. i've done therapy, 4 different and legal mood enhancers but none of that has really helped for long or at all respectively. in fact i refuse to try anymore since they all left me emotionally vacuous, a much worse condition. i don't really know what to do with all this or where to turn. i've heard that you can change yourself through prayer and meditation but being consistent with that (without support) is just not possible.

 

Sure it's possible.

My spiritual path has never had any kind of support. Yet, it produces for a me a handful of flowers every single day.

Ms Oh!,
I think you're going to be just fine once you grow a little and get out into the world. You'll have less time to sit around and wonder whats wrong with you. It can turn into a phobia if you dwell on it long enough.

As mental illness runs in your family, you will have to be ever watchful for symptoms. Since both of your parents are afflicted, you have a very high chance of being the same.

As long as its a chemical imbalance and not something else, you can live a pretty normal life. Great advances are being made all the time in this area of treatment. Many of them natural.

My prescription for you would be to get more exercise. Its still the BEST treatment for depression there is. Sure, its harder than popping a pill.

But if you want to feel better, you're going to have to work for it. Okay?

Don't think. Do.




x

 

personality disorders are cognitive thought errors, ie" warped thinking" generally speaking most people display some warp thought processes. personality disorders used to be called neurosis.

there are several types of personality disorders, and how severe it affects one's life is based upon their foundation of health, whether they use drugs &/or alcohol to self medicate and how self aware they are, how stuck they are, and wether they are motivated in reorganizing their thought processes and reactions.

Medications aren't the cure for personality disorders. Antidepressants only work for those that are depressed (well at least for some if not all folks...) , so if you have a personality disorder and are depressed than that would be part of the therapy.

Cognitive behavioral re-patterning in group therapy and going into therapy with a psychotherapist is the primary method.

As for being "ultra-sensitive" now that's another thing as well. A lot on folks have a sensitive nature. Being sensitive to all kinds of stimuli( I mean ALL KINDS) creates stress in the parasympathetic system(flight or flight), and we all know how loud this world can be.

There are self help books for highly sensitive persons, I know because I am one of them..

hang in there and don't hang up your hat yet, you are just beginning to reveal your authentic self...

Love and Light!

 

Two things come to mind for me. One thing that has helped me with the problems of being over emotional and over sensitive is finding people to be around who are calm and easygoing. It's amazing how much the qualities of the people around us rub off on us!

Another thing is don't think too much. Try meditation to calm your mind. Stop tripping on what's down the road and just worry about today. I like the old saying "If you got one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, your pissing all over today."
It's so true!

 

that brought a genuine huge smile to my face and another to my belly. thanks groove.

 

in community health practice there is no way to objectively measure chemicals in the brain. there are over 50 neurotransmitters in the brain, we know about 4 to be related to mental health.