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Hey Pandas, Which Thing Annoys You The Most About Having Mental Illness? (Closed)
Well, I feel pretty alone in my journey. I wanted to know if some of you have something to share about having a mental illness and making your life work like you are on a joy ride.
I know things can be quite unbearable but a community always helps. So share something about yourself.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Depression. It is never ending. And exhausting.
Final score:
61points
#2
Lack of executive function. The self hatred that comes with not being able to escape my own head and achieve anything.
Final score:
52points
#3
"what do you have to be depressed about? Your life is great"- yes, I know it's great, but depression is an a-hole that keeps you from the things and people you used to love. I feel even worse because I know nothing is really wrong, yet I feel nothing. I can't enjoy anything. Knowing other people are worse off than me just makes me feel even worse- I don't have any "reason" to be depressed, but I am.
Final score:
48points
#4
Many folks just think depression is sadness. I wish more people understood and showed a bit of intelligent compassion.
Final score:
47points
#5
how other people react when you say you have a mental illness. they think of you as lower than them sometimes and it's just not right
Final score:
41points
#6
The stigma of taking medications to keep from being suicidally depressed, and "merely" depressed instead. "Oh. You take pills..." And the sneering judgment is just like little knives in my soul. Should I commit suicide instead? I know where my PTSD goes without help. Been there. Barely got out of it alive. And yet...
Final score:
39points
#7
A few years ago I was diagnosed with OCD (mostly intrusive thoughts about catastrophes to happen and horrible mistakes I could have made) and also generalized anxiety and this is what annoys me the most:
To overcome my issues I have to fight, fight, fight and fight, and sometimes I‘m sick and tired of that. I can‘t just say “I am not in the mood to do this“ like everyone else who sometimes just doesn’t feel like doing something and then just doesn‘t do it. I always have to do everything to face my fears and conquer my OCD. So even things that are supposed to be nothing but fun (like parties, festivals, weekend trips, etc) feel like an obligation, because I have to use them as a means to work on my issues. I am still able to enjoy these activities when I‘m actually there, but I can never look forward to them, because I have to deal with tons of awful intrusive thoughts beforehand (weeks / months in advance) and I also can never actively decide if I really want to go or not. Nothing ever feels right, everything is a constant battle. Giving myself a break by not going out to fight doesn‘t help, because my intrusive thoughts would then be all about me being a complete failure.
Final score:
31points
#8
People jumping on the band wagon coz they had a shitty day or a crappy break up or they need attention.
Also people that say things like - pull your socks up you’ll be fine - Like really? Why didn’t I think of that, oh look I’m all better 🤬🤬🤬
Final score:
31points
#9
Other peoples reactions. Mental illness Is surrounded by stigma and ignorance. Treat me how you would like to be treated. It’s exhausting sometimes
Final score:
29points
#10
I have ADHD and I'm pretty sure depression and just the thought of getting out of bed. Sometimes is unbearable. And that means I'm not productive and then it's SO MUCH worse if I forget my meds
Final score:
29points
#11
When you find yourself thinking that you're fine and shouldn't ask for help because you aren't having a complete and total mental breakdown. And then the simultaneous thought that you can't show any signs of distress because then you're exaggerating. So basically you just invalidate yourself and continue to suffer in silence.
Final score:
28points
#12
The chronic exhaustion.. I literally never, ever feel well or energetic.
Final score:
26points
#13
How other people react. It usually swings two different ways. Either you're overreacting and should just go for a nice walk outside to cheer up, or you are suddenly made of porcelain and they are scared to even look at you wrongly.
I've had someone ask me pretty much every hour how I was and if I wasn't planning on doing anything 'stupid'. That got supper annoying super fast.
Final score:
24points
#14
I have ASD, PTSD and depression... the worst? it cannot be seen outside.
To the doctors, to society, to gov help centers you are absolutely healthy person: two legs, two arms, a head, capable of doing everything "like normal people do it" but you choose not to and it is YOUR fault so you don't deserve as much assistance as let's say a person without a leg.
Final score:
23points
#15
Being okay and then being suicidal. Hospital staff just laughed because I was "too young".
Final score:
22points
#16
When my depression comes on, its the numbness. Hugging my kids and not feeling anything, feeling nothing 24/7.
Final score:
22points
#17
I'm so tired 85% of the time. SO so tired, like to the bone, like I'm a magnet and so is the floor, like I haven't slept in days, knowing I have things to do, a job, home, husband, garden pets and a life to immerse myself in and love. And I just can't. And then 15% of the time, I'm so up and manic the I 'accomplish' a lot at the expense of my health and sometimes my relationships.
Final score:
21points
#19
How everyone else seems to be unable to comprehend the real horror of CPTSD, that we aren’t being dramatic; that in fact, we underplay it if anything. But it’s tough living in constant terror, and it’s tough knowing that the legacy of the nightmarish traumas that caused this continues, unrelenting. This is pain that isn’t correctable with an RX, it’s real and debilitating. And It’s compounded by additional trauma. I’m glad that many people never have to know how this feels, but I just wish that they’d realize that NOBODY chooses to feel this way. Nobody WANTS to live in constant pain.
Final score:
17points
#20
People don't want to talk about it with you. There's still a massive stigma around mental health, it's a disease like any other and if I'd had someone to talk to when it started, I wouldn't have ended up where I am now. I thankfully have found a great therapist and with their help and medication, I'm in a good place.
Final score:
16points
#21
Hitting the point of not even knowing how to move forward in life.
Final score:
16points
#22
suddenly feeling nothing for your partner whenever a depressive episode starts. One day you make plans, you feel good, you are looking forward to seeing them again, the next you could shoot them to Mars and hate the idea of them wanting to see you as any kind of contact means stress and loss of energy. And you feel bad that you feel that way and this makes it even worse. Depression truly is a b*tch.
Final score:
16points
#23
EVERYTHING MUST BE ON MY LEFT SIDE.
Okay, well, not everything. But eventually I think about it and then it comes back again. I often hate things being on my right side. Just knowing that they are there gives me this feeling and it sucks.
Also, people don’t understand autistic or ADHD people. ‘But you don’t look autistic’ well you don’t look ableist but here we f*****g are! ‘But it’s only a few people, you should be fine’ well maybe if I wasn’t stressed right now I might not have a meltdown.
Final score:
16points
#24
people assuming that i'm faking it when i say i have anxiety/depression (even when i explain both were professionally diagnosed)
Final score:
16points
#25
Recently started therapy for the first time in my life. I finally got brave enough and strong enough to get help. And my therapist immediately told me that she could not help me. WTAF? You ever laughcried? Yeah that was me. Looking for another therapist though. Not gonna give up.
Final score:
15points
#26
The fact that people act like they are walking on eggshells because they don't know what will set me off. I have depression, but it is shown mostly through angry outbursts. Another thing that is awful is the guilt that I feel. I feel guilty for being depressed. I know I shouldn't be and my family says the same thing, but sometimes I just feel that way.
Final score:
15points
#27
Despite places of work stating they support people with mental health issues, do not believe them.
Final score:
15points
#28
Personally, the thing that annoys me most is that a lot of people don't understand Anxiety. They think its more of a personality then a mental illness...like your just super shy or loner. When in reality most of want friends and relationships but our imbalanced brain chemicals make it very difficult to let your guard down, meanings it very difficult to connect with or trust people for that matter.
Final score:
15points
#29
What annoys me the most is just because it's not a seen disability it often isn't taken seriously. That includes by those approving coverage for short term disability. Sure, I can drive a car to get myself to an appointment but was I able to motivate myself enough to get out of bed and shower the five days before? Did I remember to eat? Do I answer the phone or door when others check on me?
....sorry, went down my pet peeve rabbit hole.
Bottom line, lack of taking my issue seriously.😡
Final score:
15points
#30
The time and opportunities lost. I’m a talented musician and a smart, educated person, but I’ve spent so much of my life fending off generalized anxiety, social anxiety and crushing depression that I’ve made nothing of myself in 50 years. I’m locked in a permanent battle with myself, and it leaves little energy for a more productive and fulfilled life.
Final score:
15points
#31
Inability to get a job/sense of purpose.
Final score:
14points
#32
Having to cope with it. It's hard work.
Final score:
13points
#33
When you are depress and someone just brushed it off and says “Hey, could be worse!” Yeah, that’s true. But I have a chemical imbalance. You telling me that doesn’t fix those chemicals or how I feel.
Final score:
13points
#34
Ignorance. Stigma. Denial.
I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder when I was 14 years old following episodes of panic attacks. Due to the stigma surrounding mental illness in the Philippines, my parents dismissed it, and I sincerely wished it stopped there.
My dad mocked me for "acting" and got so annoyed that I was hospitalised for the panic attacks, which was not covered by health insurance. I can't forget that one time he cruelly made fun of me and asked me to "do it again". When my mom talks about it in public, to justify my behaviour, my dad would ask her to stop--they have a prominent standing in our local church, and if people were to think that I have a mental disorder, it would taint our "perfect family" image.
While living with them, I have thought of taking my life too many times. It is hard to live with a debilitating disorder, but having to live with it AND with people like my parents is just pure hell.
Needless to say, I never received proper medication until I was in my mid 20's, when I left to work in New Zealand and completely freed myself from my parents. The damage has been done, but I am trying to fix whatever's left of me. Fortunately, fate took pity on me and blessed me with a husband who does not only support and understand what's broken in me but also reminds me every day that I am loved for everything that I am.
This is the very first time I've spoken about this, and I apologise for the long post. I am just grateful that after 10 years, I am finally able to let it out without being afraid.
Final score:
13points
#35
How I struggle to do the simplest of things and barely get through day to day life. Also random anxiety is annoying
Final score:
12points
#36
There are two things for me:
1) Having my entire life disrupted or essentially on hold at all times. When you're constantly so depressed that you have trouble even taking care of your hygiene and have panic attacks just going into the grocery store alone, it's more than just being miserable, even though it's EXTREMELY miserable and hopeless. I'm in my early 20s and yet I can't even FUNCTION in the world. It makes you feel so desperately worthless and useless, and suddenly you realize the thing you want most in the ENTIRE WORLD is something you think you will never have: just being able to be normal.
2) The majority of people (usually including your own family) don't understand and often don't want to try to understand. No matter how much explaining you do of how it works and what the effects are or even research you show people, a lot of them are just going to believe it's not that bad and you can "just get over it," or even that you're lazy, and they'll tell you all of those things straight to your face with no compassion or empathy at all. You can have your own family member telling you to stop feeling sorry for yourself or if you tried hard enough you could get over this thing that in reality is killing you (and I have.) Having your own family, the people who are supposed to love you and care about you and support you, call you out for struggling and frame it as if it's your fault while you're already struggling just to survive is one of the worst feelings in the entire world.
Honorary number 3 would be people who insist they completely understand how it feels to have a chemical imbalance in your brain causing deep depression/anxiety etc when they DON'T HAVE that problem. Being really sad or anxious a few times in your life is not, and will not ever be, the same thing as having to live with crippling depression and panic attacks CONSTANTLY, coming from a problem IN YOUR OWN HEAD that you can't control.
Final score:
12points
#37
Actually having to say I have a mental illness. I normally get away with just saying I am depressed. Never actually acknowledging the fact that I have a mental illness.
Final score:
11points
#38
I have ADHD. the thing that annoys me most is not being able to pay attention. In writing class, I’ll be reading a paragraph, about 60 times. (Ok that was kinda exaggerated maybe 6 times XD) it’s super annoying. 😡
Final score:
11points
#39
That anything can set off my BPD (borderline personality disorder) and ruin my day. Or ruin the mood with my partner. Or I can get depressed over the simplest thing, or something will trigger my PTSD. I hate it and wish that I had a normal freakin brain that didn’t do this c**p.
Final score:
11points
#40
Everyone assuming that OCD means cleaning
Final score:
11points
#41
Is it the fact that popular media likes to use mental illness to motivate fictional characters? That people are afraid of me if I tell them what it’s like having DID?
Maybe it’s the fact that with C-PTSD, there is so MUCH trauma, that you’re youth will be consumed with trying to fix yourself, rather than having fun in the moment. There’s always more work to do, and it’s frustrating.
Perhaps it’s the fact that instead of the perpetrators getting life in prison for their cruelty, YOU can be institutionalized for life, and lose everything. Basically an unfair punishment for already being a captive your whole life.
Maybe it’s that depression makes it so hard to get out of your head and do something useful for yourself.
Maybe it’s arguments with my alters that never end, and constantly being criticized by them.
Maybe it’s that I’m really good at smiling when I want to take brutal revenge on my enemies, and yet hate myself for it and want to just die where I stand.
Maybe it’s being the black sheep of the family, because you’re the only one who will admit your family is a pack of feral dogs towards each other, and are a visual reminder of their own wrongdoing.
Or maybe it’s the isolation. Feeling like you can’t burden anyone or they’ll lash out at you.
Maybe it’s the fact I still feel obligated to love a species that hates me. OBLIGATED.
Final score:
11points
#42
How you're always screwing up your relationship.
Final score:
10points
#43
At my first doc visit I was assured by the provider that she would refill all my current medications which we reviewed. Than when I called my new PCP didn't want to refill the antidepressant I've been on for years since she did realize I had psych meds and that makes her "uncomfortable." I had started having withdrawal symptoms after waiting two weeks but have it now. We get to discuss it again next visit.
Final score:
10points
#44
When people smile and nod and pretend to understand.
& try to diagnose you.
Final score:
10points
#46
This might already be on here, but when people as a joke label themselves as a mental disorder or joke about suicide when it is something hard to live with.
Final score:
10points
#47
Being given advice by people who have NO idea what they're talking about. "Have you tried exercise?" Are you seriously asking me that? OF COURSE I've tried exercise, you dolt! And sometimes I CAN'T exercise because I can barely walk downstairs to check the mail & get back up the stairs. I literally - no joke - had a woman tell me that if I'd just use her "aromatherapy sauna" I wouldn't need medication anymore. The number of idiots in alternative medicine who think they can "cure" me is astounding. (Don't get me wrong, meditation & yoga help me, but first I need the right meds.)
Final score:
10points
#48
I have adhd and soooo many people don’t think I do because I have become pretty good at masking.
Final score:
9points
#49
Poverty, because I'm too exhausted to work full-time at any job, let alone my actual profession
Final score:
9points
#50
Trying again and again with meds and diagnoses. Bipolar? Maybe, but no real history of mania… try these drugs! Oops, tardive dyskinesia. Well, maybe it’s just depression, let’s switch antidepressants! Oops, extreme withdrawal symptoms, need to titrate more carefully…nope, still withdrawal symptoms…still depressed… well, there’s always ECT! That’s gotta work, right? And, the thing no one seems to understand is that you’ve been drowning the whole time, just trying to keep your head above water.
Final score:
9points
#51
I have CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and what annoys me is when someone sees something that may slightly annoy them and they say “Oh my God, it’s giving me PTSD”. I had a friend who once lost her vape in her car, and was getting annoyed because she couldn’t find it. She knows I gave PTSD and my struggles with it. After 5 minutes of trying to find her vape, she said “I’m getting PTSD here”. It may sound silly, but to me it made me feel like people with PTSD/CPTSD were being written off with flippant comments because they were annoyed just in that moment
Final score:
9points
#52
People saying that they know a lot about ADHD and Anxiety have it and people think they know more about MY mental illness. I hate it.
Final score:
9points
#53
Having to think about it every. single. day. There is no vacation from it.
Final score:
9points
#54
How many people think they understand or are helping by saying things like "sometimes I am sad too, just do ____" or "I like to be organized, I am so OCD." People do not realize that organization is a very small fraction of what people with OCD might struggle with. There is so much more that people don't see or understand. It can be debilitating but no one understands.
Final score:
9points
#55
One thing that I struggle with is that every time I feel really really crappy, I scold myself for how I am because I never went through any severe trauma. The reason for my disorder comes from genetics mixed with really bad gifted kid burnout, so I hate myself for having really extreme and disturbing thoughts about myself. How ironic.
Final score:
8points
#56
ADHD - I can't pay attention if I'm not interesting. I can't focus on cleaning. I just can't. POSSIBLY depression: (I'm not diagnosed but I've had the symptoms for a year or 2) I feel numb a lot. I can't focus on many things (including stuff I enjoy nowadays), I constantly feel tired mentally and physically and kinda just wish I didn't have to do anything.
Final score:
8points
#57
Me typing out comments to others is helping me see my own struggles with different ways of responding to my negative GrEmLiN self talkers.
I havent realized how much power I've given them on a daily even hourly basis truly till just now!!! Why would I do that all these years. Why did I give them all my power. I want to so be in control of me but look what I've done. 30+ years so many Dr's, meds that didnt help, counsling, broken relationships, missed work ....being judged labeled..
Huge emotional physical financial cost. The gremlins /voices gave way to how i interacted with everyone anyone i came in contact with.... How ironic ...& to see it here ....the self slowly drains down like a battery it gets harder to charge it back till it can't. I always believed was made with all u need at birth but kept getting lost now i see we let others influence us from the very 1st interaction at birth. Im screen shotting this for my gremlins
Final score:
8points
#58
Bring up at 1am when I’m exhausted because my depression is bad that going to sleep seams too hard. When my anxiety makes me feel like the world is about to end you know that cold stomach feeling from nowhere. Trying to balance both these extreme feelings while still being a mum to 2 teen girls 1 autistic nonverbal 10 year old and a wife of a first responder.
Final score:
8points
#59
I get tired of the brain fog and I either can't stay awake or cant fall a sleep. I don't have the "hamster wheel" I have an ant hill. Each ant is a different thought and it's complete madness when I can't keep track of one. I don't like when I have physical pain and i can't tell if its from fibromyalgia or a physical manifestation brought on from the depression, anxiety, ADHD and/or BPD.
Final score:
8points
#60
I'm sure this has been mentioned, but the way that society and current culture romanticize depression and other mental illness. I don't have it to be "quirky". I don't have it to be "cute" or because I "want attention". I don't have it for fun, I don't have it because my friends do, I don't have it because it's a "good excuse". I have it because there is a chemical imbalance in my brain I can't control. While the fact that we're talking about mental illness more is great, we need to talk about it in the right way so that people have the right information and know it's really NOT a choice OR something fun that makes your life easier.
Final score:
8points
#61
Depression and anxiety are bad enough, but the number of people who tell me to "just be happy" or "just not think about it" makes me want to punch a tree. That. Is. Not. How. Any. Of. This. Works. My mind and body are literally conspiring against me, there is no amount of Dr. Phil saying "just get over it" that fixes that.
Final score:
8points
#62
the fact that I can be okay, and then depression hits and I just shatter. I can be having a good day too. it makes me exhausted.
Final score:
8points
#63
I want to feel satisfied and content. I am grateful for the things I have but for some reason I feel empty. Nothing. If not for my kids I would prefer not to exist anymore.
Final score:
7points
#64
Losing independence. My PTSD has left me with such bad anxiety I'm unable to drive.
Final score:
7points
#65
Not knowing which me I will be today. Will I be fine? Happy? Depressed?
Will i get anything done? Will I be good for my family?
Will i be able to handle any sensory input? What will my limit on things be today?
Yeah medication helps but it's still not a fix.
Bipolar isn't something I'd wish on anyone.
Final score:
7points
#66
Having depression and anxiety.
I know what I need to do, but I'm too anxious to deal with my depression and too depressed to deal with my anxiety.
And I'm not technically suicidal cause I don't actively try to kill myself, nevermind the fact that if the opportunity to die was presented I would take it without hesitation.
Final score:
7points
#67
Everyone says you can talk to them, but they all eventually get tired of you not getting better
Final score:
7points
#68
i have bpd and i think it's hospitilization. techs think that we arent really ill if we laugh but we laugh to escape the pain.
Final score:
6points
#69
Feeling cheated that although I was at last diagnosed with bipolar and successfully medicated by a fantastic NHS ppsychiatrist, this wasn't until I was aged 50 and he believed I'd had the disorder from childhood.
Final score:
6points
#70
Being "High Functioning". I can often "do things", so that means it's just MiNd oVeR MaTtEr.
Final score:
6points
#71
When you think you’ve conquered your anxiety and panic attacks and they sneakily come around the corner and slap you in the face when you least expect it.
Final score:
6points
#72
I have bipolar and clinical depression. I love when I'm told that I don't understand what real depression is like. I've also been told to pray more because there must be a sin in my life and that's why I'm depressed. To read certain books because the information in it will take away my depression by helping me set boundaries and think in a new way. "Think happy thoughts and you'll be happy!" If only it was as easy as those wonderful suggestions.
Final score:
6points
#73
ADHD
It kind of sucks sometimes. I can’t focus. Boredom leads to emotional distress and I am a leading cause of physical distress in other people. I try my best but sometimes I loose control and hurt people.
People are scared of me. I have one group of friends (mostly neuro divergent folks too. They tend to stick together like a pack of weird wolves) and most other people don’t want to talk to me.
Once, I got called a “weird, r******d Antichrist”. I was pretty smug about this (cuz good omens) but it was still hurtful.
Also, get me onto one of my “special interests” and I won’t shut up. These include; mythology, my pets, goldfish and nature.
Final score:
5points
#74
The most annoying is having a damned mental illness. Official diagnosis was given in 1982. After years of various medications and doctors, about 10 years ago, I found a psychiatrist who truly knows his stuff. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it's a cocktail of different medicines that really keep me level, focused, and doesn't remove all emotion or compassion.
He taught me to recognize when that dark void of uselessness and helplessness begins to creep towards me. I still fall prey to it now and then, but the days of retreating under the covers and completely isolating myself from loved ones seems to be in the past.
Final score:
5points
#75
I have bipolar. When I am depressed my husband can not understand that it is a brain chemistry thing. He keeps insisting that there must be a reason for the depression and asks me to tell him what I am depressed about. He also does not recognize my manic highs unless I am really over the top.
Final score:
5points
#76
Being diagnosed with bipolar.
I went for years rapid cycling, and not knowing what it was. No one told me you could go from extreme depression, to almost terrifying manic behaviour in one day. I work for Behavioural Healthcare Services, and it took a therapist in my office to explain what was going on in my head.
Another thing that makes me want to scream is how society (I.e., family, friends, the news, social media, the entertainment industry, etc…) define, and portray people who have bipolar.
They say either the person is unhinged, depressed, etc… or manic, and violent beyond compare.
Yes, SOME people are like that, but society sees it as if anyone who has been diagnosed with bipolar is exactly like that.
It took 7 hospital stays in 3 different psych wards, years of therapy to help me to stop cutting myself, the undying love & support of family & friends to help me get clean & sober, and the inner strength to continually push myself to be where I am now -
Holding down a full time job (been in the same Dept since 2004), and realizing that life is too short to ruin it. I do everything I can to help anyone in need. I pay it forward, because how can I not?
Much love to all of you.
Final score:
5points
#77
My anxiety keeps me from doing a lot of things that would be good or fun. f**k agoraphobia.
Final score:
5points
#78
I look "normal" and work so I feel normal about my appearance & thoughts, I have 31 invisible disorders/diagnoses. I have had brain surgery 12 times- aneurysms!; chronic Kidney Disease, and the list goes on.
They laugh and say you are too young. I get frustrated that they think I would make this up or something.... My body inside is a 90-year-old HOT MESS while outside a normal 47-year-old.
I m good with makeup & wear it so I feel good.
People have no idea what roads we all have wandered along. Thanks for sharing
Final score:
5points
#79
Being gaslit by family members who use my diagnosis against me. I couldn't possibly have seen what I said I saw because Im mentally ill, so apparently I am, by default, always wrong!
Final score:
5points
#80
What I personally find annoying (since a lot of the other things have already been covered) is the way people's reaction is affected by the media, when a famous person that has whatever disorder does something, or when something becomes the talk of the month. People can then become very superficial and downgrade my issues to whatever the flavor of the month is.
For instance, I've been a cutter and I have Borderline Personality Disorder (currently in remission), but when I was in high school, when my classmates saw my scars, kept asking me if I'm emo (I was never emo). Or now, with the whole Amber Heard thing has people talking about her possible BPD (they say she's also histrionic, but her mental health is none of my business), I keep seeing articles and comments everywhere, demonizing BPD (and whatever else), which is insulting to all people with BPD, and it's just unfair trash talking everyone with BPD just because ONE person is stupid.
Please know that what one person has done does NOT reflect the traits and behaviors of all the other people that might have the same or similar mental health issues. We're not all the same.
Final score:
5points
#81
The self-doubt that I even have a mental illness/trauma in the first place. I tell myself my trauma isn’t valid because it happened a while ago, it didn’t turn into PTSD and I know people who have been through a lot worse. I invalidate my anxiety because it’s different than what other people’s anxiety looks like. I ignore my trauma from the pandemic because “everyone else experienced it, so does it really count as trauma?” I tell myself my depression wasn’t valid because I was able to overcome it. On good days when I have my meds, I feel bad for saying I have ADHD, even if I don’t say it, and even when I know it’s true. I think that partly comes from the fact that one, I don’t fit the little white boy template for a lot of mental illnesses, and two, I’m at the less severe end of the spectrum. I feel guilty getting help because I think I can handle my mental health in my own, and I’m taking opportunities for help away from someone who has it “worse” than me. I don’t count my extreme overthinking or intrusive thoughts as problems because I don’t have a name or diagnosis for them, even though they’re impacting my mental health. I’m grateful that I can notice these things, because I know that’s the first step in overcoming this. Honestly, writing this has been really helpful. I appreciate this post a lot, thank you. 💙
Final score:
5points
#82
with depression, it’s the fact that it can be almost invisible to other people, and when it is they just pass it off as being lazy or having mood swings
there’s also a lot of harmful stereotypes, most commonly with OCD, autism, and tourette syndrome because people just don’t go through the effort of trying to understand them and realizing how much it can really affect a person’s life.
it also really p*sses me off when people fake mental disorders in order to try to act quirky or just to get attention :/
Final score:
5points
#84
The voices in my head annoy me. So then don't listen to us!
Final score:
4points
#85
Besides being exhausted to the point of feeling sick all the time despite being on meds - how weird people treat me when they find out I hallucinate. I'm not fragile because of it, and I'm not a zoo exhibit to ogle at all the time. I'm grateful that people don't try to say they understand, but part of me feels so... looked down upon.
Final score:
4points
#86
I have depression, anxiety and absent dad syndrome, it's f****n' terrible. My mom doesn't understand the things I am going through. She is a strict Christian woman who says she will spank me for doing something "on purpose". I think my entire family is the reason why I am depressed. It's because of this that I never want children, I don't want to pass down this generational trauma.
Final score:
4points
#87
When you suffer from C.R.S. like me it makes things Very difficult because you have to double check things constantly. Did i bring this? Did i say this already? What is your name, again? C**p i was just there i forgot to get that. For those that do not know what C.R.S. is (Can't Remember S**t) Billions suffer this every day, it is nothing to laugh at.
Final score:
4points
#88
Tbh I think it's probably the stigma that comes with it. It's really annoying. Like I can't just tell someone that yeah I go to therapy bc they look at you different and you can see the judgment in their eyes.
Final score:
4points
#89
People do not understand
I think i have anxiety and depression n people just dont understand how hard it can be some times and it makes it so much worse
Especially teachers
Final score:
4points
#90
I hate that people think OCD is just being organized or something. It's really annoying and not true. I have to check the knobs on the stove every night before I go to bed just to make sure they are off. Every night. And I have an order for most things that I have to do every time. Logically I don't think anything bad will happen if I don't do things in my order but it just feels like I have to. It's not a choice. I will go out of my way to do it a certain way. Example: When I was little I was really small and when I put my seat belt on in the car I would bend to look at it and the part across your chest would slip over my head. It just happened like that and I grew up with that being associated with putting my seat belt on. So now when I get in the car I put the part that goes over your chest over my head and behind me, click the seat belt in place and put the chest part back over my head. Honestly I don't even know why I just do it. I didn't even really notice until my friend teased me abt it in their car. Why am I the way that I am? Idfk anymore.
Final score:
4points
#92
1) exhaustion. Having anxiety dissorder is extremley exhausting, and drive lot of us towards fatigue dissorders.
2) never being able to plan since I have no idea if I will be able to sleep ok. And the plans you make often need to be scraped or at the very least adjusted.
3) that feeling of... nope. I will not tell you. Because then you will think I am stupid and hate me. That feeling. Times a million.
4) ever heard of people being afraid that they are not good enough for their work. We have that times 1000. All the time. About almost everything.
Final score:
4points
#93
I'm autistic, I have very bad social disability to the poin I "look autistic" (don't talk, don't look at people), but then people assume I'm also mentally disabled and treat me either like a child or like I'm insane (meanwhile I have 128 IQ and am very proud of my mental capabilities). Which in turn infuriates me and that makes then think even more so that I'm insane. Also constantly being treated like I should be devoid of gender and sexual feelings because I'm supposed to be insane.
Final score:
4points
#94
Suicidal depression. People saying I’ll be fine and that I’ll live when I almost didn’t. When I tell them the story of the cutting myself and getting a infection they shrug it of and think nothing of it. They don’t understand what I want through and what people are going through. Please think before you speak.
Final score:
4points
#95
Getting distressed when I can't daydream. It affects my daily life and I want to stop or at least be able to daydream less but I guess not lol. I got Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder btw
Final score:
4points
#96
At times my mental illness takes a back seat to the ignorant, not so helpful remarks and advice I get from loved ones. I know they care, and I wouldn’t want them to ever feel my pain, I just wish they’d really try to understand that my thoughts and feelings are very real.
I feel I need to justify having a mental illness, whereas I never feel the need to justify a physical illness.
If you’re reading this and know someone who is struggling, please don’t try to ‘fix’ them. You may be causing more harm than doing good.
Final score:
4points
#97
What has been written here by different authors in describing their lives, has also described what I feel/experience with my own depression. Now I'm getting a little teary with gratitude and YES!i'vebeentakingmymedication!okay?Geeeze! It is easier for me to use metaphors than to speak straightforwardly. This ends up confusing and being too boring to lots of people since we tend to want life spoon-fed to us in sound bites. These few sentences are nowhere close to a rant, btw.
Final score:
4points
#99
People who think they understand what you are going through-but really have no idea-make you feel even worse and more depressed than you already are when they try to say things to "help" you to "not be sad". People thinking you are "less than" and in-capable because you have to rely on medicine to keep your mind straight and your head above water.
Final score:
4points
#100
All of the physical symptoms that come with it, that people always seem to forget about or not realise. Things like chest and stomach pain, nausea, or constant exhaustion from not sleeping properly. And when people tell you to just take an aspirin or something even though that never makes any difference. My mental illness makes me feel physically ill all the time, even though I'm not.
Final score:
4points
#101
The fact that I can't even get help because I'm not old enough to do it on my own and my parents don't believe in mental illnesses.
Final score:
4points
#102
There's a few things-
The imposter syndrome (why am I depressed when people have it so much worse?)
People always saying "oh you're too young to be mentally ill" or "You're just being angsty"
A never ending cycle of forgetting to take my meds
It's almost impossible to make plans because I'm never sure how I will feel when the time comes.
Final score:
4points
#103
Not being able to fit in like everyone else seems to. Doing a lot of "masking" to blend in better.
Final score:
4points
#104
I have depression. I HATE it when people tell me that it's all in my head and that I should just count my blessings and just try to smile more. I was told this one once by a doctor. Quite recently, actually. Oh, and she told me that losing weight would cure my depression too. I don't go to her anymore.
Final score:
4points
#105
How I treat other people sometimes. I'm either avoiding them or being a jerk because of anxiety it seems. My friends keep me around though, so maybe that's the anxiety talking?
Final score:
3points
#106
anxiety that feeling ughh the feeling of always being worried something is going to happen.
Final score:
3points
#107
i hate the fact my personalities can switch without my permission.
I can't even manage it. just try my best to calm down all my myselfs.
Final score:
3points
#108
ADHD It kind of sucks sometimes. I can’t focus. Boredom leads to emotional distress and I am a leading cause of physical distress in other people. I try my best but sometimes I loose control and hurt people. People are scared of me. I have one group of friends (mostly neuro divergent folks too. They tend to stick together like a pack of weird wolves) and most other people don’t want to talk to me. Once, I got called a “weird, r******d Antichrist”. I was pretty smug about this (cuz good omens) but it was still hurtful. Also, get me onto one of my “special interests” and I won’t shut up. These include; mythology, my pets, goldfish and nature.
Final score:
3points
#109
OCD.
i get easily upset over things that don’t matter. little things like somebody sitting in my chair (a chair i have in my house that i just really like and i get stupidly upset if anyone sits in it idk why) or certain foods or thoughts make me disgusted. i have these little rules in my head which i have to follow and if i don’t i get upset and have negative thoughts.
little things help me relax like crossing my pinkie and ring finger but i hate being upset over such small things. i get angry, shout, sometimes it even resorts to something physical if i get really mad (thankfully not that often) but i really hate it.
Final score:
3points
#110
The most annoying thing about my mental illness is feeling trapped all the time by something I cannot identify. I don’t know if I’m feeling sad, angry, or afraid. I just know I’m feeling bad. I’m feeling wrong. I’m feeling physically sick, and that’s just about my only indicator of what’s going on emotionally. And I can’t express myself. I can’t explain or describe anything, even to friends, family, or my therapist (therapy really does help though, and I’m glad that I have access to it, as well as friends who would be willing to support me). It also makes it difficult to deal with my other mental illnesses, like anxiety, inattentive type ADHD, and depression. It’s like they’re hiding under a blanket. They’re still there, and I’m still very aware of them, I just can’t see them, so I can’t name them. I feel like I can never get anything done. I feel like I don’t know anything about myself. It’s difficult for me to keep up with my interpersonal relationships. It’s so frustrating, being halfway between “I hate myself” and “I don’t feel anything.”
In conclusion: alexithymia is a b***h.
Final score:
3points
#111
Having depression and anxiety.
I know what I need to do, but I'm too anxious to deal with my depression and too depressed to deal with my anxiety.
And I'm not technically suicidal cause I don't actively try to kill myself, nevermind the fact that if the opportunity to die was presented I would take it without hesitation.
Final score:
3points
#112
Anxiety is really bad when I don’t have my medication for it, OCD brings random thoughts into my head, and my anxiety acts on them creating bad what of scenarios. My OCD makes me want to keep things organized, but my ADHD won’t let me.
Final score:
3points
#113
High functioning autism with depression and social phobia
I hate how I isolate myself from the rest of the world even if I know it makes everything worse. Just keep doing it. Haven't had a girlfriend since I was 14 because I decided I didn't want to drag someone else down into my problems and depression and now I'm 32 and not much has changed.
Final score:
3points
#114
I think mostly for me it hard to control my emotions and sometimes it hard to make the terrible thoughts go away. With lots of practice I've been Abel to do it but it is not easy. I have to watch the way I think about stuff.
Final score:
3points
#115
The amount of medications I need to take every day in the AM and PM. just want to stop
Final score:
3points
#116
That I mask so well, people don't believe me when I speak up when I'm struggling, because I don't look _______ (insert just about everything with an acronym).
Final score:
3points
#117
ADHD is annoying cause your really energetic sometimes or just really tired the next day plus alot of people are annoyed at me because im just insanely energetic whenever they are near me lol although it doesn't affect me, im truly sorry for the people that have to listen to my c**p lol
Final score:
3points
#118
Symptoms of severe mental illness can be very similar to symptoms of dementia, but the people who have these disorders are treated completely differently by authorities. If your 75 year old mother with dementia drives off in her car and cannot be found, they issue a "Silver Alert". If your 24 year old daughter with bipolar does the same thing, the cops say "She is an adult and is allowed to go wherever she wants."
Final score:
3points
#119
It’s the constant fatigue that comes with depression. It’s so emotionally draining. I went on mirtazipine a few weeks back and yesterday was the first time in months I didn’t wake up with crippling sadness.
I went to the gym, and had friends over. It’s amazing what we take for granted when our brains aren’t sabotaging us.
I promise there is a light at the end of it. It’s very, very dim; it’s there though.
Final score:
3points
#120
I have been diagnosed with high functioning depression, as well as anxiety and panic attacks. I work full time, some days I can be on top of the world and feel great and other days, I can't even get out of bed. My husband tries to be understanding, he has suffered from depression as a teenager himself and still has anxiety and panic attacks but, doesn't understand that each person's experience of poor mental health is unique. What works for one person, may not work for another, I wish people understood that. From the outside, I appear as a confident and outspoken person but inside I am a writhing mass of anxiety and constant stress, it's easy to see why some people take their lives.
Final score:
3points
#121
Yesterday (6/11) I had a bad mental health day and I needed to be left alone and needed rest. My parents? FUCKEN YELLED AT ME, for "making excuses when work needs done." WTF like excuse me for having depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Like sorry I was crying on the couch for a reason I don't know
Please let your friends or family have the time to themselves that they need
PS I'm 16
Final score:
3points
#122
The pity. That's the worst bit for me. I don't have a diagnosis for anything (I'm not brave enough to approach anyone for help– but I am pretty sure I have anxiety + mild social anxiety, alongside a bunch of asd traits of varying strength) but I like to confide how I'm feeling sometimes in others so they can like understand why I don't like to do certain things/be in certain situations. And the worst thing they can possibly say is "I feel so sorry for you". And my friends at school always say that exact thing. I don't want their pity. Sympathy, empathy, that's what I'm looking for. Not their damn pity. Even a joke response would be better. I don't know why, it just feels so belittling and dismissive. So yeah, that's the worst bit for me. Imo, it's almost worst than the actual anxious feelings
Final score:
2points
#123
I feel that something is wrong with me and for several years I have not been able to convince my parents to see a doctor and have a diagnosis. Ignorance makes me feel even more lost. Fortunately, this year I won't have to ask for permission anymore
Final score:
2points
#124
Friend at work thinks I have Tourette’s. Maybe right…..
Final score:
2points
#125
Having Depression and Anxiety.
I know what I need to do, but I'm too anxious to deal with my depression and too depressed to deal with my anxiety.
And I'm technically not suicidal cause I'm not actively trying to kill myself, nevermind the fact that if the opportunity to die was presented I would take it without hesitation.
Final score:
2points
#126
Person: *breaks phone*
Also person: "OMG I'm SO depressed, I'm gonna cut my wrists and end this agonizing pain forever unless somebody runs to stop me! I don't want to live anymore, so I'll post a bunch of suicidal quotes saying goodbye and tell everyone on social media how hard my life is until someone gives me attention. Ooh, better post a picture with a single tear running down my cheek too - still gonna have a full face of makeup on though."
Me with Bipolar Disorder: *suffers silently in the corner*
Final score:
2points
#127
Paralysing Shame. I mean it literally. Depression and Anxiety are beasts of their own but I find myself at times frozen, still, in silence ashamed and afraid of my body's reaction if I let myself feel things.
Final score:
2points
#128
Im autistic and this is one of the many things that annoys me
I have lots of triggers and it’s really hard to live a day to day life sometimes if things have changed, it’s to loud or bright etc
But I still have to and sometimes it really sucks
Final score:
2points
#129
Been struggling with depression since the age of 13. After years of therapy, I was able to manage it, but then life happened and now I'm left with severe anxiety that is probably due to ptsd.
Final score:
2points
#130
Depression sucks but sucks worse when someone tells you to snap out of it.
Final score:
2points
#131
I want some respite care from myself. It would be great some time away from Major Depressive Disorder with Anxiety and CPTSD and PTSD. To not have to worry about my other health problems. To not have to carefully take my medication. To not have to be confronted by my flashbacks would truly be outstanding. I’ve had depression since I can remember as a small child. It would be so good to have a time out but in reality it’s not possible. I understand drug addiction, alcoholism and fitness obsessions in trying to be healthy. I’m tired of being the elephant in the room that everyone sees but no one talks about it or to me. Yes, I have that label. I don’t want to be this way and try as I might it doesn’t go away. I feel as if I’m one of those kids toy punching bags. They are a blow up in the size of an average child’s height with a clown picture on the side with sand in the bottom of it. You kick it, punch it down and it comes back up again with that scary inane clowns smile. Thats how I’ve seen myself through the years with my mental illnesses.
I’ve been told to ‘just get over it’ ‘and it’s all in your head is what wrong with you.’ Yeah, that one’s always given me a laugh however it bites hard and as much as I try to advocate for people worse off than me I would like some respite. If only.
Final score:
2points
#132
I know this is never going to get seen but I'll say it anyways. Not knowing if what you're going through is normal. Being told that your coping mechanism is inherently wrong, broken, that you can't do that, you have to do this thing that you can't handle right now, no you can't do that this is how it has to be, that's unacceptable, and not knowing if they're right or not. It messes with your head, digs into every little crevice and squeezes the life from your soul. Confusion, doubt, pain, all stemming with one question that just won't shut the f*ck up: "What if I'm wrong? What if I'm just a soft little crybaby? What if they're right to shame me? What if I deserve this?"
Final score:
2points
#133
People treating you like you are a defective person or have a personality flaw vs. Having a medical condition
Final score:
2points
#134
People telling you to “just do this!” For example I have a few mental illnesses and once somebody told me “just eat! It’s not that hard! You make life worse for everyone when you starve yourself! God you are so annoying! You aren’t even skinny enough to have an0rexia! You just want attention”
That broke me, I don’t think I’ve ever felt worse in my life
Final score:
2points
#135
Ok so I think this might get some people angry and I want to say here and now that that was not the goal
I hate it when other people say I’m “wrong” and I’m being “disrespectful” or something like that because I said I have a mental illness and I’m untested, not everyone has the resources, I am a minor living with my family, I can’t tell them I have my issues because it’s a pandemic and I have had issues with my family in the past and I don’t wanna live through that again
Some people and more privaliged than others, while you might have the resources, money and time to get tested for mental illness, I do not and there is nothing I can do about it and therefore am forced to self diagnose
Don’t get me wrong I don’t support all self diagnosed people, i think you should look into what you think you have before saying you have it as an example of this I would be kind of mad if someone just said they have something without doing any research on the thing, if they say they think they have it and that they are looking into it then I support and will help them but if they say a TikTok and just decided that they now have a mental illness I wouldn’t agree with them but overall to each their own
The point of this rant is that we don’t all have the same resources to get tested for illness and therefore never say someone is incorrect if they are self diagnosed cause you don’t know the whole situation
Final score:
2points
#137
Alexithymia. I cannot identify or describe the emotions happening inside me. I can’t tell if I’m sad, angry, or afraid, for example. I only know that I’m feeling bad. I’m feeling wrong. But I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t explain what I’m feeling, not to my friends, family, my therapist (although therapy does help and I’m super grateful that I have access to it.), or even to myself. I also have depression, anxiety, and inattentive type ADHD, but no way to describe them. I have no words. I cannot breathe. I’m trapped inside my personality, inside of a cloud of emotions that do not feel like my own. I don’t know anything about myself. I’m constantly stuck between totally numb and everything happening all at once. I wish I could just turn my emotions off completely, or all the way on. But I can’t. It’s so frustrating.
Final score:
1point
#138
DID - Never properly knowing if and when the altar will front
Skitsophrenia - Not always being able to tell between the real voices and the ones inside my head.
Final score:
1point
#140
ADHD is like you seeing a dumb horror movie character, but that's you. And you can't control it
Final score:
1point
#141
The most annoying thing about my mental illness is feeling trapped all the time by something I cannot identify. I don’t know if I’m feeling sad, angry, or afraid. I just know I’m feeling bad. I’m feeling wrong. I’m feeling physically sick, and that’s just about my only indicator of what’s going on emotionally. And I can’t express myself. I can’t explain or describe anything, even to friends, family, or my therapist (therapy really does help though, and I’m glad that I have access to it, as well as friends who would be willing to support me). It also makes it difficult to deal with my other mental illnesses, like anxiety, inattentive type ADHD, and depression. It’s like they’re hiding under a blanket. They’re still there, and I’m still very aware of them, I just can’t see them, so I can’t name them. I feel like I can never get anything done. I feel like I don’t know anything about myself. It’s difficult for me to keep up with my interpersonal relationships. It’s so frustrating, being halfway between “I hate myself” and “I don’t feel anything.”
In conclusion: alexithymia is a b***h.
Final score:
0points
What do you think ?
Tami 2 years ago
We humans are an paradoxical species. We're one of the most adaptable creatures on the planet, possessing the most complex structure in the known universe—the human brain, but those very traits cause so much suffering for us and all other creatures.
CelticElff 2 years ago
Telling someone with depression, anxiety (etc.) that it's all in their head is like telling a person with a broken leg to "walk it off". Alternately, when someone says it's all in your head, give them a look and state, "Of COURSE it's in my head. That's where my brain is!". Most people also don't seem to understand that it's a genuine brain-can't-process/make-the-right-chemicals, therefore it should be something you have 100% control over...
The_Messy_Sys 2 years ago
as a system who has ADHD, ASD, MaDD, OSDD 1-b, Anxiety, and Tourettes- a lot of people have called us fakers.
Tami 2 years ago
We humans are an paradoxical species. We're one of the most adaptable creatures on the planet, possessing the most complex structure in the known universe—the human brain, but those very traits cause so much suffering for us and all other creatures.
CelticElff 2 years ago
Telling someone with depression, anxiety (etc.) that it's all in their head is like telling a person with a broken leg to "walk it off". Alternately, when someone says it's all in your head, give them a look and state, "Of COURSE it's in my head. That's where my brain is!". Most people also don't seem to understand that it's a genuine brain-can't-process/make-the-right-chemicals, therefore it should be something you have 100% control over...
The_Messy_Sys 2 years ago
as a system who has ADHD, ASD, MaDD, OSDD 1-b, Anxiety, and Tourettes- a lot of people have called us fakers.
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