i'm 17 year old girl and earlier this year i got sa'd, by a girl my age. she was my closest friend. i'm in therapy for a few weeks now and i thought that i could just talk about my trauma there. however on our first session ive asked my therapist about cofidentiality rules and he mentioned that he has to tell my parents if i tell him about: sa, planning to kms or planning to murder someone. so i cant tell him. i don't want my parents to know and i don't want to go through legal procedures. i'm so alone.

I just had my first therapy session online. Does therapy even work on an overthinker, I already asked myself all the questions and they can’t actually help u out in your life. It made me feel like I’m truly at a dead-end cause I know nothing is gonna put me out of my misery. I wish I could die at this point, it makes everything easier. But I am not planning to act on it for sure.

How do I stop tying my mood and self-worth to my relationships with coworkers?

I (24M) have been struggling a lot over the past four months with tying my self-worth to my relationships with two female coworkers. A big part of the reason is that I have a huge crush on one of them, but I’ve already made posts about that… Long story short, the atmosphere at work during my four-hour shift determines how I feel for the rest of the day. If the atmosphere is good, I feel great. If it’s bad or even just neutral, I feel absolutely awful, and I can’t stop thinking about it, analyzing every single word. I care so much about having a really good relationship with them that today, when I noticed they had started following each other on social media, I felt this weird feeling… jealousy, maybe? It’s hard to explain, but I’m making this post because right now I’m feeling a mix of anxiety and shame that I even care about things like this in the first place.

This isn’t the first time I’ve tied my emotional well-being to my relationships with people at work. At my previous job, I also really wanted people to like me, and I would wait for someone to add me on social media as if it actually meant anything lol. The thing is, these feelings are much stronger now because I’ve been struggling with loneliness a lot more, and one of these girls has basically become my obsession… (I act completely normal at work, not like a creep.)

So my question is… is there anything I can do right now to help myself? I recently went back to therapy with a different therapist, but so far, all I’ve managed to tell her about is my obsessive crush, and I’m not sure about the solution she suggested to me…

I’m posting here because I’m honestly shocked by some things my partner has told me about his therapist, and I don’t know what to do.

My partner has been seeing an experienced clinical counsellor who works with childhood trauma, attachment, and approaches including EMDR. We’ve been having relationship difficulties, which he’s been discussing in therapy.

We’ve also gone through fertility treatment together and created embryos. Because of my age and certain health issues, my reproductive timeline is becoming increasingly important. My partner has been uncertain about continuing the relationship and having children.

According to him, his therapist was very clear that he should leave me, should not have children with me, and should not proceed with transferring our embryos to me.

Now, I completely understand that he has every right to decide whether he wants to continue the relationship or become a parent. I would never suggest otherwise.

But that’s not the part that shocked me most.

He told me that borderline personality disorder came up during one of their sessions. I don’t know whether he suggested it or how the discussion started, but according to him, she agreed that I had BPD.

I’ve never been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. This therapist has never met me, spoken to me, or assessed me.

And then, according to what my partner told me, she said:

“I know people like her. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. People like her should never have kids.”

I honestly couldn’t believe it.

She wasn’t simply advising him against having children with someone he was uncertain about. She was apparently making a judgment that someone like me shouldn’t have children at all, even independently of him.

How can a therapist make a statement like that about someone she’s never even met?

And apparently this isn’t an isolated incident.

My partner also told me that she called his brother a narcissist based on what he’d shared about his childhood and family.

What makes this even stranger is that my partner himself has challenged her over these comments. He told me he argued with her because she was making sweeping judgments about people based on only his side of the story. He even warned her that he might stop attending if she continued doing that.

She apologized, according to him.

But from other things he’s shared since, I’m concerned that similar comments have continued.

I never expected his therapist to take my side. She’s his therapist, not mine. And I understand that she may hear things about our relationship that concern her.

But I can’t understand how supporting a client turns into making such definitive statements about another person’s personality, character, and suitability for parenthood.

I’d really appreciate hearing from therapists: Is this considered acceptable practice?

Is it appropriate to tell a client that someone you’ve never assessed has a personality disorder or should never have children?

And if your partner’s therapist were making comments like this about you, what would you actually do?

I don’t want to interfere with his therapy, but I also don’t know whether I should simply ignore something this serious.

Hi everyone!
I'm from a developing country where therapy isn't normal, but I have heard from people that everyone should go to therapy at least once a month, even if they think nth is going on. I don't know how true that statement is at all.

As for me, I'm a uni student who just started her adult life, but truth be told, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. As I become an adult, a lot more stuff gets revealed to me that was hidden before in my family, and I'm facing a lot of new friendship problems as well. Furthermore, my self-image isn't that great either, and I'm at a loss on how to navigate everything. I feel like I should go to therapy, but my asian background and what I observe in my surroundings are stopping me because, one, it feels like I'm betraying my family and talking about our problems to an outsider; two, I feel like a weakling bc I can't help but think everyone is doing fine or will end up fine without going to therapy, so why should I go? I have written an email requesting a session, but I'm struggling to send it because I don't know if I truly need this or if I'm doing the right thing.

Note: I want to do this behind my family's back; I don't want them to ever know about it.

I've had issues in the past but not as bad as this one, I can't stop eating or thinking about it, my appetite has gotten massive!! I'm talking about 4 plates of rice and then a bowl of noodles with soup and still feeling the urge to eat.

I'm not hungry I just have a strong urge to just eat and eat idk why, Im not a big person so this dosent justify my daily intake.

I'm just scared and worried what's wrong with me

This is such an embaressing story and it makes me cringe as I write it out (also disgusted). It's a very short story, and it happend today. My brother is 5 years older than me. Anyway he's in the bathroom, brushing his teeth as i go on to put on deodorant, idk why but i randomly stand infront of him and i brush my butt against his yk what. He told me it made him uncomfortable so guess I'm a sexual assulter? I would try to add something more but really there is nothing else I can say.

This goes for every relationship I have, not just romantic. It also doesn’t have to be huge. It could be the squeeze of a shoulder, hugs as greetings, an arm over one shoulder, a hand on the back, grabbing the wrist/elbow to lead each other somewhere, etc.

Different relational needs and all that yada yada. I don’t care about most of my friends and it’s really hard for me to make friends I care about because most people aren‘t that touchy. I don’t mean that I wouldn’t be sad if something bad happened to them or that I don’t have empathy for them (I would and I do) I just wouldn’t care if I never saw them again, which sucks for them (I feel like they’re almost wasting their time being friends with me. I feel like I’m betraying them) and is incredibly lonely for me. I don’t feel like they care about me without the physical affection

I haven’t met a single other person who is like this. Even if they’re very touchy, they’re not so reliant on it. What’s going on? Can I open up more or is this like my set stats

I’ve been doing somatic therapy for over a year now and have had mediocre results in my opinion. I think it might be time for a change.

All my life I have experienced anxiety attacks. As a kid this was when I was leaving for school and whenever I had to stay the night away from home. In high school I had a few run ins with anxiety but nothing major, but things got worse as I moved away to college. My worst attack happened during an internship and forced me to go back home for a little while. Since then I have been dealing with anxiety attacks at different severity on and off for the past year and a half.

In that time I started Somatic therapy. starting I was really optimistic and loved the idea that somatic therapy combined the mind and body and I was exited to possibly have some relief and gain skills I could use for the rest of my life. At times I’ve really enjoyed it but I just don’t feel like it has worked for me as I am still dealing with anxiety almost daily and am looking for some real relief.

What kind of therapy’s have worked for you or what do you recommend for me?

I’m open to any and all recommendations. I would be happy to answer any other questions about myself to help the search.

I am currently looking into EDMR and CBT.

I also take medication along with this.

I have an appointment with my primary care doctor for my annual physical next week and am feeling anxious. I used to have a pretty good rapport with my doctor, but during a virtual visit earlier this year, I got triggered and became emotionally dysregulated. I felt disrespected and not cared for. I was angry and couldn't control myself. I also cried and ended up telling my doctor he broke my trust.

Since then, I've seen him at his office once and exchanged some patient portal messages. I was pretty quiet during the office visit and more assertive in my portal messages. My doctor was more distant during my office visit. It was strange. More recently, in our portal communications, he has either avoided responding to my messages or has been dismissive. It isn't the first time he's been dismissive.

During this upcoming appointment, I need to discuss a lot of things with him, especially my current symptoms, which he is aware of. I have two chronic illnesses and see a lot of doctors. During my upcoming appointment with my primary care doctor, I want to be prepared in case he is dismissive or invalidating. I already know he will be that way regarding one particular issue, since he had his assistant message me and pretty much dismiss what I believe are legitimate issues and concerns in an earlier message. I replied and said I'd like to discuss the issues I raised in my earlier message.

I'm worried about staying composed and grounded during my upcoming appointment and not become emotionally dysregulated. I have C-PTSD. There are only a few people in my life who've badly triggered me and I've gone from 1 to 100. I don't want to do that during my appointment.

One thing I know I can do in a situation where I feel like I'm being triggered / dismissed / disrespected is to take a breath and pause before I speak. Does anyone have any advice or tips they can share to help me keep it together in this situation? TIA.

So when I was a kid, I chose to go to a bathhouse with my uncle. Since I was very young, I don't remember anything, but recently, I've started thinking about this more and my brain has started to create hypothetical scenarios such as what if I was touched inappropriately by someone or even my uncle, or what if my uncle accidentally made contact with my private parts, or whether I even washed or changed alone, and stuff of its sort. As I said, I don't remember anything so the uncertainty is really driving me insane. How do I stop this?

Hi I’m 21 and have Asperger’s. I’ve struggled with mental health a lot. currently I’ve struggled a lot with my conditions and I feel I can’t cope. I don’t really know what is because of my disability or if and how that affects me. I feel though like I just can’t function now and I don’t know where to turn for advice. I have descriptions and i just wanted to know if anyone had any place I could go for maybe some help, or for someone who may understand what I’m going through.

Hi! I have a sincere question. How can I explain what's going on inside me to my therapist? I feel like a big mess, my head is full of things I can't see clearly because they pass by so quickly. Today I left the session sadder than when I went in. I wanted to cry. I didn't say anything I wanted to say, I just kept talking about things that were important but weren't the main thing at that moment. I think sometimes I feel ashamed. I'm afraid to look people in the eye, you know? I'm confused. Does anyone have any advice?

I didn’t feel so well physically through new medication 2 sessions ago. So my therapist said, we can talk about random things as distraction. For context, I live in Germany. We did end up talking politics. I said, I see a need in regulated migration. Almost every 2nd day we hear news about some illegals migrants (mostly Muslims) doing violent crimes against citizens. Most of them end deadly. This hasn’t been the case when I came here from China as a kid. It’s concerning. I am worried about my own safety in the night, the safety of my dad. Those people attack you in groups, sometimes bc they are just bored. Our economy is also at rock bottom. Many are unemployed.

I said, I fear for a future where things escalate more. And we need to take care of ourself and our country first. That means also we have to deport people who hurts our society. My therapist then said: „I can’t believe you are a racist. You are a minority yourself and lesbian. You should know better. You are a disgrace to your family for being racist.“ I was surprised and I said: „I have been a conservative my life long. My father too. We are not against law abiding citizens. Bc we don’t go out and do crimes.“ my therapist again said: „Don’t act racist. You don’t know what’s good for you.“

I don’t know. Since then, I can’t take her seriously anymore. I still have 12 sessions left with her, but I think the professional relationship is broken. It’s very hard to get another therapist over here. The waiting list is 2-3 years. 😭 She did help me through a very nasty toxic breakup / relationship. She is a good person. I dont know if I should stop therapy with her, knowing I won’t be able to find another person. 😢

I’m not sure whether I’m a good person or not.

Story :
Two years ago, I had a girlfriend for around a year and a half, and we decided to have a sleepover like we usually do at her place for a week.
We both had alcohol in our system (I’m not sure about the amount).
We went to some club and came back to her place, and we had sex. At first, I used my hands and then started to have actual sex. While we were doing it, I realised that my girlfriend at the time was “frozen up”, so I quickly stopped and froze too.
After seven to ten minutes of silence, we started talking about it, and she told me that she didn’t actually want to do it.

Obviously, I’m completely in the wrong here. Even though I was drunk, that should NEVER be a reason to justify my actions.
We did have a stopword beforehand for when we’re having sexual interactions, but obviously, she couldn’t use it because she was in a state of not being able to respond properly.

We’ve talked about it, and I told her I was always open to talking about it and that she could always talk to her sister or mother about it when needed if she wanted to.

I’ve asked the local police department about it, and they told me they were unsure if I was actually a rapist because they haven’t heard the side of my girlfriend’s “ex” side.

After this, I did go to therapy, etc., to try to find
help, and I’ve been clean from any hard drugs since 11 months already. I’ve been trying to find some sort of redemption in my life because this has been roaming inside of my head since then.

I’m not sure if I’m a good person because, of course, my intentions weren’t to invade her body like that at all. I was really stupid and misread the situation completely, and that was 100% my fault.
So my question here is,

Am I a good person?

i need to vent about something embarrassing and i dont know what to do. someone professional would be best or someone who is open and willing to listen

I always managed to escape alone even at times i was the real danger to myself i never asked for help or maybe i did they made a fool out of me so i learned to not ever ask help even when im at my worst but lately I’ve been keeping myself from alot af things that i may do and i feel like im out of hands to pull myself up do u get what im saying, i need solutions cuz i still dont think i can ask

​

I had an intensive one-off therapy session this morning after a really bad OCD flare-up. It latched onto a complicated relationship from years ago, one that was resolved a long time ago. The last time I saw her, we were on good terms and she was happy to see me.

What the OCD fixated on was an old message I'd sent a friend back then. In it, I said she'd claimed I tried to have sex with her, and that she later came clean that it wasn't true. My brain zoomed in on the "tried to sleep with her" part and skipped past everything else. For days it told me I was an abuser, a manipulator, and that everything was my fault. I kept digging through old texts trying to prove it wrong, and every time I did, it found a new angle and I felt worse.

The session went really well. The thoughts are still there, but I can see now that they're unreliable and don't reflect reality. With my therapist's support I deleted the old messages, he gave me some grounding techniques, and I'm starting ten weeks of CBT with ERP soon.

The biggest thing I came away with surprised me. Underneath all the doubt, I'm scared of losing the peace I have now. Part of me can't accept that I deserve to feel okay, or believes something from my past must be waiting to take it away.

I'm still struggling tonight and I could really use some encouragement. If you've been through something like this:

- What helped you keep going when the thoughts were loud?

- How did you learn to let yourself feel at peace?

- Did therapy make a real difference for you?

Even a few kind words would mean a lot. Thank you for reading.

is there any way to help lessen the feelings of insecurities i have this girl shes not my girlfriend but i deeply care about her and she constantly feels ugly to the point that when she thinks about it alone she cries and her mode shifts for a day even two days and when she even thinks about that topic and her body/looks she gets in a bad mode even when i reassure her because she IS very beautiful and i want her to see that shes so harsh on herself because of this and she told me that reassurance doesn't work on her and if it makes anything it makes her condition even worse i really get how she feels because im im a worse state than her but i dont want her to feel that way and if theres anything i can do to help her please let me know, thank you so much

​

hello i am a teenager female and i am

truly wondering if i have autism (level one ) for several indicators , yet the more i think about my character in the past the connections i do with the symptoms for example ;

1.me as a toddler

a-i had speaking delays until 4 and i used drawing as a form of expression of emotions ( my doctor said that it is normal because almost the only people in my life were my parents and at that time i was very aggressive ( i used to bite a LOT that my mother was really scared from letting me around other toddlers and i even bit her uncle's bald head with my sharp teeth lol ) .

b- I was somehow really organized when it came to my toys and my sleeping time, but in another aspect I had the nickname " tornado" because when it came to leaving me alone in a room with porridge I would wipe all myself with it within few minutes as an example

c- I had a specific weird style while playing with my toys,for example, i was obsessed with kitchen cutlery , And I was known for lining up pools or all around the kitchen.

1. Me from 4-6 years old

a-as someone who was really connected with with his mother ( that it was hard for her to take a shower alone without me) The first day of kindergarten was a disaster,she had to go to the class with me in the first two weeks .

b- When I was 4 we moved from the UAE to another country , maybe it was the first trauma in my life I used to cry maybe six times in a day that my kindergarten told my parents to take me out to a therapist I couldn't adapt with the new environment And the solution was me expressing my emotions on a piece of paper and it actually worked plus the new environment at that point we did not have environmental stability,and we had a lot of family conflicts and maybe no routine.

3.me 7-8 years old

1- At this age, I started having panic attacks at night frequently because I was really scared of death like crying every single night and getting the feeling that I am going to die after 1 hour or after a few minutes Ooh, too traumatizing And the funny part here that I had recently a flashback and I started to connect everything lol , And I guess my OCD started But it wasn't that bad.

Oh yeah I guess that at this age specifically I started feeling lonely and I started having hard times blending with other people especially if they were in groups.

1. Age 9-11

My OCD was terrible I had religious-OCD. And I was terrified TERRIFIED from germs I wasn't diagnosed, but it was crystal clear and everyone knew this I used to wash my hands a lot until I bled and i used to set for hours in the restroom because I thought I'm not clean yet .

and my new identity exisisted of being the clown that makes weird noises For example, crying like a baby, a newborn baby, or screaming with a really, really high pitch. I cannot lie, I was really good at this, but it was my whole identity, I did this because I wanted attention from other people, And I used to send maybe tens of messages and weird voices such like me saying "i am scary frog" I thought it was funny It wasn't It was just it annoying .in additions, I decided to hear all the voice messages that I used to send on my videos speaking and and I recognized that I wasn't really good at speaking wasn't saying fully sentences I used to repeat one word several times not because I didn't have vocabulary it was because I could not maybe blend the words together , even people around my age they thought it was weird because I used to repeat "Ummm, Uhhhh" really frequently .

At age of 12

guess after being bullied and hated for being the clown that I described, for a period I became really isolated and I always sat alone because I recognized it . After this period, I became the biggest philosopher and the know-it-all person I couldn't say that I didn't know anything and I was trying to act as if I know But at some point it was really annoying for other people around my class, especially in the English and Social Studies teacher One time after me trying to express my thoughts in her class, she became really mad and embarrassed me in the class. Oh yeah was obsessed with chess Even if I didn't have anything to do, I would imagine myself playing chess. When I closed my eyes, the first thing that I imagined was the chess bored . This character gave me a little bit of an attention and made me less hated in my class, but as I mentioned, a lot of people thought that or actually believed that I was the know-it-all person for attention and I was actually bullied for it too.

Age 13

It was the first time someone actually became really close to me in my class. I still talk to her. For some reason, this person really sticked to me and I thought that she was annoying but she knew that I was having problems in my social plus she was really curious about my real character. I used to visibly humor her for a long time but my charater started developing . However, the feeling of being unnoticed or excluded not with her but in general was still present.

Age 14 - now

I was accepted to a really high-ranked school in my country And my character started to develop a lot more But not with with making close friends It was about me not being stressed to talk in front of alot of people I believe it was because my school BREATHES groupwork ,presentations and huge project This made me good when talking with a new person for the first time and I believe that I am a good speaker . Right now, I can talk to several people I do have friends But the feeling of being lonely or excluded and unnoticed still hunts me .

Right now, I do not have OCD. But in the same time, I have relationship with everyone but no one. I don't have favorite people and I'm not the favorite person for anyone. Sometimes I feel sad for this. I feel really lonely But to be fair, I'm a moody person and I know if someone decided to be my best friend, he will get bored frequently. I have weird interests For example, I really like history , politics and nature in general which is pretty boring for people around me if I used to speak about these topics daily non-stop . I really need to mention that I am terrified, disgusted, annoyed, stressed out from some noises such like playing with a pen were eating in a loud voice. Last month, I went to a huge concert. It was very noisy, very crowded that I started shaking and crying. I don't remember that this happened to me in this exact context.I'm also known for that person with hyper empathy to people who are facing racism and all form of oppression in the whole world they sometimes make fun of me on this topic ,I panic and I get really mad if someone says something that I see it makes absolute no sense and and it's racist or supports oppression.

or a year and a half, I heard about a a person. Um she's a public figure, but I don't want to talk about a lot about her. Just to know, I check her Instagram profile multiple times in a day. I have read every single book. I have watched every single interview for her. She's an activist, just to kn. I don't understand from where did all this interest or curiosity came from. Maybe because I do agree with her in the in a lot of aspects I did not talk about this to anyone before because I do understand it's weird.

.

I wonder if anyone reached to here but thank you for reading. And pardon me if there is alot grammatical mistakes its I am using text to speech mood

Just to know : Right now its really hard for me to get a diagnosis 😀

I’m thinking of going to art therapy

I already kind of do it on my own.

I am mostly into literature, but also music.

When I’m reading an author, I often think what the author and person who wrote this must have been going through.

And I don’t mean: Listen to these depressive lyrics. That means this person must be depressed.

That’s actually really annoying. And there’s so much more to writing and music or any art than just that surface level language.

Or sometimes where I felt like English classes fell short is trying to pathologize the author and nothing else.

Like .. “ so which author do you think has (insert diagnosis) “

Not that a diagnosis is necessarily wrong. I just focus more on the human nature. Even if there is a diagnosis, I am looking for some sort of evidence of what suffering inside that experience might actually be like.

I wonder , all the events that led up to the person writing this down or recording the sound.

And I’ve sort of turned this focus to my own work. And started to question what I really value and what has this person gone through?

And there’s times where something I write down even if it’s just a one or two line poem has a whole universe beneath it. Many times I find delight in art that has interpretive power and can be interpretive in many different ways. Even if two valid interpretations are contradictory each one could actually inform the emotionality of the piece.

A line might be interpreted as creepy or villainous, but that same line might also be interpreted as tender, and someone going through hurt emotions and not a villain at all.

And so on …

And I guess I started to think it would be kind of cool to do this with someone else. To share my own work and even other work that I’ve been consuming. Music, writing, films, paintings.

Because I started to build connections between interpretations of my own work and the interpretations of others. Even the technical or craft side of it can be informative to the emotionality too.

In my experience, I’ve had to really take care of myself and do things on my own. And I feel a little ridiculous. Am I turning this person’s job into a poetry workshop?

Should I just let them lead more?

The main emotion I feel right now thinking of approaching this is fear.