Posts by brightsailor9

David Nelson74 said:The reason we missed it is because text is inherently two-dimensional; it lacks that >2D depth where tone of voice lives.😁 If I’d said this face-to-face, it would have been obvious I was being sarcastic. I was trying to point out how many people are actually ASHAMED to visit a therapist, choosing to live with a disorder rather than seek help just because they're terrified of what the neighbors might think...

Random question—do you listen to Iggy Pop? Asking because of the username, specifically that "Passenger" track.🙂

exactly. everything has its pros and cons. the downside of forum threads is the lack of non-verbal cues, so words can be misinterpreted in ten different ways. as long as there's mutual goodwill, things get cleared up. (and I write my posts honestly because that matters to ME, you know?)
as for the username, you know how an OCD brain works 😁.. obsessing for hours, overthinking, complicating everything... until one moment I just stopped and picked the first thing that popped into my head😁. 'I know there's a song like that by someone, but I have no clue who.' If I had to pick a label, I'd say I'm a rocker, but honestly, I couldn't care less about cliques or labels. I haven't even played a CD in probably 15 years. mostly just watching TV or surfing the web...
thanks again for being willing to settle this dispute. it's always easier to just argue and tell everyone to go to hell. I'll try to be more precise next time, or maybe use more emojis🙄 😁😁 bye David Nelson74
if there are any changes regarding seeing a psychiatrist, I'll let you know. right now I'm thinking about going through social services to get to the VA, but the thought of having it on my medical record with my primary doctor sucks... we'll see. I'm torn between $233 for the convenience, and the shame of asking for a referral to a specialist. it'll take time..😂 😁

David Nelson74 said:A Brit? Now you're acting like you grew up in a fancy suburb of Chicago where everyone knows everyone and can read you like a book. 😲 But seriously, what's the actual fallout if someone finds out? It would be a disaster; people would make it their entire personality to gossip about how you're seeing a psychiatrist for some relatively common, mid-level disorder. 😂 Actually, wait—maybe that’s the play. You mention being British so they think you're from some upscale neighborhood, when in reality, you're just making it up or trying to sound more sophisticated than you actually are. 😂
🙂

We totally missed the point. My bad. That post was meant to be self-deprecating, aimed solely at myself. I see now how it came across as ambiguous. Sorry. It was an honest, perhaps overly blunt, mockery of my own logic. I was just in a certain headspace, coming from a rougher part of the city... read through my previous posts again with this new context and tell me what you think. Please... :-(
Hey, boktevidel, there's no need to come after me. I can see you're just trying to help everyone out where you can. Cheers...

Dammit, how do you not get it? I’m trying to frame a trip to the psychologist as some kind of self-guided meditation session. "I wasn't seeing a shrink, I was just doing mindfulness"... see what I'm doing here?
I'm heading out in September. God... 😁😉
(The whole thing was about managing the mood on that British guy, honestly 😁)

Right, we didn't settle on the autogenic training sessions. My doctor says she won't put me in this current group yet—wants to do solo sessions starting in September instead... maybe she'll adjust my prescription then.
For now, I'm just sticking to omega-3s and lecithin. I'm doing okay; actually, quite well...😁🤣

So, I was talking to my aunt about trying out some guided meditation sessions. Told her over the phone that I struggle with confidence, have some mild OCD tendencies, and am pretty much a total introvert... just wondering if I’d be a mess during the training. Long story short, she offered to sit down for an hour to talk through my concerns since I was being so hesitant...
Anyway, by the time I actually showed up for the consultation, I was a nervous wreck. Thinking they'd see right through me, feeling like my whole world might collapse or something... pathetic. I buzzed the intercom, heard that loud *bzzzz*, walked into the building, headed up the stairs, found the door wide open, knocked, and stepped inside...
"Good afternoon, I'm just here for the appointment," I said, and she invited me to take a seat. There we were, sitting diagonally from each other in opposite corners of the room. I asked if she had a tissue because I needed to dry my hands—it was pouring rain outside. She just pointed and said there was a box on the table right next to me. I look at the box, then at the psychiatrist, then back at this square tissue box... and I just lost it. Started laughing uncontrollably. She tried to keep a straight face, but even she started cracking up... 😂 God, man...
To wrap it up, it was actually a decent experience. My ego took a bit of a hit twice, but honestly? It was surprisingly relaxing. The biggest win for me was finally breaking through that initial wall of fear...

Quick update: I went through with it today... paid for an hour, and somehow I'm still breathing... actually a pretty decent experience... honestly thought I'd be fighting for my life in there... 😂

David Nelson74 said:Why on earth would you need to go that often? You could easily dial it back. Honestly, twice a month is plenty, as long as you actually get the ball rolling. It’s all about making steady, incremental progress rather than rushing into nothing. 🙂

But tell me... how do you deal with the reality of seeing a therapist? That’s what really gets to me. It might sound trivial to some, but for people like me—anxious, insecure—a past filled with social blunders makes everything harder. Sometimes it feels like I'm "forbidden" from being myself because I'll just spiral into a depression if you catch my drift... and now I just have one more thing to hide from everyone. That’s the real barrier to therapy for me. You can't say certain things in public because not everyone has good intentions. In my case, I feel like I'd be branded as unstable or unreliable before I knew it... as if that isn't already the status quo. I know I probably sound foolish, but I genuinely want to hear about your experiences. Do you talk about seeing a therapist? To what extent? And how did people react... please... (and I doubt I'm the only one feeling this way 🙂 ..)

Thanks, I'll start on the Lecithin tomorrow..

Exactly. Hard to see how it could hurt... (though, what exactly is Lecithin?)

Yeah, I’m avoiding the public healthcare system... I have zero desire to be just another number in their files. Then again, I can't afford to keep paying out of pocket for private clinics indefinitely, which is the real catch..(2x a week at $67 + 4 weeks a month =$533) for a single month—fine, but who knows how long this could drag on..
I was wondering, has anyone here experimented with Omega-3? I've read it's proven to help with depression and other health benefits... I've been taking it for a while now at the recommended dose, and my memory has sharpened, I feel better, more stable, etc. To be honest, I wasn't even clinically depressed before, just constantly feeling "down" and anxious. I also cut back on red meat by maybe 90%—we all know how much that stuff messes with your body and, consequently, your spirit. Switched to whole foods instead.. who knows, maybe it helps someone else..🙂

Rebecca Roberts2 said:Man, if only I could run into that brilliant guy 😁
😉

🙂 (Man, just shut up. I’d go back to the club if I knew how, but I drifted away... * you know, Aikido teaches you how to deal 🙂 with life rather than 🙂 fighting against it...*)

Rebecca Roberts2 said:That’s solid advice, unless someone (like me) deals with OCD and gets hit by that sudden, overwhelming panic over dirt or bacteria... 😢

I know one person who holds the answer to your problem... she's thought about it enough to have the solution ready... she just needs to take action... you know that management cliché, "once you tackle the big issues, the rest just evaporates..."

Amanda Walker said:🙂 Honestly, my job has been completely wrecking me for years now. The demands are insane, deadlines are always impossible... before I even touch a single contract, I already know I'm going to be late on it. It’s cost me so much sleep, I've basically lost track of day and night because of it...

But look, I can't just walk away from this job, and at this rate, it doesn't look like I can keep doing it for much longer either. 🤷

Look, don't go romanticizing things. I switched careers, but you know the drill—less stress usually means a smaller paycheck. Fortunately, I can afford it right now since I don't have kids yet... As for dogs, I highly recommend them. If you're living in an apartment, try a Shih Tzu😍—they're small, they don't bark, and trust me, the emotional payoff is worth a thousand times more than the hassle of walks and cleaning. I mean it...
And aikido... one of my biggest regrets from last year was quitting. I thought the price wasn't worth it, figured there wasn't much "real world" application, but it's only just hitting me how much it actually helped... It isn't about fighting. Aikido is half ethics and morality, half self-defense. You aren't learning to hit people; you're learning to cooperate... how to turn a potential conflict into a creative interaction that satisfies everyone involved. That’s exactly what I needed in life... (Check out 'The Inner Journey of a Stranger' by Kenjiro Yoshigasaki—I realized most of my life problems stem from poorly adopted concepts... such complicated yet soothing reading!) Anyway, there's no magic cure, but since I've never really been "normal" (if such a thing even exists?), I'll just focus on myself and try to relax and help where I can. Let everyone else break their heads over high politics and nonsense... 🙂

Not trying to derail the thread, but really aikido helped me... seeing things from a different angle (your ego is your worst enemy...) helped me let go of the bitterness and negativity. I don't even care about the political shouting matches or scandals anymore... there's a certain quiet, Eastern wisdom to it. On top of that, I quit my old job, started lifting weights, and so on. Eventually, I realized my biggest enemy was just stress, and you have to guard against that. Just minding my own business now... feels better. Of course, I know I'll need professional help to fully "recover," but I'm doing alright for now. When the time comes, I'll go

Amanda Walker said:You’re basically manufacturing problems out of thin air, spinning these dark, twisted scenarios in your head that don't even exist yet—even if they *could* happen.
So every single one of these little mental movies ends in a total meltdown or pure panic, all because of something that hasn't actually happened. Like, seriously?
It’s just a constant loop of new nightmares, or you’re just obsessing over the same damn thing over and over with tiny little tweaks.
It even starts bleeding into your dreams... which means you can't even catch a break or relax without feeling totally on edge.
Or maybe you're stuck replaying some old drama from the past, adding all these "what if" layers and wondering how everyone else saw it... and you just can't shut it off.

Eventually, you end up being pathologically worried about every little thing in the world 🙂 and everything looks bleak. It’s honestly exhausting! 😲

🙈 Damn, I didn't realize that fell under the FBI's jurisdiction... I went through that 5 or 6 years ago, had a horrific job, constant stress...

There’s this health section on the CNN website called "Your Questions!?"... take a look at the Q&A there. You can even submit your own inquiry. I tried it once, and instead of posting it publicly, they just sent a direct response to my inbox...

@Paul King8, PPD is a personality disorder... there's a thread somewhere near this one. Most of the test links are in English, though... might help clear things up if you check them out.👍

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ''others are merely our mirrors''

"Also, apparently hypericin-based supplements can cause hair loss..." 🙂 Beautiful. Just my luck with the banana diet too. From what I've gathered, OCD falls under personality disorders. I've been running a bunch of online tests for PD and I'm mostly "failing" them... For the most part, I hit about 90% of the symptoms for obsessive-compulsive and avoidance behaviors. Has anyone else here taken similar tests? What were your results like? As for the OCD itself, I’m actually back to how I was when I was ten... like, I used to have to flip the light switch off-on-off three times just for good luck. Eventually, that turned into doing it nine times. Then there were all those superstitious rituals, washing my face three times, just spending the whole day acting like a robot performing mindless math equations... 😵🙈

Hi, I'm v**** and I deal with OCD... Just joined the group. My mind feels like it's bursting at the seams from all these ghosts of the past and present... I'm on the verge of seeing a psychiatrist because I can barely function in society, but I wanted to see if anyone here has experience with Aktivin H. Does it actually help with OCD? Might try that before I finally give in and see a doctor... any advice?🙄