Alone and lost

[cnassar]

Living in a community where mental health is a shame and an unmentioned topic.. it is hard to face the dark alone.. trying to explain certain conditions and incidents you are going through to loved ones and being misunderstood or having them demeaning your feelings is painful..

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome! It sure is painful, so I'm sorry you're experiencing that.

[bonkers65]

Unless they have experienced it they don't understand it.

[matgrg in reply to bonkers65]

That's why it is comforting to talk to other folks who feel the same way you do. I can definitely relate to how you are feeling.

[texasbonnet]

I am very sorry you and your feelings have not been validated. Your feelings are important and vital to you. Most of us have had to live a life hiding those feelings. I know in my situation before I found an environment where it was safe to allow my feeling to be expressed I became a very sad, angry and frightened person.

I hope you have betters days ahead and remember we all care about you.

[Otaku12]

Welcome! Sorry that you don't have much support in your life right now, but this community is a great place to meet others dealing with the same things as your are. We're here to give you the support you don't currently have so share your feelings, thoughts, and worries to your heart's content.

Even if others don't understand your feelings, that is no reason for them to demean you. Your feelings are valid and you should be allowed to express them without being judged. I hope you are able to find some comfort in this community and that you start to feel better by interacting with others that are in similar situations.

Feel free to message me anytime.

[ge99]

Hi

Finding someone to talk to who understands you, is the hardest thing to do but you have to keep searching.

The thing to remember is that not everyone is like you, and others will be finding it hard to listen to how you are feeling, because they will have their own problems too.

You are a unique person with your own worries and if you need help from others, then you need to find the uniqueness in them, and the best way to do this is to listen.

The next time you feel that you need to talk about your feelings, ask the other person how they are feeling and then listen, really listen...and then perhaps later they will listen to you.

It’s true that you always have to give to receive.

[Hidden]

Cnassar, I really understand this since I have been going through this for quite a long time in my community. It's very frustrating and disheartening, since most of these people here are very ignorant, and discount everything you say and gossip about you. I have lived here for 10 years, and people still think I am stupid and crazy. That is why I am moving, and wherever I go, I will not tell anyone that I have depression or that I did horrible in school, because of my ADHD, and depression. I finally told a few of them that my IQ was 116, so I'm no dummy. I have been discounted and harassed for years. NAMI tells you to take the pledge and tell people and explain it all to them, but they don't get harrassed for that. I think depression will always be a stigma, because people are too lazy to read about it or care about it, but they can brag to other people about their lives. These people don't want to know about it. It's like anything else I found, that if it doesn't happen to them, then it just doesn't exist. Everybody protests about everything else in this world. Well, I think a bunch of us needs to get a group together to protest the stigma of mental illness.

They do it for color, religion, gender, cancer, heart, physical disabilities and everything else.