Do you suffer from a mental illness? E.g. depression, PTSD, anxiety, bipolar, etc.
OCD, Social Anxiety, and Major Depression. And for financial reasons haven't been on medicines either, I wonder if I'll be able to finish this semester...
Comment has been collapsed.
Never give up, always keep fighting and you will feel better day by day. I know that you heard it a ton of times but i can assure you it works in the end.
Comment has been collapsed.
Would it be weird if I said I have almost never heard it? I had known/noticed myself to be OCD pretty much because it was getting really heavier to do my daily tasks at hand for 2 years progressively, which my family ignored thinking it'd "self-cure somehow", and I had to as well due to finance.
And for social anxiety around 5 years, which I was able to mostly ignore because I had (no longer) some friends around that I was comfortable talking to still that I thought new approaches weren't necessary as things are, I would probably only put myself in an awkward situation and make things worse than neutral.
With both finance and unable to interact with people pushing I have actually started to logically plot ways to kill myself because I didn't see any benefit in the passing of time, which then my family considered it was getting serious, and I was diagnosed for all three. Fast forward half a year with medicines only because I couldn't afford psychiatric sessions, I still calmed down a bit, got better, but for the past couple of months without medicine I'm again getting worse, and literally no one around now to console me (handful of friends I had are no longer).
Comment has been collapsed.
First of all on our days its really hard to find trustworthy friends that wont let you down when you need them so dont be dissapointed that you lost contact with your old friends. In my case i knew a lot of people and i was enjoying their company until i somehow i started realising that even if something happens to me nobody will get out of his/her comfort zone to help me. So i dropped all of them completely and i just have my girlfriend and my family to support me, its much better that way. When i moved to a new city i met one or two guys who seemed nice and we are still hanging out from time to time but thats about it. I found out that when i spend time for me it feels so much better. I work out at my home daily, i study economics and i play games on my free time at home.
My main problem is that i have really severe headaches that are killing my head and my whole day is pretty much over as i cant do anything while it hurts. The only way for those headaches is to pass to sleep until the next day. I have visited a ton of doctors and none of them can find out what is wrong with my neck (thats where the pain starts). Seriously life is a nightmare when your own head is killing you but giving up isnt an option. I thought about it a lot and its not worth it as you will hurt your family more than yourself. Dont ever think about it again, just keep going and going and going until you end up looking back and feeling really proud of the life that you have achieved.
Sometimes the problems that we face seems so huge and improssible to beat them but there is always a way. Split your problem on small other problems. For example check out if you can take more of those medicines, if doctors dont allow you try to find some part time jobs and start collecting as much as you can in order to afford those sessions, after a lot of hard work you will be able to and i am sure about it. Also try to find activities that will let you get away from your problems for an hour or two. You can even meet new people with those activities. Life is full of surprises and no matter how many times you have been beaten to the death you will always find a way to smile if you keep going forward.
TLDR Keep going, seriously there are always ways to solve our problems no matter what and life is so colorful and bright if you open your eyes enough to see it.
Comment has been collapsed.
I actually tried to find a full time job even, quitting school for a whole semester. Because the problem is to find the money to fix back my mental health so I can go back to function again. Everywhere I go, people ask for either past related experience (to work at general stores?!) or a degree (to work in my area of expertise, web development), so it was no luck. I started to build a portfolio slowly so I can at least show something for the latter, but eventually I can no longer afford any other free time besides summer holiday due to governmental military duty coming due (due to depression, I have had to quit 3 other colleges, so aged 25 right now...)
Funny enough, "giving up is not an option", I told this to my friend many times but he still decided to end it, by gas poisoning. I knew him online so I didn't know where he lived or anything besides his cell number and full name. After him going AFK for half an hour within my failure to talk him out of suicide on Discord(My country doesn't have suicide hotlines...), I called the police on him, they found his address by the last phone signal and they successfully prevented it.
Would I be sad if I lost him? Yeah, so would probably my family if I did it too, at least. But at the moment I start to again see myself as a weigh down on my family, because only my mom works right now, and I can't find work college on either, so it's really stressing to even start to assess the problem. But still, thank you for the encouragement!
Comment has been collapsed.
But at the moment I start to again see myself as a weigh down on my family
I totally understand you feeling that way, but I'm sure your family doesn't feel that way. When things are going poorly we tend to view things in an even more negative light, but things are never as bad as they seem when things are going poorly.
Comment has been collapsed.
I completely agree as i was feeling the same way for a few months when things werent going forward at all but when i finally fixed some of my problems i could finally see that neither money or assets count for our families as much as we do.
By the way did you try to check online for any kind of part time jobs or at any small store at your city that doesnt need some kind of speciality? There are always people that hire others without asking for any speciality even at my country.
Comment has been collapsed.
From the time before I can remember (even due to my parents' divorce), money has been our core issue, and split our whole families apart...
As for online jobs, I'm checking into them right now. For small stores, they still ask me if I have an experience in the past which I don't.
Comment has been collapsed.
My mom (who's the only worker right now) loses it time to time, telling me to go find work, and I'm being useless, so that doesn't really help. What's hurting on that point is I actually do want to work as well, as I don't like this situation but no luck. Now gonna try out online works...
Comment has been collapsed.
It could just be Mom being Mom and mothering you. Even when I had a good job and was living on my own, my mom was still constantly on my case about studying for this test, getting that certification, etc. I think it's just what some moms do. I'm not sure if you're Asian, but that goes double for Asian mothers.
It's great that you want to work, hold onto that. Finding a job is tough, and you kind of have to get lucky, but you have to keep trying. Think of it like SG - you may not win any given giveaway, even if the odds are in your favour, but you have to keep trying and eventually you will.
Comment has been collapsed.
Not an Asian (at least East Asian), but my mom has always been like, ..., one. As a role model/successful student in my life pre-depression, whenever I got a mark like 97, she would instantly go and ask what I did wrong, where did that 3 points go?! I could have done better if I studied more!
Thank you for the encouragement!
Comment has been collapsed.
I, too, suffer from OCD, Depression, etc. I have overcome it, for the most part. It never goes away, but you can learn to deal with it the say "normal" people do and thereby have a "normal" life. Many of us in that situation have contributed to our long-running thread targeted at Depression.
Comment has been collapsed.
That's sad to hear. I wish I had something to say that would make your troubles go away, but I don't. All I can say is, never give up, always keep fighting.
Comment has been collapsed.
In today's world, you are an outlier if you don't suffer from some sort of mental issue. It's finally becoming less taboo to examine and demystify mental health.
The fact is, even if you aren't clinically diagnosed with a mental issue, chances are likely that you have experienced the symptoms at some point in your life. It's becoming clearer that both the human brain and mind function much differently than previous (read: biased) studies have shown.
Comment has been collapsed.
the difference between a quirk and a disorder is a matter of degrees.
For example, a lot of people are "a little OCD", but if it doesn't interfere with your life, you don't have OCD
Comment has been collapsed.
Right, but there's no need to gatekeep folks with poor mental health. I too, am annoyed with hypochondria such as incorrect OCD diagnoses, but we shouldn't be discouraging people from examining their mental health just because they aren't clinically diagnosed with a specific mental illness.
Hyperbole is nothing new, but the way we are finally approaching mental issues is refreshing. We shouldn't hinder such progress just because some people love to exaggerate.
Comment has been collapsed.
oh, no, you misunderstand. I'm saying a lot of people have issues. How far along the scale from perfectly fine to batshit crazy varies from person to person, and they should absolutely seek help if it's bothering them. Being quirky is fine, but if the quirk interferes with your ability to have a 'normal' life, you should seek help
Comment has been collapsed.
And yet you're still one of the best people on this site.
You couldn't be a shithead if your life depended on it, Pete.
Edit: I stand corrected.
Comment has been collapsed.
I was going to post in the shower thoughts thread that statistically, there have got to be some killers among us.
Comment has been collapsed.
Then why do so many people fail to be decent to each other on the Internet?
Also, that's probably the most creepy thing I've read today. You've basically admitted that your whole SG persona is a sham, designed to make us like you as a decent human being, when this whole time you've been deceiving us while harvesting our personal data, selling it off to telemarketers, and setting fire to puppy orphanages. Say it ain't so, Pete, say it ain't so.
Comment has been collapsed.
Oh, sorry to hear about your shoulder.
What happened? Did you encounter an issue with your latest victim, or have to make a daring escape after setting fire to a children's hospital? ;)
Comment has been collapsed.
stab forward with your arm not the shoulder.
though on your point most people are not the same on the net as they are in irl do to many things but it's not always a bad thing. it's like they say everyone has 3 personalities the one they show in crowds, the one they show to close friends, and the one they show only to them self. maybe the net created a 4th one.
Comment has been collapsed.
That... can't be good. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure your shoulder socket isn't supposed to work that way. Did something happen to cause this?
Also, I now can't help but picture you popping your shoulder back in like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon.
Comment has been collapsed.
Regardless of how you are in person, you are a very nice person on SG, and that is all that matters to us (or at least to me) 😘
Comment has been collapsed.
Not sure of your medical issues but 1stly, get out of the pumpkin you brown nose! :P
Comment has been collapsed.
Oh! so its monthly, yeah I actually prefer your previous pic, the one you 1st use when I 1st chat with you 1-2 months ago. That big animated cat head. :D That pic is lovely and cheerful. Makes me think you're a very merry person to chat with hehehe. Looking forward to next month's picture. OR!!! I'll come get your Pumpkin! hahaha
Happy early Halloween hehehe~
Comment has been collapsed.
As a personal experience note I want to however add that if you start to feel that those self-diagnosed mental illnesses start to get in the way of your life, go and see your doctor as soon as you can, before it all gets eventually worse. There are thin lines before simple stress builds up and turns into chronic depression and becomes major, also with lack of social interaction to result in social anxiety.
Comment has been collapsed.
you should go and see a doctor much sooner than when self-diagnosed illness start messing with your life, because there is nothing to lose. If you self-diagnosed yourself correctly you will get professional help much sooner, if you falsely self-diagnosed yourself you won't have to go through life with burden of your false diagnosis, life will become better anyway when you will learn there's no actual problem. So I'd say noone should wait - the very moment anyone starts to seriopusly consider having a mental disorder they should seek professional help instead of living on wondering whether it's real or not for years.
Comment has been collapsed.
Well, I think of it in this way. I was never clinically diagnosed for depression. However there was a period of time when I feel negative about a lot of things. Thought bout life before and future, death, etc. Will feel so sad and tear at night. Feeling it will be better if I just teared myself tired to sleep all will feel better.
I would say I was hugely negatively influenced by my mother. She is rather pessimistic and negative before. Everything is bad, negative, nothing works the way I wanted to. Nothing is working at all, all decisions are bad.
Thought about the topic of suicide, what would I do if i thought of suiciding. Though, i have not witness 1st hand on suicides, there have been at least 2 cases of suicide close to my area where I would pass by regularly that I remembered about. So i thought jump off the building? Though I have not thought of silting wrist before. I came to a conclusion rather quickly and easily that I hurt those around me more than I would have imagine if I have done anything like so. From then on, I regard myself as an advocate against suicide.
I am not sure if I am depressed. For many years I try not to imply I was depressed. Though now, I believe I was but I am lucky to pull myself out of the pit. Now, I try to give others my thoughts and hopefully to clear things up for them if I could. Spread that positivity and happiness to others, starting from my family. I think its a blessing and a gain for me as I feel mentally I am stronger since I got into any form of mental breakdown. So instead of sustaining a depression and eventually go into a mental breakdown, i refused to fall into it and pulled myself out.
When I was young, I have met quite a few looney(there are better words but this is all I can think of now) near my estate. I kind of know what happens when you go mad. I just didn't wish to lose my mind or lose that hope of living. :)
Best wishes and have a bright day ahead, Cruse~
Comment has been collapsed.
PTSD, depression, anxiety, all working off of each other.
And yes, I am in therapy. And broke...
Comment has been collapsed.
Reminder that everyone has mental health, and it's possible to have a poor mental health but not necessarily have a mental illness.
Comment has been collapsed.
Alcoholism/drug addiction, but I beat that nasty shit over a decade ago and I'll keep winning that fight til the day I die.
Comment has been collapsed.
Depression and anciety, I guess. Not diagnosed, have not taken meds, therapy helped lots and also made me feel a lot worse about myself, though on a reasonable, logical scale, unlike before.
Comment has been collapsed.
Well I've been diagnosed with depression in the past but I haven't seen a therapist in a few (4-ish) years, so I'm starting to feel a bit guilty whenever I use depression as an excuse. Let's be real, if I could use a mental issue as a way to dodge responsabilities I would, and yes I do feel like an asshole for saying this but what's the point in lying about it.
Comment has been collapsed.
These articles are about the US, but it is probably similar around the world.
Depression diagnoses rose 33 percent in America from 2013 to 2016, mostly among adolescents and millennials.
Nearly 45,000 suicides occurred in the United States in 2016 — more than twice the number of homicides — making it the 10th-leading cause of death. Among people ages 15 to 34, suicide is the second-leading cause of death.
Comment has been collapsed.
Severe level anxiety, both generalized and social. Which comes with a whole slew of effects that it has on me. I am pretty much house bound as even the mere THOUGHT of stuff can set it off. And even chatting with close friends and family is a challenge. Therapy did bugger all to help. Not surprising when your therapist's "treatments" involve telling me to 'get over it' and having a go at me and actually blaming me for the lack of progress each week when I hadn't magically been cured next time I saw her. Welcome to the Uk's 'praised' free healthcare system everyone. Still waiting on my gp's next referral decision to help with it.
Moderate level depression, on meds to help with that.
Quite bad insomnia since I was a child, on meds for that but it barely helps.
Zero coordination, clumsiness and shaky hands with no fine motor control in my fingers all since I was born. Currently in the process of having that all slowly looked at for a cause, but emphasis on the slowly part.
And a gradual loss of memory, long term is still pretty damn good but short term is actually on the verge of non-existent. Which is one of the things that is scaring me the most, especially since my gp doesn't even know where to begin to send me for referrals in order to see what is going on.
Oh and my brain in general just seems to be failing. I used to stick my middle finger up at calculators and do complex sums with pen and paper or just in my head in seconds. Bloody damn high achieving student back in school. But now? I struggle with most basic problems. Which is another thing that scares the crap out of me.
Only reason I am on the meds I have is because my father graciously buys them for me. Not far at all to walk to his to pick them up sometimes...but anxiety makes it a fun trip regardless.
Comment has been collapsed.
Diagnosed with recurring depression, but it's been mostly under control for some years now.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes, I think there is some kind of correlation. To put it simply, I think the less content a person is, the more they're going to look for distractions.
Comment has been collapsed.
like others mentioned before - being diagnosed with mental illness is something totally different from saying 'I have mental illness' - I see it on the ionternet all the time, people posting memes about how they have OCD because a book upside down on shelf is triggerring them, half of introverts believe they have severe anxiety disorder, young girls 'wanting to have' anorexia, because it will help them on their diet, and so on and on and on. And this poll I'd say proves it pretty much, even if gamers were to be more prone to mental disorders compared to rest of the population (I've read study suggesting that) there is no way in hell that 61% of respondents have actual mental illness, while in general population these numbers are around 15%, this is 4 times more which is just silly, if majority of population were to have 'disorder' it would no longer be disorder, it would become new norm.
That being said, I personally have been struggling with mental issues since my teenage years (luckilly it's much better nowadays, but it's years after first diagnosis, and with a lot therapy and medications). Mostly suffering from MDD, used to be suicidal and self-harming in the past, but hopefully this will remain behind me, nowadays biggest problem being heavy insomnia and some personality features of borderline (note it does not mean suffering from borderline personality dissorder, just showing a few features of such, another common mistake when it comes to self diagnostics - people see they match a few sympthoms so they assume they have disorder, while it's much more common among population to just have some features without actual disorder).
Anyway TL;DR - to anyone checking he's mentally ill because he self-diagnosed himself or just feels like it's the case - go and see actual specialist, it's the best option always, if you are in fact mentally ill you won't get better without professional help, if you falsely assumed you are mentally ill hearing you are in fact not will help as well, you will stop looking for excuses in imaginary illness and it will be a big motivation to actually do something with your life yourself.
Comment has been collapsed.
Regarding the poll, there's also selection bias. The people more likely to answer yes (for whatever reason) are much more likely to open the thread and vote than those who would answer no.
Comment has been collapsed.
may be so, but doubt it alone would twist results over 4 times from expected. especially as in the comments, note that very few compared to number of votes, we already can see people who say they have disorders, or they are sure they have, as they never actually went to specialist to get diagnosed.
anyway I guess most important paragraph of my post would be the last one, it's less important how many people who voted Yes in a poll are self diagnosed, what's more important that they stop doing that and seek actual professional help - because no matter if they self-diagnosed themself correctly or not it is a win-win situation nonetheless, as their life will become better no matter if they were right and get real actual help, or were they wrong and they will stop living with a burden of false self-diagnosis :)
Comment has been collapsed.
I wasn't trying to refute your post at all, just pointing out that the poll results aren't representative of Steamgifts user base, or even those who frequently check the discussion. And that's without taking into account how many of the answers are based on pure self diagnosis or what have you.
Comment has been collapsed.
Agreed. When you don't have a mental illness, it'll play a smaller role for you on average. Meaning that people are less interested in visiting this thread to begin with.
Comment has been collapsed.
As a rule of thumb, people "bragging" about having a mental illness most of the time don't actually have shit. Depression and anxiety aren't nothing to be proud or happy of.
For the same reason, seeing a different tile on a sidewalk doesn't mean you have OCD, washing your hands until you bleed is.
Comment has been collapsed.
Losing a job, struggling to find one or being unemployed, for another set back in life, can trigger depression and both can lead to people being broke. People who are depressed are also, by definition, going to see their predicament as worse, so they can feel broke even if they technically aren't, but definitions also play a role here, so.
For those who are broke, games are actually one of the cheapest form of entertainment; there's literally tons of great games that can be played on age old and/or hardware for free or an affordable one time payment, and which can give countless hours of entertainment. Contrast how much a pint costs and lasta, a film, and so on.
BTW research shows that once a person has had an episode of depression, they are much more likely to fall into it again. Depression also creates a set of conditions that can also trigger more depression.
Comment has been collapsed.
I'm undiagnosed, but I'd have to be blind not to recognise that depression has been a devastating force in my life...
I'm approaching my mid-30s now, and I'd say I'm coping far better than I have in the past, but it's always lurking.
I never know when I'm going to wake up and suddenly remember that I can't come close to dealing with this world, or my life, or my head...
But, perhaps ironically, most of the time I'm genuinely one of the most easygoing and positive people you could hope to meet. And when I'm not really feeling any of it, you'd have to know me extremely well to tell the difference.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yep. I've got depression and anxiety (generalized and social). It's also pretty obvious that I have some sort of sensory processing issue, though I haven't gone to get any kind of diagnosis for that one. I don't think my depression or anxiety will ever go away entirely (and I'll continue going to therapy and taking meds probably for the rest of my life), but hey, it's gotten a lot better over the last few years. I spent ages 11-22 with strong suicidal ideation and self-harmed for several years, but now I can finally say that I have good days more often than bad and haven't self-harmed in two years. :)
Comment has been collapsed.
Depression, social anxiety, general anxiety, OCD, and several other issues that aren't mental health-related but general and physical health-related (Asthma, messed up knees, messed up back).
Comment has been collapsed.
the last part sucks so much, I've got so many health issues that are always deemed as mainly physical like chronic pelvic pain syndrome and body problems (mainly right leg and right arm) which actually have a lot of mental and physical links so I can relate =\
Comment has been collapsed.
My orthopedist once jokingly said that I have the body of a 60 y/o with all the physical stuff going on. Slipped disk in my lower back, cartilage on both knees is completely gone on one side which I had surgery for a couple years back. Surgery did help a bit with the pain but now I can't kneel down anymore because he centered my kneecap so it won't slide to the side as much anymore and damage the cartilage further. The pain in my lower back is also causing stomach issues which really is no fun at all and on top of that when I'm stressed or anxiety kicks in, my stomach also acts up and I end up having major cramps. Unfortunately, the joint and back issues are family related. It really sucks when you used to be super active playing sports and what not and then you suddenly have so much trouble just getting out of bed or walking down the stairs or to the store to get groceries because everything just hurts.
Comment has been collapsed.
oh, i've been told the same thing from many doctors too, you can't imagine.. when I was in my 20s doctors told me I had the body of an old man due to my illnesses, difficult to use my right arm and leg and so on, I had surgery three times too (in my case on my right arm) and I can't even play sports or play an acceptable guitar level.. and I feel the same - I've got for sure a chronic pelvic pain illness, but on the other hand it's heavily influenced by mental problems and that means lots of cramps and so on.. same here anyways, I can't play sports or "professionally" play an instrument since I was 23-24 years old.. I really hope the best for the two of us since I can relate to everything, I just have pain in different body parts but it's the same issue =\
Comment has been collapsed.
Nothing either of us can really do but try to manage and to hang in there. Thankfully, I was never one to just give up completely even though, I've come really close several times when I got dragged down into the darkest of mind spaces. I guess that's also why I enjoy gaming and writing so much cause it doesn't only give me something to do but it also focuses my thoughts on other things.
Comment has been collapsed.
I was reading through the threads on income - https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/E3kD0/sg-how-high-is-your-monthly-income and https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/SMdRu/people-who-have-0-disposable-income-how-come. And it occurs to me that what I see most of is not money issues but mental issues. Sure there are people here who say, "I'm broke." But most of them go on to say a lot more about their own mental state.
Of the people who have no mental issues and are broke, I expect they fall into very simple and obvious categories: students who don't have a job, and teens/20s people (mostly young men) who live in very poor countries.
But what I mostly notice on SG is the kinds of behavior that go along with mental illness. I observe this on all of the gaming forums I hang out on that have a community with some sticking power. The combination of gaming and internet forums seem to attract people with mental illness. Probably how I ended up here myself.
Comment has been collapsed.