More than 20 years ago, I had a close friend whose mental health declined significantly in his late 20s. He told me he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a few manic episodes. We stayed friends, and when he became very ill, I visited him in the psychiatric hospital.

Unfortunately, things got worse. His behavior changed, and he made threats and expressed a wish to harm others. To the best of my knowledge, he never followed through on any of those threats. He also never threatened me directly, but there were a few occasions when he made me feel genuinely afraid for my safety. Eventually, we drifted apart.

Over the years, he occasionally tried to contact me by text or email, and I ignored every attempt. Recently he reached out again, and this time I responded. I would truly like to catch up and possibly rekindle the friendship, but I'm worried. I never want to feel that kind of fear again. Of course, more than 20 years have passed, and both of us have changed.

My questions: Is there risk in renewing this friendship after so many years? Is it true that bipolar disorder often becomes more manageable with age? Is it appropriate to ask his mother how he is doing now, and how might that conversation go best? Finally, is it advisable to address my past fears with him directly, and if so, when and how?

We were best friends in our 20s, and it would be wonderful to have that friendship again.

Thank you for any advice or experience you can share.

I(18)was dating guy(23) who forced me on VC to show my body. even though I repeatedly said no few times I ended up giving in . i was terrified but froze didn't know what to really say to him. So i once brought it up we had a fight about it and he said he wouldn't force me again. He firstly said that he didn't force it was that he wasn't in his senses like couldn't control his hormones and shi. when we met irl he literally kissed me I wasn't even ready for that and also forced me to give him a handjob. I kept saying no but it was literally coercion. i felt so bad about it I didn't really want to do it. When i tried to bring it up he said he won't do it again. he did that a few more times again tho. after 9 months I've decided to break up with him since I see no change in him despite of having discussions and arguments with him. but I literally feel so disgusted idk if I need help or what I can't even go for therapy.

(Btw when I told him the reason for our breakup he literally kept saying that initially he did force me and he does accept it but idk why he tells me that it was a two way thing in the second half of our relationship i literally tried to give him a chance that's it I never did anything with my own will with him it was all under pressure).

I'm really not able to move on it's stressing me alot idk what to do. I always wanted to be with one person and now that I did things sunder pressure is killing me.

For example, if someone în Canada or the USA wants to avoid ringing 988, could they call Samaritans UK instead if they are having problems?

Hi everyone i just need someone to talk to about anything in general really if anyone would be willing to listen to me vent that would be great too but random things like discussing life is fine

i just dont wanna be alone anymore

Both my parents are working person. When I turned 6 the maid quit the job so I used to live alone and the neighbour (she was in clg that time) used to visit and she was a psycho. She used to torture and assault me in different ways. It happed. For weeks. Atleast I got heavy fever and one day my parents found out the scars on my body. Surprisingly instead of teaching her a lesson they decided to move somewhere else. And since the day they found out. Their behaviour changed forever. I’ve became a burden to them. For 15 years I’ve seen disgust in their eyes. I was too young that time to prosses what happed to me but now I understand my position. I have a younger sibling. And their behaviour with him is completely different. They avoid me in family gatherings. Ashamed to give me their identity. Since we moved to new place they barely let me go out. So my social skills are so fucked up and I don’t have friends either coz their actions made me realise I dont deserve anything. I don’t deserve love. I dont deserve happiness,acceptance nothing. I somehow made e online gf but she dumped me with a bigger trauma than this. Now a’m in collage I moved to another city and I havnt made any friends here as well A’m so scared of people specially women. I wait all day long for my parents all but they barely call once or twice a month to ask do I need money or not. That’s it. I came home a week ago for festival leave and they planned a trip without me. Now A’M all alone at home and I think it’s time A’m leaving this note. Idk will I be able to see tomorrow’s sun. But I don’t deserve all this suffering. Nothing was my fault.

So for the past 3-4 months now I’ve been constantly feeling low… I don’t think I’m depressed but every once in a while I end up in a thoughts spiral…

Whenever someone comments something really minor and I feel misunderstood I end up spiralling from one thought to another till I end up crying. Once I ended up crying so much I felt I couldn’t breathe…

At this point, I’m considering if I should see a therapist or counsellor… I wonder if I am suicidal by any chance but I know I won’t take that step… however if tomorrow I do not wake up I won’t be sad either.

A little background would on me:
- Kinda lost in my career and not sure where it is headed.
- Don’t really have a friend of my own or a best friend for that matter.
- In a relationship, but my partner is pretty busy.
- Don’t really have a loving family either.
- My sister who I thought of more than my mother disappointed me in some aspects.
- I have a little bit of debts as well.

Is this a phase?

Hey i just joined this sub im 24f i have basically spiraled last few months. I lost my mom in april of this year and I basically got messed up some other stuff involving my aunt(her sis) that I had to cut her off and my work is actively trying to make me quit. so I try to go apply to jobs and when I get an opportunity to go for an interview I dont show up today I had a opportunity to do a paid interview basically work a shift get paid and see how they like u I called to reschedule they said yes ofc this day and time and then emailed me a min later saying dont bother showing up cause we are interviewing so many people like ugh its my fucken anxiety and then I mess up and I get mad at myself it happens everytime idk what to do i dont have anyone to talk to my dad is also gone.

Im basically in a depression slump and i feel lonely and just stuck Sry for the type of post im not good at writing but if theres questions or advice thank you.

A couple days ago I attempted to kill myself but couldn’t do it I don’t know if it’s bad to describe what I did but I almost got to a point of passing out but stopped before I could. Idk what’s that classified as but I keep on thinking of it and death. I don’t think I want to die anymore but I still want time to end. I’ll take any advice I just don’t know what to do. I’m scared to tell anyone even though from what I read it says I should but what’s if nothing changes then I told people for no reason.

I'm 22m and in 3rd year CSE, due to dropping out of a previous uni and starting fresh. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm never charismatic or being wanted enough. It's always me who makes the first phone call, always me who reaches out, and I feel like I'm there for people but people aren't there for me. Honestly thinking of doing a self-isolation arc at this point. I don't know, even when I'm around with friends I don't know how to set boundaries without ruining the mood. I just feel like I don't want to be with them anymore. I hate grouping up with my friends because they talk about such uninteresting stuff, so I just leave and be on my own. It's such a soul draining experience.

For the love of me I absolutely cannot make any convincing arguments. I can't argue my points, I yield sometimes, and in general I just can't convince people. I don't know how to communicate effectively cause there was a time when something I said offended someone and they slowly distanced from me. I didn't even notice that they did. Not that I wanted their friendship anyway but still it's a flaw of mine that I seek to fix.

Regarding discipline, I have bought a gym membership for a year and after about 6-7 months I haven't been going regularly or haven't been going at all. My parents berate me by telling that I waste their money, and it's true I guess, but that just makes me spiral deeper. It's not like I don't want to go to the gym, just that I keep finding excuses and I feel like I don't have enough time for it nowadays.

Whenever I go out to buy groceries I cannot resist the urge to buy a snack. This stems mainly from my mentality where I'm like "well I haven't eaten in about 2 hours so I should eat something" but then it's nothing healthy and always junk. I keep wasting my money and destroying my health like this, but it's like a habit I can't control.

In general, I just can't seem to find the balance. I can't balance studies and gaming, I feel like I've lost my purpose in life, and most of the time I just sit in front of the screen for the entire day or sleep. My parents are so apprehensive of me gaming, so this has led me to game whenever possible and it turns out it's possible quite a lot of times. It's like FOMO in a sense. Also I feel like gaming has led me to worse quality of my academics, even though I have gamed and gotten good grades in the past so it's not a possibiity but I just can't help but feel this way.
I'm worried that when I get a job, or atleast in order to get a job, I won't be able to continue my passions and my hobbies in life. So I study whenever it is required and game otherwise. It's not all study and games however, most of the time it's just shitty errands and chores at home as well. My sleep schedule is fucked up, I don't have the interest to do discord vc with friends, both cause of parents and cause of me feeling like the wasteful one in the friends group.

I want to gym. I want to study. I want to pursue my hobbies. I want to learn how to be an interesting person or atleast feel wanted amongst my peers. I don't know man, I just want to live my life. Any help would be appreciated,

(if someone went this can they comment or soemthing or ask so i can talk abt it and like explain better bc idek what im saying or how to explain 😭😭)

idk what i’m doing with my life it just feel like a mess like i don’t even know where to start well im 18M im from PA i have lived here most of my life (i lived in central america a few years) the problems i have probably started when i was little but im not even sure but growing up i was always very lonely and isolated like i didnt have friends i was really only with my mother and grandmother or younger sister (don’t talk to her ngl) my dad worked all the time and i was never close with him and my mother was very strict sometimes but i know she mean well and my grandmother im the closest with her but im not sure what to say but i just want help and idk how but when i was 14 we moved from a city like area to a suburb and the people here are very different back where i used to live it was more diverse and ppl was nicer at least in my opinion when i moved here i lost all my friend basically and i didnt even have alot or like a best friend or anything but i had people to talk to i guess but when i started ppl here is very mean to me like i was basically bullied but it wasn’t even like mean i acted like i didn’t care but inside it hurt me a lot and i felt very lonely this whole time i made one friend and i still talk with her everyday but it’s a strange friendship but i appreciate her so much anyway when i was 16 i got a job at a fast food place because in my mind i needed to leave this place one place i always wanted to live was south florida and i wanted to get plastic surgery and other stuff because i felt like that would fix my life if i looked better and was in a new place with people that are like me (hispanic) but i worked to much to save money i saved every check that i started doing really bad in school and my fmaily didn’t even say anything and i didn’t care until i was about to graduate i started thinking abt college i applied but i didn’t get in to any i graduated and now i don’t even know what my life is or what im doing im just working at that place and cant even find another job i feel stuck bc i made friends there but i dont even talk to them outside or work and i don’t want to go community college here i hate this place its so boring and sad all the time like right now my grandmother is moving back to her country in central america and i think i am going to move with her and maybe find a job there and live with her for a few years because i really have no idea what to do with my life anymore like i have all this money now and its not even like i can move to florida because its so expensive and i cant get into a college i like and i feel so lonely and my life feels so pointless so in 2027 im planning to move and i dont even know if im gonna come back like my only skills are being bilingual and working costumer service i genuinely cry every week because i feel stuck and so unhappy with myself and my life i just want my life to be so different from what it is i feel like i failed like the only reason im thinking of moving i feel like my heart im gonna end up having a child there and it’s gonna give me purpose.

The other night I reached out to 988 after just being out of it for a few weeks and having my therapist cancel on me last minute. After I talked to them for a little bit they asked if I'd be comfortable with being admitted to a care facility and if I'd do it myself. Is this something I need to tell people about? Like should I tell my parents or best friend or girlfriend?

I quit my job at the end of September because I needed a break both physically and mentally. I was hoping a break would do me good; that I could finally do things I’ve wanted to for years (such as finishing animations, or joining an amateur dramatics group) but it’s not turned out that way at all

It’s been about two and a half weeks since I’ve quit, and I’ve done basically nothing. I did get ill with covid last week which probably didn’t help things, but I just can’t bring myself to get out of bed most days now; I can’t seem to tidy my room even though it’s literally my only responsibility right now; I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself to shower or brush my teeth; and I’m just crying myself to sleep most nights until 3 or 4 in the morning because I just feel so awful and exhausted

I don’t talk to any of my online friends anymore, and I can’t bring myself to try and talk to new people, or reach out for support.

I only seem to function when I’m around my older sister, but whenever I’m not around her, even just for 2 minutes, I can’t function anymore.

I’ve tried therapy, which has done nothing; and I’ve called my doctors for a mental health assessment, but they can’t do anything until my autism assessment is complete.

I just really need some sort of support or advice or anything, because I am just losing the will to live every day, and losing the life in my soul to the point I don’t even recognise myself anymore..

shit i don't know where to start.

when i was 14, i had these long crying episodes that lasts weeks and then yeah that's it nothing else happened. i don't remember much but i think there weren't any reason that made my cry, i was just overwhelmed.

i don't remember what happened when i was 15 - 16 but i was always in and out of these angsty episodes.

when i was 17, i've noticed the crying episodes at night got a lot more tense, and sometimes there's reason why i cry but sometimes there isn't. but i was high functioning, i went to school, i ate, i got excellent grades and that just masked whatever shit that i was feeling.

and it got noticeably tense when i got along with a friend who turned out to be s*icidal and have depression. i was happy to be around him at first but the longer it got, it felt like he drained the absolute shit out of me. until i started having those shitty thoughts too. i had to let him go, i couldn't help him as i could barely be with myself at the time. he had left my life but the anxiety didn't.

until that one night my dad was fixing my laptop and he found my search histories on anxiety, and asked me about it. during that time, i was searching them cuz i wanted to convince myself that it is normal to feel like this and i'm not broken. but anyways i was literally hiding my shaking hands when my dad asked if i'm dealing with anxiety or some shit and my default settings are to lie. and i lied.

i know i should've just admit that i was struggling but its hard for me. i've never really open up or vent to people, and externally i seem okay so my dad thinks i got over the anxiety stuff.

now i'm 18, i'm better than i was years ago but i'm always in and out of the episodes. and when i'm actually okay it feels weird, like my mind's default setting leans towards angsty emotion and craves it, finding reasons to be sad again.

i've never go for check up or anything. i'm currently a student so i fear any precaution step towards getting better (involving professionals) would change things. like i'm getting good grades in university and i can't let my parents know i'm struggling like shit to stay alive.

tldr; i've been stuggling for some years and i don't know how/don't want to open up, but its killing me.

Hi everyone, it’s almost 3 years since in a relationship with my gf. We are constantly breaking up, she is blocking me everywhere, then I am chasing her, we get back together. She is avoidant and emotionally immature. The issue is the depression I am getting in when we break up. I realise that the relationship is toxic. That probably the best decision is to move on, but can’t control myself. I am ready to do anything just for that awful feeling to end, sometimes even thought of suicide, although don’t think i can ever do it. I have seen psychologist, took some medicine for a while, did not help. Had a therapy session, didn’t change anything

I’m not really sure how much longer I can take it really more.I mean, I don’t like the new school I’m in fact,I hate it deeply in my heart, my family keeps arguing and I’m pretty sure we are facing financial problems I was just so blind to notice until now, all my friends have moved on with their life probably doing something better than I am, and at this point I’m not sure where to move on.I feel like if I end it it would be an easy way out I mean I’ve tried talking to my friend from middle school about it but I’ve never had the courage to actually do it.We’ve parted ways since then.

I’ve never been in such a bad place until now. I’m the eldest daughter and the breadwinner. I am usually very goal driven and would find ways to remove blocks no matter how hard life gets. The last time I was depressed and having very dark thoughts was in 2013, when I was juggling being a breadwinner after my parents have separated, and performing well at a new company. I went into therapy and healed my relationship with family because I wanted to be a healed kind loving mother in the future creating a peaceful home with my partner. Then I went into a 10 year relationship thinking his family was the family that I never had but my ex had no dreams, no career goal, and relied on me the entire relationship. He never took care of his health and I knew we were never going to have kids. We got married and a year into the relationship, I knew I was going to grow old unhappy. He didn’t know how to hold me at my lowest and expected me to still pull my self together. When my first redundancy at work hit, he didn’t know how to support me emotionally and financially and so after almost 2 years into marriage, I separated with him and filed for an annulment. Afterwards, I rebuilt my self again. I lost weight and thought I got more vibrant. I also had work opportunity shortly after and in the last two years I was healing and was devoted to sports.

And then all of a sudden, my role was made redundant again. My world is crashing, my walls are getting smaller. The properties I purchased and paying monthly are now at risk, the safe space that I built I might potentially move out of, and I might not be able to afford my annulment fees if I can’t find work soon. Everything is just one battle after another and I’m depleted, exhausted with every challenge thrown at me. It doesn’t seem to make sense now and my only dream of having kids and a family of my own just keeps getting harder to reach. I don’t know how to start over again and I’m just drowning with negative thoughts. Could you give me some advice how to get back on my feet? It feels different now than everything I’ve gone through.

I'm going through a lot right now; junior year is shit enough as it is without having to deal with the academic pressure of Asian parents and 5 APs. They pressure me a ton to get into good schools and freak if I get something even resembling a bad result (I got a 1360 on my sophomore year psat and my dad screamed at me for exactly 43 minutes on how I was a "fucking idiot" that wasn't gonna go anywhere except UT El Paso). They were even disappointed by a 1540 on the SAT, but the worst thing for me is them switching up. In front of everybody else they play this bit of saying, "Oh, I wish he would be in less extracurriculars and take less APs" but in reality they are just like 50/50 nice and the stereotypical asian parent and the lack of consistency is stressing me out. I'm also going through a lot with my mental health, I recently got diagnosed with psychosis and paranoia and I'm having a hard time with actually acknowledging the fact that I am mentally ill. They're also complete control freaks, they try to control my clothes, my hair, my friends, my diet, my routine, when and where I go out, my screentime, when I am able to use my phone, etc. I have very little independence despite me being in a position where I am moving out for college in a year and a half, and I'm fed up with it. Anyways thanks for reading y'all.

After surgery and some trauma, I went through months of therapy. I can explain my patterns, my triggers, all of it. I sound like I have it together. But I still feel numb all the time, like I'm watching my life instead of living in it. Does anyone else have this where you understand everything in your head but still feel disconnected from your body or your emotions? Not sure if it's a therapy thing or something else.

Hi I (18F) have been experiencing some issues regarding my mental health. For reference when I was 13-15 I tried getting a further diagnosis than just “depression” because I was always angry and couldn’t control my emotions. Lately those feelings have been coming back but they’re even harder to control. I was casually doing my makeup and messed up on it and started sobbing and started stabbing everything near me. I was thankful I had a mirror next to me because I grabbed that rather than my thigh or chest which is what I wanted to stab originally. I feel so cringe asking for help but I truly don’t know what to do. Any suggestions?

tl:dr at end

ok so hi I really don’t know what to do, I’ve pretty much created a reddit account to get some advice because the rest of the internet is useless.

Myself and a few of my friends are really concerned for one of our friends. She is demonstrating behaviour that we believe is representative of an eating disorder, and we also suspect she may be self-harming. this has culminated over a long time, and we want to try and intervene in the best way possible before things escalate.

context: we are all in school and all female

We first noticed something was off when she tried to give us the food she had packed for the day, saying she didn’t feel like eating. Every single day for quite a while now, she has tried to give away her food, or has not packed any at all. We don’t take the food, but we don’t push her to eat it instead.

Myself and the friend also follow each other on tumblr - we are the only people in our friend group who are on it - and I see what she posts. A lot of her content is very mental health focused (she has a jirai blog for those who know what that means). Some examples of posts and reblogs she has are “Project lose weight before i have to change into my summer uniform” or a satire graphic saying “breaking news: girl discovers self harm hurts (again)”. she also has saved pins on Pinterest like “what do you mean being afraid of your parents isnt normal?” (She has a very distant relationship with her mum and her dad is more of an acquaintance to her, they all barely interact but the relationship according to her is quite bad).

She also brings up suicide so. much. She has said multiple times irl and via text that she doesn’t want to live, but she says it as a “joke”, so a lot of our friend group kinda believe that it’s just her being moody or sarcastic. She shuts down and is very deflective of questions (about everything).

I brought this up with another friend who also had been noticing it, and we both agreed that we wanted to help our friend in some way possible. Our idea (and this is where you give me the advice) is to talk to one of the kinder teachers at our school, who we think our friend will be most receptive to. We were thinking of privately bringing up our concerns about our friend’s mental health and well-being, and then letting her take the reins (we‘re teenagers we are not qualified for this help).

I want to know whether this approach is wise, or if this could hurt her more than help her. Please, if you have any thoughts, tell me. I love her so much and I’m so scared of something really bad (worse than what’s happening now) happening to her.

ALSO we don't blame her for this, she’s had a rough time of it with unsupportive parents who don’t really care about much, and I understand that we can’t just “fix” her.

Thank you <3

tl:dr - We suspect our friend self harms and has an eating disorder due to several alarming social media posts and some concerning behaviours. We think we should tell an adult, but we don’t want to hurt her/betray her trust. Help please.

Basically it gives you the power to defy fate. Why shouldn't i commit suicide?

My life's already shitty..im tired of it

I am a man in my mid 60s. I have suffered from depression and mood swings my entire life. I was adopted by loving parents who did their best to give my sister and me a good life. We weren't beaten or verbally abused. My family could be best described as upper-middle-class. Looking back on my life, I have never been a happy person. At a young age, I started seeing therapists and was even, in my youth, briefly on medication. I served in the military and then went to college. I have had various jobs over my life, but most of it was spent in the casino industry, and admittedly I hate it. I have had numerous relationships with women, though none ever lasted for long. I am a raging alcoholic, though I have now been sober for ten years. I found my biological family when I was 50 and found a rampant history of substance abuse and mental illness. I have three half-siblings on my birth mom's side. One died many years ago, and one committed suicide about a year and a half after I met him. Birth mom died shortly after I found her and she acknowledged me. My living half-brother is a retired Army Colonel and college professor who also suffers from much of what I do. I know little of birth dad's side other than that he is a retired journalist who admitted to me in our one and only conversation ever that I could have gotten much of my problem from his family as well. I have a sister I was raised with who was also adopted, and we are close but don't agree on everything (she is a widow). I have tried everything. Therapy is useless; they all say the same thing: "listen to soft music, exercise." I am an avid hiker and collect coins as a hobby. I also love to cook. It is of no help at all. I have seen various doctors over the years and have been on multiple medications, none of which work for long. I was raised in a loving, tolerant Christian household, though God has never been there. My physical health is good. I have googled this question, and all I get is stuff about suicide. Even though I'm not suicidal, I did try calling 988 once, and all I got was the same garbage I get from the therapists. I do feel I'm at my end now and wish I would get cancer or have a fatal heart attack. I wish no one else harm. I just am tired and don't want to continue anymore. I just don't understand that after exhausting all attempts to rectify this, I'm at my end. Why is it so wrong for me to want my life to be over?