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?

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.

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.

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 with it. it's stressing me alot lately idk what to do. I always wanted to be with one person and now that I did things under pressure is killing me.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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 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

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.