Lived Experience Forum

[Ali010]

• Hi I’m a 19 year old who has been suffering with ADHD, depression, anxiety and I haven’t been diagnosed but I really believe I have autism... I have so many traits of autism. 
  anyway; I have been depressed since I was 8 years old. That’s when my self harming addiction started. I got counselling 2018,2019 and soon I’ll be starting again. 
  recently I’ve been trying to get help for myself and I’ve noticed how scary it is and how many people you lose when you start opening up about it.I’ve lost 6 friends due to it. 4 days before Christmas and my boyfriend said to take a break because of how bad my mental health is getting.. how much it’s affecting him. I am devastated. I feel like I can’t talk about my mental health in front of anyone I care about otherwise I’ll lose them. I feel like I’m losing hope in everything. I’m really really struggling. I need some help. 

[NatureLover]

Hi and welcome, @Ali010 ! You've come to the right place, where people understand what you're going through and we are all comfortable talking about mental health issues. 

I'm sorry to hear about your recent losses of friends and your boyfriend 😞 Also about your depression since you were 8 😞

I want to comfort you that a lot of people find MIs (mental illnesses) scary and can't cope with talking about them or facing them, due to fear. The fact that you've lost friends due to opening up about your mental health issues is not a reflection on you, but on them - on their inability to face up to what is actually a very common thing.

I'm glad you will be starting counselling again soon...I hope it really helps, as it has for me. 

A handy forum tip is if you type @ and then click on a name in the drop-down box, that person will get a notification and won't miss your reply.

[BPDSurvivor]

Hi @Ali010 , thank you for your post. For me, I detactched myself from people so

i could focus on my recovery. 

Before that, I was so reliant on people - to the point of depending on them. I wasn’t getting any better.

I got away from my ‘crowd’ and decided to fully focus on recovery before affecting other people. 

Years on, I am so much better. Now I can actually make genuine relationships without the fear of losing people. I had to be explicitly taught social skills because I seem to have either forgotten them or I wasn’t around when it was being handed out. I missed out on reading social cues and got myself into a lot of trouble.

Therapy has made a huge difference for me.

Do what you think is right. Follow your heart. 

[Benno88]

Hey @Ali010 I'm Rhys - how r U ?

It can be hard at first when you start dealing with what you are going through and working out who to open upto - I really feel ya coz I went through the exact same problem years ago myself 

Happy to be here and chat with you etc about it coz I really understand , tc mate 

[Benno88]

@Ali010  stay strong and pick your mark when it comes to people you can openly discuss mental illness etc with - some ppl are great , some suck but you'll work it out 

I went through the same kinda thing like 15 years ago and learnt my lesson to be selective when it comes to that - wish I could do more for you

Plz respond , I'd seriously love to help you and share my experience etc as I think it would help you , take care and have a good one !

[Ali010]

@BPDSurvivor @Benno88 @NatureLover Thank you for taking your time in writing me,  thank all of you guys. 
I’d love to hear your share, tell me about your story 🙂 

[Ali010]

Started seeing a psychologist yesterday and found out I’m autistic. How do I cope with this and make friends I have struggled with that my whole life.

[BPDSurvivor]

Oh, I didn’t know a one-off psychologist appointment could deem one as being autistic? @Ali010 

I know many may have traits of autism… but usually it requires careful assessment to diagnose someone as autistic. 

Whatever it is, how do you feel about the autistic label?