Mental Illness Support Group discussion
Introductions

I'm here to support you all!
Shivantika wrote: "Howdy! I'm Shivantika, and I suffer from getting worried and anxious about everything!!!!!!
I'm here to support you all!"
Hello and welcome
I'm here to support you all!"
Hello and welcome

I'm here to support you all!"
Hi Shivantika! Thanks! We would love to do the same for you.

I'm Deepthi (you can call me Di), and I kinda used to suffer from depression, and I'm someone who listens to what everyone says about me and try to improvise myself... (I'd stopped eating earlier this year because I'd heard some people say I'm fat...)
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
I'd also started cutting few months back... I've stopped now
!!!Trigger Over!!!
You can be free to talk to me about anything :)


Tahera wrote: "Hi I am Tahera and let's just say that I tend to give importance to what people think about me and I do stress about things.."
Hello and welcome! 💝
Hello and welcome! 💝
Tahera wrote: "Hi I am Tahera and let's just say that I tend to give importance to what people think about me and I do stress about things.."
Hello and welcome! 💝
Hello and welcome! 💝
Tahera wrote: "Hi I am Tahera and let's just say that I tend to give importance to what people think about me and I do stress about things.."
Hello and welcome! 💝
Hello and welcome! 💝

Kayla wrote: "hello everyone! my name is kayla. I have had a hard last couple of years, and I have been struggling with depression, eating disorders, OCD since some but changes came into my life. right now I am ..."welcome
Hello and welcome ✋💖
Hello and welcome ✋💖

My name is Amanda and I suffer from chronic pain due to fibromyalgia. I also have difficulties with anxiety and depression, but no specific diagnoses for those. I've been in therapy for about 18 months and it's been helping a lot, but I still struggle between sessions sometimes.
Glad to know there's a place where people will understand what we're going through here. <3
- Amanda
Amanda wrote: "Hi everyone,
My name is Amanda and I suffer from chronic pain due to fibromyalgia. I also have difficulties with anxiety and depression, but no specific diagnoses for those. I've been in therapy f..."
Hello! Welcome to the group!😊💗
My name is Amanda and I suffer from chronic pain due to fibromyalgia. I also have difficulties with anxiety and depression, but no specific diagnoses for those. I've been in therapy f..."
Hello! Welcome to the group!😊💗

I battle with depression and anxiety/panic attacks. Reading is one of the best things to help with my mental stability as well as my cat, Simon.
Jennie wrote: "My name is Jennie.
I battle with depression and anxiety/panic attacks. Reading is one of the best things to help with my mental stability as well as my cat, Simon."
Hello!!! Welcome!
I battle with depression and anxiety/panic attacks. Reading is one of the best things to help with my mental stability as well as my cat, Simon."
Hello!!! Welcome!

Shannara wrote: "Hello everyone, it’s super nice to meet you all!! I am bipolar and I have anxiety and depression. I’m mostly okay these days cause my therapist is a rock star (and my medication too). Stuff is stil..."
Hello! Welcome! Glad you could join us~
Hello! Welcome! Glad you could join us~

I battle with depression and anxiety/panic attacks. Reading is one of the best things to help with my mental stability as well as my cat, Simon."
Hello!!! Welcome!"
Thank you

I was going to join this group earlier, but didn't know if that would be okay. I don't struggle with anything specific. I used to play a sort of tug-of-war with depression until I became a christian. I wasn't sure if this was a group for people who only go through these tough things, or for anyone who wanted to lend support.
Anyway. Thanks for the invite! It's nice to meet everyone, with their love of books and cats and family <3

I suffer from General Anxiety Disorder, a form of PTSD, mild agoraphobia, social anxiety, and depression.
I hope you all have a wonderful day! 💜

I have Social Anxiety and Panic Attacks which has caused me to have depression as well. And when I started getting sad and really depressed that's when I decided to start seeing a psychiatrist because depression feels AWFUL and its no way to be happy; plus anxiety was walking, talking, and controlling my life (ever since I was in kindergarten, I can remember being shy and full of anxiety). This past year (2018) has been really rewarding because, although I still struggle with Social Anxiety and Panic, my psychiatrist has helped me find and overcome, after medication to medication to medication (Its a long trail and error process) finally 3 medications that really help me. I'm still trying to find little things that I can do to ease my nerves on bad days. But, I'm getting there. Making progress keeps me hopeful and urges me to never give up.
If I could give anyone advice its to seek help for any mental illness you may have, whether you find therapy helpful, seeing psychiatrist or psychologist, or finding little things that ease your nerves, there's so many outlets and techniques out in the world just waiting for you to discover them. Just never give up. Understand that everyone is different, no one persons mental illness is the same so don't compare yourselves to others. We are like books! We each have our own unique story! Keep Hopeful and Happy!

Right on Madison!!! Such great advice!!!

The world is full of darkness, pain and grief. That fact could not be kept from the noble prince Siddhartha, secluded as he was in his father's palace. And when he saw it in all its ghastly features staring him in the face, he went forth, filled with compassion to seek a remedy. Every individual in the world must seek the Path for himself, and walk upon it for himself. Spiritual darkness broods over the world and all men are sick from it. Spiritually, and often physically, the whole of mankind are sick, blind, deaf and dumb and covered with sores. Cancers of moral corruption eat their way slowly into the vitals of the human race. Not a man escapes, entirely. Truly the world is in a "lost condition." This is a theological term, but we may use it, because it is most applicable to the situation. Every man is not only sick, but he is lost in a dense wood, a tangled forest, without path or compass, no sun and no stars; because he is blind. Moreover, he is suffering from the worst case of amnesia ever known. He has no recollection of his original home or inheritance. In this deplorable condition, he wanders on from year to year. In addition to this mental and spiritual plight, many are suffering from physical ills, heart-sick, worn and weary.
This is a picture of the great majority of the human race in some degree or other. Are they not lost? They stumble on, generally hopeless, pressing their weary way, they know not whither, and sometimes by the way they stop and pray. But there is no response from the rocks and the trees, and their gods are as silent as the cold, distant stars. Each night drags by and the day brings on increased weariness. They cry for bread and there is nothing but stones. We are not speaking of the favored few but of the masses of the poor and ignorant. Are they not lost? Even the majority of the rich and highly placed are not happy. Here and there an isolated individual laughs, while others seek relief in mad passion. This picture is not too dark But why am I calling attention to the dark side of life? In order that I may point to the remedy. Nearly all men and women , in addition to their other troubles, are beset on all sides by the five enemies, the passions, LUST ANGER GREED ATTACHMENT AND EGO —driven by them under the lash, sometimes almost to madness.
The young grow old in the vain search for a little light, an hour of peace. Everywhere there is a constant fever of unrest, a never-ending search for what they never find. Most of them do not even know for what they are searching. If some dear optimist feels inclined to blame me for telling this truth, for painting a dark picture, let her know, that I am diagnosing the case with one hand, •while I hold the remedy in the other. I am not a pessimist. Neither do I believe it wise to shut one's eyes to plain facts.
Where is the man who can say he is happy? If any one is a little less burdened to-day, "who can say but to-morrow may find him again deep in the shadows? Where is the man or woman who can claim immunity from sin and the passion? Moral strength is practically nil, except in the case of a few superior souls. Of spiritual light there is no more than a feeble glimmering, a flickering candle here and there in the universal darkness. The bulk of humanity has neither morality nor spirituality. The masses are really sick, groping their uneasy way toward an unknown destiny. There is no freedom, not even physical freedom. Who can say he is master of his own body? The entire race are but driven slaves. Truly the condition of mankind is deplorable. Men struggle up and down the world in a fever of unrest, all the while crying for something, they know not what.
A few turn to religion for relief. If a man attains a little pre-eminence in some of the virtues, he is seized by one or more of the tormenting passions and again dragged down to the common level. If not that, he is always trembling on the verge of collapse. There is no rest. From youth to old age, cares and anxieties multiply, while the black angel stands always in the background awaiting his day and hour. There is no security. Wealth, health, power, momentary pleasures pass in a flash and are gone.
Happiness? Where is it? Who can say that he has not a single heart-ache, or worry? Last of all, a man faces that dark unknown —at which he shudders and wonders. The great reaper mows him down and the night falls upon him mingled with his kindred dust.
Is it any wonder that in such a plight men turn to religion?
It is useless to preach pessimism to people with healthy liver and good stomach. They simply will not have it. A torpid liver and a constipated bowel have led many people to seek comfort in religion
If a man or woman plunges into the whirl of passionate sensations, he emerges with bankruptcy staring him in the face Every pleasure comes with the bill attached and sooner or later he is pressed to pay, pay, pay! We watch the passing show. We chase after the mirage. Finally the disillusioned soul goes out in search of Reality. He is so tired of the sham and the counterfeit. But where shall he find Reality? Frequently he turns, like Noah's dove, homeward again, finding no resting place in the whole world. Nothing but a dreary waste and turbulent waves. This picture of the man, in mid-ocean in a small boat, tossed and drenched by gigantic waves with imminent death staring him in the face. This explains the situation confronting most of the human race.
Seeking a remedy for all of these ills, men have persistently turned to religion. But has it cured the disease? Is there less pain and sorrow in the world than before? At best, religion is no more than an anodyne, a palliative; in big doses a sort of anesthetic. But there is no cure in it. It is no exaggeration to say that at least three thousand different forms of religion have appeared since history began, and each one has been eagerly grabbed up by hungering souls. The whole world, sick and weary, longs for a remedy for its ills. It seeks rest from its intolerable burdens. But where shall it find relief? That is the ever-recurring question.
While many have turned to religion, a few ultra scientific minds have boldly declared that they find nothing in religion. They find no trace of a God, and nothing at all comes out of the silence beyond the grave. The ashes of the funeral pyre give no whisper of what has become of the life that once animated them. Men must just go on suffering and fighting bravely, and then lie down and die bravely. And that is the end. But such doubtful souls might profit by the words of Socrates: There may be a realm of wisdom from which the logician is banished." Perhaps there may be worlds of wisdom from which even the modern scientists are banished. If so, their banishment is self-imposed. At least it is not wise that these scientists should assert dogmatically that such worlds do not exist simply because they have not been able to see them.
The God realized Masters have seen them. And the Masters are prepared to point the way so that any scientist may see them if he wishes, and has the humility to accept the necessary conditions.
The infant is nourished by a loving mother, when it cannot take solid food. A boundless love shelters and supports the human race and gives it, in each day and age, what it can best assimilate. The Masters tell their disciples that they have realized God in themselves, but as soon as they depart, the disciples begin to say that they feel God in themselves. Therein lies a vast difference. The Masters see God and merge into him. They do not merely feel Him. And that constitutes an essential difference. Feeling is more or less blind and wholly unreliable. The Masters actually enter and explore the Kingdom of Heaven, but the disciples merely read about it in books and begin to speculate. Religions have been fostered through feelings and metaphysical speculations. But in every case, the founders of such religions claim that they got their knowledge by sight and hearing, not by feeling. Thus they speak from personal knowledge. Hence the ever recurring need for living Masters. Let us not assert that we have no need for a living Master. A sick man may, with as much reason, assert that he has no need for medicine, because he has a book which gives him the prescription. The living Master is the Great Physician who diagnoses our individual cases and then administers the medicines. That is exactly the difference between all world religions and the scientific system of the living Masters.
Only the Science of the Masters is final, and that is so because it is not a religion. It is a Path by which men in any age of the world may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a science which may be demonstrated anew any day. Thus it is ever alive and fresh, because it is always in touch with the Ultimate Source. Any system based upon scientific demonstration must be the same in all ages. Its established facts of Nature cannot change. Hydrogen and Oxygen have combined to form water ever since the earliest mists began to hover over the pristine rocks. And so it has been that the method of approach to God, which was established by the Creator himself, has always been the same, and will be the same, so long as the human race, or the planet itself, endures.
We ought to remember the words of Vivekananda about churches, and religions in general. We could not say it better; so let us quote him: "The end of all religions is the realization of God."**** (And this does not mean that one must "feel" him, which feeling is generally the result of suggestion): "There may be a thousand radii—says he—but they all converge at the one center, and that is the realization of God. Something behind this world of sense, world of eternal eating and drinking and talking nonsense, this world of false shadows and selfishness, there is that beyond all books, beyond alL creeds, beyond the vanities of this world—and that is the realization of God within oneself.
A man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor performed any ceremony; but if he realizes God within himself, and is thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will.
Since the great Swami so strongly emphasizes the realization of God, it is fitting that we should try to make plain exactly what that means. In most writings on the subject, there is but little clearness of statement. That is because the writers themselves have never experienced it and they have but a hazy idea of what it means. First of all, it is not a feeling. Secondly, it is not a metaphysical speculation nor a logical syllogism. It is neither a conclusion based upon reasoning nor upon the evidence of books or persons. The basic idea is that God must become real to the individual, not a mental concept but a living reality. And that can never be so until the individual sees Him. Personal sight and hearing are necessary before anything or anybody becomes real to us. I have never seen Montreal, hence that city is to me only a mental concept. But I have seen London, and so that city is to me a substantial reality. To practically all men, God is simply an abstract idea, a mental concept. How can one worship and love a mental concept? When most people say they love God, it simply means that they have a certain emotion superinduced by suggestion. It has not the least thing to do with God-realization. Now, the purpose of all religion, is according to the Swami, to convert that mental concept into something that is real to experience.
The poverty of all religions has been their inability to make God real to their devotees. Can you imagine that men would live as they do, think and act as they do, if God were real to them, if they had actually seen Him and loved Him?
Darius wrote: "Hi Im Dari and I suffered from depression until i found a God realized soul (ask me) and was put on the path to God realization( surat shabd yoga)
The world is full of darkness, pain and grief. Th..."
Hello everyone! So glad your here!
The world is full of darkness, pain and grief. Th..."
Hello everyone! So glad your here!

Its nice to meet you to! :)

thank u so much for creating this group and addressing the issue..."
Welcome!
message 83:
by
Amy (won't be online for a while. sorry to all the groups i'm in!)
(new)
Hello, everybody, my name is Katiria aka Kati for short I was first diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder and Anxiety in 2002 I've been struggling with my mental illness on and off for a couple of years when I was first diagnosed back in 2002 but the past 6+ years I've been feeling great and doing amazingly great in my life right now. As of right now, my psychiatrist says that I can get my medication at my family doctor instead to go to him for medication because I've been doing really great for the past 6+ years that I don't need to go to see him or go to any therapy or group therapy anymore. Which I haven't gone to any therapy or group therapy for years now. I am just really glad and happy that I am doing great right now in my life that I count my blessing each and every day. Nice to meet you all.

I'm soo happy and proud of you taht you are doing awsm. Lovely to meet you to ans i look forward to book-chatting with you! Any books you've been reading as of recent?
Yoj have a really nice name
Thank you so much I just thank god that everything is going absolutely amazing well for me, and I am really happy to inspire people with my life story.
Krishna wrote: "great! I'm happy to know that u r doing great!!! keep it up! you're an inspiration for people like me who r still struggling!!"
Krishna wrote: "great! I'm happy to know that u r doing great!!! keep it up! you're an inspiration for people like me who r still struggling!!"
Hi, Zainub thank you so much I am going to read starting tomorrow A Christmas Date by Camilla Isley which I can't wait to read it will be my first Christmas book that I am going to read this month.
Zainab wrote: "Hey Kati! So glad you could join us all here!
I'm soo happy and proud of you taht you are doing awsm. Lovely to meet you to ans i look forward to book-chatting with you! Any books you've been read..."
Zainab wrote: "Hey Kati! So glad you could join us all here!
I'm soo happy and proud of you taht you are doing awsm. Lovely to meet you to ans i look forward to book-chatting with you! Any books you've been read..."

Welcome:). I hope you enjoy ur book! Keep updating abt ur feels abt it

I've been stress-reading a lot this year so it's neat to find a group like that here of all places :P

I've been stress-reading a lot this ye..."
Nice to meet you Ewa!! Welcome to the group!! 😊


Welcome :)
Audrey wrote: "Hi, I'm Audrey. I'm seventeen. I have general anxiety, severe depression, possibly OCD, and I think maybe PTSD but I don't know...? I was hoping someone could help me figure that out."
Audrey wrote: "Hi, I'm Audrey. I'm seventeen. I have general anxiety, severe depression, possibly OCD, and I think maybe PTSD but I don't know...? I was hoping someone could help me figure that out."
PTSD is a hard thing to pin point online.
Here are some links:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&s...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&s...
Audrey wrote: "Hi, I'm Audrey. I'm seventeen. I have general anxiety, severe depression, possibly OCD, and I think maybe PTSD but I don't know...? I was hoping someone could help me figure that out."
PTSD is a hard thing to pin point online.
Here are some links:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&s...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&s...
hi everyone I have joined the group. I have a lot of mental problems plus a lot of physical problems. I have no friends at all. I would love to get friends, support, and help here from anyone. I just ask please try not to hurt or ditch me. I want to chat and get to know people however I am really shy and it is very difficult for me to open up to anyone.

Hi Ronald, welcome to the group :)
____
This isn't an introduction because I've been in this group for a while, but I have a question. Do any of you have any advice/experiences on Emotional Support Animals in college? I'm in college right now (I was recently diagnosed with severe social anxiety) and I'm thinking about getting a cat, but I'm not sure if it's the right choice for me. Any insight on this would be very helpful :)
Books mentioned in this topic
Believe, Live, Run: A story about having faith (other topics)Tiny Little Brother (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Stephanie Anne Allen (other topics)F.T. Morgan (other topics)
Welcome Madeline, nice to meet you