Hey!
I'm fairly new to this, so I'm not quite sure how the forum works, so bear with me! My name is Natt, I'm 17 and I'm struggling with some issues which ultimately led to me being taken into hospital by police after phoning Childline because I felt suicidal. I am now getting councilling, and I've been on anti-depressants for the past few weeks. Does anybody have any suggestions for how to handle my mental health? I'm open to all sorts of advice:) I currently write a journal to get my feelings and thoughts off my chest, and I've started yoga, as I've heard excersize is a good way to cope with depression. If anybody has any more suggestions it'd be much appreciated!:)
Do you know why you are depressed? I really admire you for seeking support and doing journal work. Its my opinion that information is key to good mental health. That's why I love studying psych!!! I look forward to hearing from you.
Thankyou for responding! I've struggled with feeling low for the past four years, but recently with a lot of difficult situations I feel as though I have hit rock bottom.
My grandma was sectioned over summer, as she was physically hurting her pets, threatening to kill herself and she was considered a danger toherself and anyone around her. Now I've never really been close to her, as she'scaused issues in the family in the past(she basically refused to speak to my mother because she wouldn't have anabortion). However it has affected mein a huge way, as I became the person everyone turned to to talk about her. I felt I couldn't escape from it. This led to my fathers alcoholism becomingworse, he's been drinking for a long time but it's been so much worserecently. He won't get help or even accept that he has a problem. And asa result of this I haven't got a very good relationship with him. He doesn'tspeak to me unless he's been drinking and it hurts. After my trip tothe hospital after feeling suicidal my mum told him that it was affecting me,he didn't drink for two days and is nowback to drinking. This has made me feel as though my life isn't as importantto him as drinking. I also lost my boyfriend of two years due to mymental state, and that was a huge blow as he was the person I could go to with these issues. I now feel he is doingeverything he can to hurt me, and it's exhausting. I have very few friends asmost friends I had turned to him after the breakup. This led to me feeling very alone and isolated, I felt I just wanted all the pain to stop and I phoned childline, and was taken to hospital.
i can't carry on feeling like this and I hope you can help me!:)
Thanks for sharing your story with me. It sounds like you are a tough and strong person. I'm not an expert and i firmly believe in talking with someone with a lot of education but that's just what I value. I've learned that if we can identify the things that we believe that are irrational, we can challenge those beliefs to change them. One of your beliefs that I picked up on is that you believe that alcohol is more important to your father than you are but what if you found out that this isn't the case? What if you found out that you r very important to your father but he can't share that bc of his disease which is alcoholism? Would knowing that change how you feel about yourself? Have you asked your dad how he feels? Another thing that i have learned is that we should not try to read people's minds. Instead we should ask them how they feel and what they think. I hope this information proves helpful. Can u identify if you have any irrational beliefs that lead to emotional disturbances?
There is this self help guide that i love in this site called managing emotions. Have you seen it?
Yeah I try to be as rational as possible with these situations, but it's difficult you know? On the one hand 'he's my dad of course he cares and loves me' but on the other hand 'why is he still drinking if he knows it's hurting me'. It's a big conflicting argument in my head. And I haven't read that guide actually, but I'd like to read it!
I think u seem very rational, yes. I admire that u care to learn and grow. That is very apparent. Sometimes with addiction no matter how much you want to or how hard you try to quit, you cannot. Most often it takes someone else, typically a professional stepping in. Believe me, I'm sure his addiction has nothing to do with you. Stay strong. Continue to grow by obtaining info. I believe that this will really help you. We all have struggled in life. It sometimes pushes us to grow stronger. Do u believe in a higher power?
I think the value you offer this world is tremendous. U r articulate and seem to really care about others. Those r qualities that sometimes take a long time to develop. U r so young and have already developed those. Keep growing and learning.
Thankyou for your kind words, they mean so much! I don't believe in God if that is what you mean by a higher power:)
Thanks for coming here. I hope you can find the relief you deserve. For me, and this is of course just me, realizing that I had the power to, and had to, control my mind, helped a great deal. Reducing the times and duration I let my thoughts run free over me, reduced the times and duration I felt badly. Take care.
Addictions over a person are a powerful thing, they don't go straight away and the person having the addiction has to choose to give it up.
It's something that you might want to talk to your mum about speaking and having group therapy with your mum dad and yourself. There are a myriad of different options that can be chosen for your family but most in relation to your father need to be accessed by your GP.
In terms of your mental health I would encourage you to seek out a councilor or a professional so you canfind coping mechanismsto handle how this is impacting all of you. School councilor?
It's not an easy task but it can be done. I wish you the best of luck in the future.
