Not engaging with my narcboomerdad as a teen was the best defense I could have utilized and that I am actually sane.
And to everyone who shared, thanks for sharing.
That I don’t have to believe every nonsense my brain comes up with
That my family was crazy. I grew up in a crazy dynamic, looking back now, was like living in a strict dictatorship like North Korea, so I never questioned them.
There isn’t really anything I can do about my depression. It will be lifelong and a constant struggle to work against. Some people’s baseline is just low.
I’m actually a sane, nice person. I’m unhappy because I am dealing with people who aren’t.
That literally never occurred to me. I thought I was the problem.
That when breathing funny is a ptsd trigger, breathing exercises and meditation is a bad idea. Reciting memorized poetry helps more— the Raven did me wonders, Jabberwocky too.
Sorry it isn’t the kind of more generalized advice that applies to more people, but you asked what I discovered about myself, personally. You probably don’t have a ptsd trigger when focusing on your breathing— that probably helps you relax.
I can relate to this. I count backwards in threes
Wait, you people actually discover things at therapy? All I discovered, was what I already knew, but the therapist phrased it more eloquently, and confirmed it.
Not advice I could put into practice, and she said more than I could absorb…
That I feel immense guilt about any time spent not being productive in some way and believed (wrongly) that you can always just plan and to-do list your way out of feeling crappy. I basically learned to forgive myself for needing time to recover from stuff.
That I have severe OCD - like off the charts. Lately it’s been replaying the Charlie Kirk murder video in my head that I accidentally saw at 2:00am in a surprise intrusive image attack. So that’s fun. Other things include checking and rechecking everything I fucking do until I’m exhausted, among many other things.
I think I made the mistake of clicking the same link. It’s a Wikipedia link so how bad can it be?? I’m sure it’s a video taken from far away, right? Wrong. Sorry I clicked it.
The guy might have been a piece of shit but I didn’t need to see his murder from 5 ft away.
I don’t have a fear of change, but a fear of letting people I care about down.
And insane amounts of anxiety.
That I wasn’t Zen about endings, I was just never allowing anyone close.
Being neurodiverse and scoring well on standardized/IQ testing doesn’t excuse being an utter menace.
And “utter menace” in what regard?
Just generally rude and running all over everybody’s boundaries at a whim
I discovered that I wasn’t having panic attacks. I was having seizures. Yay!
How does that work?
Not very well so far
That I didn’t need therapy
lol fair enough
That I have ADHD. Turns out depression and panic attacks were only side effects.
me toooo hi 👋
I had to find out through my brother being officially diagnosed. Turns out I’ve always had symptoms, especially hyperfocus.
Still haven’t bothered to get a full diagnosis and medicine. Waiting to see if RFK Jr. is actually gonna build ADHD concentration camps.
I should really start getting that diagnosis…
Do it. I’ve seen first hand how much treatment can help and have seen it change lives of the people around me for the better.
Not something from therapy per se but I found out antidepressants didn’t seem to work for my chronic fatigue symptoms that seemed like depression because I actually had an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis
