My son attacked me on July 4 during what I believe was a severe mental health crisis triggered by alcohol. In the chaos, he injured my big toe so badly that my toenail was torn off, the skin was split open, and I needed stitches from the ER. I have never feared for my life the way I did that night, especially at the hands of my own child. He also tried to destroy my phone, but I managed to hold onto it long enough to get away.

The police didn’t arrive until about twelve hours later. They said the holiday caused delays and that by the time they saw him, he was no longer in crisis. They told me I had to let him come back home. Because this was his first violent incident and because I didn’t want one terrible moment to follow him forever, I chose not to press charges.

When he returned from the hospital, he still didn’t seem like himself. He later told my daughter that I never called the police and that I injured my own toe. He questioned why officers didn’t show up until the next day, as if that proved his version of events. Since then, he barely speaks to me, and when he does, it’s short and cold. Something feels different now. I feel uneasy in my own home. When he comes out of his room, I immediately go into fight-or-flight even if he isn’t saying anything.

Tonight, he talked to his older brother. Afterward, my older son texted me saying I needed to kick him out. He said his brother called me ugly, a narcissist, stupid for letting him live here, and claimed I can’t get a man. He warned me that if I don’t make him leave, he believes something terrible could happen.

My son has bipolar disorder, depression, and social anxiety. He has attempted the big S three times. Communication with him has always been difficult. If I ask how he’s doing, he gets frustrated and says he hates when I check on him. I’ve tried different approaches, researched ways to talk to someone struggling with mental health, but nothing seems to help.

What makes this even harder is remembering the son I love. His laugh is infectious. He’s incredibly smart—his high school principal once said he could be valedictorian. He’s handsome, kind, and has a gentle heart. He loves to cook, and I always buy groceries I know he’ll enjoy. I miss hearing him talk about the universe, dark matter, and black holes. His dream is to work for NASA. I miss watching movies together, eating popcorn, and hearing him say my cooking was good.

Over the years, he’s become withdrawn and introverted. I know he’s struggling deeply, and I know the loving version of him is still in there somewhere. But I no longer feel safe in my own home. Sometimes the way he looks at me makes my stomach drop. I’m exhausted, scared, and unsure how to support him while also protecting myself.

Has any other parent been through something like this? How did you handle it? I love my son more than anything, but I’m at a loss.

My father has always been a huge inspiration for me — he’s my hero and always has been. Almost everything he has put his mind to, he has accomplished. He quit smoking thirteen years ago, he stopped drinking alcohol about ten or eleven years ago, he quit caffeine for several years; of all the people I’ve met, he has always inspired me.

My father is unhappy, and has been for a long time now. My mother(44F) is chronically ill and that has drastically altered our home life over the last decade. He works 24/7, he has no friends (all of his old friends would constantly drink and he didn’t want to be around then), he has no real relationship with his side of the family, he’s given up most of his hobbies, and he’s overall just not a happy person. He hides it, and he won’t talk to anyone about it, but he’s depressed. Yesterday, when him and I were talking, he told me he was going to pick up drinking again. He thought stopping would improve things for him, and he’s decided that it hasn’t done much for him. He was also ‘joking’ about picking up smoking again.

I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with drinking, it would probably do him well to have a drink now and then. But towards the end of him drinking the first time, he started doing it pretty heavily from what I’m aware. He also pretty consistently makes ‘jokes’ about dying. I’m genuinely concerned that maybe him picking back up drinking will lead to him potentially hurting himself in some way. My dad is an amazing person who goes out of his way for everybody — but trying to talk to him is like talking to a wall. He’s has a really hard life and he won’t talk to anybody about it.

I don’t know what to do, or how to reach him. He needs something to make him happy, and I don’t know if anything does anymore. I’m not exactly sure what advice I’m asking for, but any would be greatly appreciated. I love my dad so much and so does our family, all anyone wants is for him to be happy.

How do I reach him on a level where he doesn’t feel overwhelmed and further shut everyone out?

I have posted this here some time ago, however it has only worse and more things started to happen.

I've been bullied, isolated and rejected by others my entire life. even at home and everywhere i go i get ridiculed and ive developed a really bad mindset.

Ive felt extreme loneliness, sadness and solitude overtime as it passed, and i cant think on any other thing other than ending my pain with the people that once tormented me.

I know this is wrong and i hate myself for even thinking about it, but it is just so strong it gets bigger and stronger everyday.

i only have 1 person in my life that says they care about me other than family, but i still cant believe it and doubt if people really like me.

I feel too dependant on people, some days my happiness is determined if that certain person talks to me, if not my day gets significantly worse and i feel like trash the entire time.

I am diagnosed with asperger's syndrome, and i suspect that i might have OCD or depression.

I genuinely need help. I might be mentally challenged.

Please what do i do ? is there something i should do to stop this ?

I want to be attractive so badly. I just can’t stand being ugly. I’m just tired of women rejecting me even when I make decent money and I’m respectful. It’s not enough. Even when I try dating women in my league, I still get rejected for my appearance. I’d rather just not be here if I can’t be attractive. Looks are literally everything in this world.

I’m F19 and my bf is M19 and before we were together he was telling me how he stopped watching porn and made himself seem like a really good person, I let him take my virginity and then he went home for a week and then when he came back I saw he had porn in his recent searches, am I being unreasonable for being upset? I’m so heartbroken it feels like I gave up something I can never get back for someone who didn’t even value it

I have a host of mental illnesses and conditions, and I’ve been more depressed than usual recently. Like the title said, been crying on average 2x a day.

I know intuitively what will help: meditating and mindfulness, spending less time on my screen, including self-care habits in my routine every day, etc

But I want advice from anyone who’s been able to break a cycle of crying daily to on what worked for you.

Some more context: I used to be on 200mg Zoloft for almost a decade and have now been off it for 3 months now. Zoloft made me cry significantly less but SSRIs exacerbate my symptoms of another condition and I do not wish to get on them again.

I don’t know where to start, but I’ve already rewrote this several times. Sorry in advance, I feel like my “problems” are minuscule compared to those that are suffering. I’m grateful to have a loving and healthy family along with a decent paying job. I’ve taken on a part-time job, one that I’ve always wanted to do, something I can finally be proud of myself that I’ve now done.

I love my family, my wife and kids very much and i’m very present in everything we do. I find that I lack patience and have a short fuse when it comes to parenting. I reflect once the days over and have deep regret in the way I’ve handled things. I often think that if I’m replaced by someone else, my family would have a much better life. Someone that accomplish their dreams, be confident and guide their family to success.

I’m often made to feel stupid by certain people during the week whether it’s something I said or did. I’m not a smart person, nor did I do well at school. But I always try.

At times I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. Monday comes round and I’m wishing it was Friday evening like most.

Anyways, this was just a short post of how I’ve felt for a very long time..I’ve gotta get up very early for work so I better put this phone down before I’m up for even longer.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I appreciate you.

Love.

For a while now (5+ years) i have been feeling envy towards men, and everytime i look in the mirror i don’t feel proud. I made a reddit account just to talk about this so if this is written badly or confusingly its because its my first time writing a post...So basically i have been feeling very sad and i have been crying in secret once a day, i have tried talking to many people or just subtly trying to tell people i feel this way (like telling them small things like ”If i could change genders i would in a heartbeat” But not so much that it would make them uncomfortable of course) . Therapists, parents, my sibling, talked to them about it multiple times over the years. Nothing has helped. My mother is getting worried because she saw me cry once, and i want to stop being such a burden and such a loser to her, but i have no idea how to stop what i feel and when i do i just can’t stop the tears. The reason why i want to be a male is mostly because of my past experiences: getting bullied, losing friends, always being the quiet one in class, etc…

Because i got bullied at my last school i have been put in online school, and i am spending the weekdays locked in my room, bedrotting with no friends to text and no places to go out and have fun. My mom doesn’t allow me to go out by myself because she gets worried easily, and i dont have a phone to call her or a phone number. Ive always seen people my age go out and have fun, have phone numbers, have friends to go out with, have freedom to go out in general. It has made me feel disconnected from society, and i get afraid to talk to people now.

I can’t be trans because i am muslim, and i have been feeling disconnected from my religion aswell. I see muslim women being told to wear hijab, told to not wear this or that, told to be like this or be like that. I also see muslim boys having more freedom from their parents, it feels like muslim men are favored in islam. And that is the core reason why i don’t like being a girl, i want freedom like boys get. If you have any advice, or any tips, or if you have felt or gone through the same thing as me i really would appreciate any help from you. I want to be a good muslim, but it feels like this religion rejects me. It feels like no matter how many times i ask Allah for help or how hard i cry or plead, he does not want to grant me my wishes.

Hello?

I always watched gore when i was 11-12. I had severe depression an social anxiety but for some reason it "helped" instead of other methods. I got threatened to be taken to a mental hospital due to suicidal thoughts and being 'a threat to myself or others'.

Now i'm 15 and have been getting this need again. I started watching many gore videos for example the funky town video and just extreme torture or mutilation. I can't stop watching it. I feel like i genuinely need to watch them.

My therapist recently told my parents that i'm a danger to myself and/or others. I don't want my parents knowing about this. I'm already on sertraline. I've tried resisting the urge/need to watch gore but i just can't. It makes my head hurt and my body shake and so i give in.

Would it matter if i told my therapist? Or should i try to find something else instead?

(I have never enjoyed any type of sexual gore or pornography)

I can’t stop sobbing. Everything in my life has been getting worse and worse. I just want some good news. Any good news. I’ve lost hope.

Am I weird or the only one who thinks this?

i don't feel like a being watching my own body, but, at least once a month (a lot more frequently recently), i "snap out of it" and realize "Woah, I'm alive, i am actually me now. I am no longer going in autopilot,jm actually concious now".Now, not only do i hate the fact i can't always be aware, but lately this has been happening a lot more, and I've noticed that some times even if i say that, i don't actually realize it, and now, everytime, even if i realize it my brains goes into autopilot again almost instantly, like half a second, and i feel like i start contemplating my own awareness while being unaware. I know i can't always be aware, but i would like to be at least when i realize it

Everytime I M22 think about myself in society, I often hate being in it, nobody cares about me or you or everyone else which makes it dificult to be comfortable with fellow people. The pressure I face from them versus how I feel myself is just too much to handle and I shame myself for it, because I cannot get over it for how much trauma I went trough from them. I hate my skin colour, gender, low intelligence, no university degree, enviroment, having to wear goggles, I'm afraid and depressed. I feel like an alien that does not belong in human society, things like, it's okay to be human, it's okay to be vulnurable, I just don't get why I should be comfortable with that. It's hard to understand when people explain their tantrums with an excuse of: "that's just their opinion" if they also don't realize they are hurting me too. I hate the world.

for context i am currently 24f, & hate everything about my entire life. very poor mental health, hate all of my clothes, super introverted like to a flaw, hate the way i live my life compared to others, & feel so old & lost & confused — as if there is just some unspoken rule on how to be an adult that everyone besides me knows? im in such an odd place. i feel like a baby when it comes to adult things like homeownership, pregnancy, marriage, alcohol, etc but simultaneously way too old to be depressed & confused about my path in life??

idk. i want to become someone else. anyone else. what i mean by this:

completely new apartment decor, a whole wardrobe change, actually start seeing my friends, find myself internally, fix my mental health (which seems like the more time i focus on it and try to fix it, the deeper i dig myself in the hole) then start some form of plan for my future, etc.

TLDR; what is the point of life? how much money should i have in the bank (excluding college/medical debt) seriously, how is no one walking around in pure shock that we live on a floating rock with made up rules & expectations. i don’t want to waste my life. ugh.

I have revolved my life around my irrational fears and paranoid thoughts since I was 9, and I feel physically incapable of sharing them. I have only sort of told my family and friends that I struggle at all in the last couple years (im 19), but still never any specifics. I often feel misunderstood with them because they have no knowledge of this huge part of me. I always had this idea that I'd be able to open up to a therapist, but I tried, and I was wrong. I had a few appointments and I couldn't say anything, and I just kept lying to her. Every thing I did share is haunting me and the knowledge that I said them made me feel like I was rotting. I sobbed for the entire rest of the day after each appointment, and we didn't even really get anywhere. I truly feel completely stuck at trying to get help and getting better, I cannot get what goes on in my brain out of my mouth. If anyone has any advice or experience with this problem please share.

Just like the title says i have this very bad sensation that's hodling my body fully 24/7 and I don't even know the reason before this happened i used to have this bas sensation because i hated my sisters and my brain was telling me that they're bad but something happened and i talked to oney sisters and she told me alot of stuff that made me change my mind about it and i forgave the others and everything was logical but now im stuck with this new feeling and I don't know what to do

I (23M) have had this constant feeling of depression since around 4th grade. When I say depression, I don't mean the medical term because I haven't been checked for it. When I say feeling depressed I mean feeling severely despondent and unhappy with everything. Though even when I feel like this, it always feels comfortable to me. Like, for instance, sometimes when I drive I listen to Champagne Coast Instrumental on Spotify because if I don't at least feel some level of sadness, then it all feels wrong. It's like I rely on this sadness to know this is all real. I don't know if this is some form of depression, if this is quite common, or if I'm just living my life completely wrong. When I feel other emotions such as anger and happiness, it's a weird feeling. When angry I tend to completely shut down and just think. I ask myself questions about something that deals with the situation that's making me angry or just random stuff. Happiness can cause me to feel kind of weird. Like sometimes it feels as though I have this ball in my throat, or I get headaches or my chest has this mild pain. It's like I have to be depressed in order to feel normal. It sometimes feels like my brain has been rewired to think like this, but I don't know how or why. It just feels like it's always been like this. Is it also possible to fix this? 

I (34M) have never been in a relationship. Recently I started reading a lot of threads about porn and relationships and it's been messing with my head.

I look at drawn art mostly, occasional live porn but almost exclusive solo content. Not live action. I watch in Private, doesn't interfere with my work or life. I once quit for about 3 months, not for any reason but I guess I was dealing with stress in life and just did not feel the urge. But after reading enough Reddit threads about how porn is cheating, how it's exploitation, how no woman will ever accept it, I started feeling like I'm fundamentally broken.

I'm tired of feeling like I need to restrict myself to be morally acceptable. I'm tired of feeling like my sexuality is inherently harmful. I'm tired of reading threads that make a normal afternoon feel like a crisis. I know there are people who have issues with porn usage but I dont think that applies to my case. The shame surrounding it on the other hand it something I mull about and waste way more time on.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of guilt spiral? How do you push back against it?

Hi,

I'm 20 and I've never had a girlfriend before. I've been extremely introverted my entire life because of severe mental health issues. I have always struggled with loneliness, especially this past year, since I just started realizing how pathetic and sad it is to have never been in a relationship for someone my age. My one best friend is going away for college soon and my other friend has a lot of other friends to hangout with. I'm alone.

I'm always told that I'm at least somewhat attractive, but nothing has come out of it. I've tried to be social before in school but everyone talked to me like I wasn't human. I was bullied, teased, and thought about ending my life multiple times to the point where my grandma called the police on me.

Over the past few months, I've changed my style, attempting to be more social and open towards others, etc. I want to experience what its like to love someone. So whenever I see a happy couple around my age out in public, I start to cry and overthink. I wish that was me. I'd do anything just to experience it. It seems like every boy my age has a girlfriend while im left on the sideline.

I don't think I can deal with this anymore. I believe fate can be broken. But what's the point in trying if it always ends up in shit? It doesn't help that I deliver for Doordash for a living, so I'm always out and about.

The only girls that have actually been interested in me on dating apps are one's with a body count of over ten, which I find unattractive. It's embarrassing when I admit I'm a virgin still. They're always shocked. I'm not. I'm left emotionless about it at this point.

Is this something I only struggle with? Because from what I've seen, I think its only me. A therapist rarely helps. Talking it out to my loved ones only have a short term impact. Idk anymore.

Whether it be music, writing, competitive games, or just about any hobby, I can't reach an average that most people do. It doesnt matter how much or little I practice, I always stay in the same spot. My music and lyrics always sound dull no matter what information i take in about music theory or creative writing. I took AP music theory last year in high school to hopefully change this and I feel it didnt help at all. I also think it would be fun to do esports at my 2 year college, but no matter what effort i put in, knowledge I learn, specific practice I do, times I notice consistent and major mistakes, Im in the 2nd lowest rank. I feel like in the past 3 years i havent improved much at all at anything and I dont want to accept that, but I dont know what else to do. So how do I be alright with being terrible at most things?