Recent content by TeaLeaf

I am so sorry that you had to deal with your moms abusive and blaming behavior. It's very sad that she would prefer to keep secrets and protect abusers rather than defend her child. It is NOT your fault, I know that is hard to see because your parents are making you feel like you did something...

I went away for the weekend with my husband and we were on our way to a nice restaurant for dinner. Then I got a text from my mother wishing me a happy birthday and seeking to have a relationship with me. I was shocked. And then I was saddened and stressed. This person was physically and...

I can unfortunately relate to this. Because of the way I was raised, I wouldn't consider having any male friends. I just consider it inappropriate to have close male friends if you are in a serious relationship, it just wasn't something I saw done growing up. Too much potential for cheating...

I come from a large family and there is quite a spectrum in terms of what types of abuse we all suffered. Some of my siblings are completely turned off emotionally, get uncomfortable when the horrors of our childhood are brought up, defend our parents to some degree, appear to have really...

fallingwave- I can so relate to what you said. I feel lonely a lot of the time, sometimes even when I am around lots of other people that care for me. I'm not managing the feeling of isolation and loneliness real well right now. In the past few weeks, I have been having challenges at work...

I have suffered a lot in my life and struggled through an abusive childhood, depression and PTSD. Today and the past few weeks as well as large portions of the past two years have been amazing- I've been able to experience joy and peace in my life, something I never thought possible. There...

JEK- that is amazing, great work!

These posts make me upset at the providers whose job it is to be empathetic to people. This year I was invalidated by a doctor when I had physical problems and she kept asking me what stressful life events I had around the time it started even after I told her multiple times that nothing...

Is he going to therapy or is that all a possibility? It would be very difficult to build a relationship if one person avoids emotional intimacy and the other craves it. Very easy for resentment to build up. As another posted indicated, its hard to fully start over because there is the...

I have the same issues as you do sometimes, worrying about what might happen and not feeling safe enough when it's time to go to sleep. What helps for me is exercise, it decreases my anxiety and I usually worry a lot less about what could happen. I don't do it everyday but I definitely notice...

Sallysue- I just wanted to chime in to tell you that you are not alone. I have been in therapy a very long time and I still sometimes get upset at myself too for not being able to handle situations on my own and to still need my therapist at times. For me this can partially be explained by...

"bright light therapy" is just the term for the lamps with a specific level of brightness, usually 10,000 lux for white lights and set for a specific time interval, usually 15-30 minutes in the morning and sometimes also in the afternoon to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder. Its helped me a...

I have also been in marriage counseling and can tell you some of my most desperate moments and intense suicidal thoughts have been triggered by difficulties in my marriage or triggered by marriage counseling. Couples counseling is hard work and much more painful than individual counseling, in...

Enough- first of all, hugs to you, it sounds like you are going through a terrible time. I've been at the point you are describing more times than I can count so I definitely get the urge to commit suicide. For me, sometimes it was comforting, I felt like at least I had some control in my...

Have you tried bright light therapy? It sounds like everything got way worse when the weather changed, your symptoms also sound like seasonal depression; fatigue during the day, restless at night