I do have a story to tell about my life dealing with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide attempts. I am working on it at the present time and it will be a long process to get it composed. I want to help others with my story and hope it will inspire others to not give up and know that it will get better.

                                                                                                                  Sincerely,

                                                                                                                   Shonna

I’ve been seeing a therapist since I was six years old. I was diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. When I turned 10 I struggled with anorexia. When I turned 11 I started having problems with increased anxiety and intense mood swings. When I turned 12 I started to self harm and my depression got increasingly worse. In the 8th grade (13) I got a concussion and I was completely isolated from the world most days, the hallucinations I had previously got increasingly worse. I never fit in I had been bullied my whole life, when I went to high school I thought it would change. It didn’t. In high school I had extreme emotions that changed so rapidly I couldn’t keep track, terrible interpersonal relationships, and terrible anxiety. I also struggled with a major binge eating disorder. My friends were never by my side and treated me terribly, rumors were made up constantly. I was sexually abused when I was 14 and raped when I was 15. The first time, my friends said I was being over dramatic, so the second time I ignored the abuse. I have attempted suicide twice. I now struggle with Delayed Onset PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, OCD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The summer I turned 16 I went to a wilderness program in Hawaii. It changed my life. Although I still struggle, I am better. I am better in that I am less impulsive and I have finally come to accepting my sexuality. People with borderline struggle with identity, but with time I found myself more and more. Everything is a process but getting better is possible and some days will be better than others. Stay Strong! 

Navigating a world that often feels cold, insensitive, and unaccepting of mental illness is lifelong work, a healing journey with ups and downs that has no end. As a highly sensitive person who has lived with anxiety/depression/OCD/ADHD since childhood, struggled with self-harm, substance abuse, and eating disorders, and is a rape and domestic abuse survivor, I have sought out many forms of therapy over my lifetime, both traditional and alternative.

One concept that I became familiar with in Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is having a toolbox. Every individual’s toolbox looks different and will evolve over time. It is essentially a list of our skills and techniques for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. I would like to share some of my go-to tools for self-soothing and traversing times of heightened anxiety/the unknown: 

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My name is Jampa T Ritzekura, I am 36 years old and currently reside in Minnesota. About 10 years ago I was going through lots of anxiety, depression, manic, panic attacks, racing mind. I couldn’t take it anymore, lost hope and one day I almost ended up taking my own life. Having an image in my mind of hanging myself. And then I knew that I had to seek for some help. So I spoke to a close friend of mine, Sherab. And he recommended me to watch mindfulness meditation on YouTube by Mingyur Rinpoche. I watched, learned and practiced mindfulness meditation everyday consistently because I didn’t want to end my own life. To the point where I was able to control my own mind. And it has been 10 years now and I am cured from my mental illness and no more panic attacks, anxiety, depression, manic, racing minds and Suicidal thoughts. I want to let everyone know that mindfulness meditation practice everyday can cure your mental illness. Suicide is not the last option, don’t loose hope and don’t give up. Reach out to your friends and family, share your struggles. If I can overcome my mental illness and Suicidal thoughts, so can you.

i was born to an alcoholic father and druggie mother. she left when i was 3 months old my dad was in and out of my life. i grew up between him my aunt and cps. i never knew a stable home. i have battled to keep a relationship and all my friends and family have turned there back all i have is my kids and husband. we are going on 5 years. i have battled self harm suicide bulimia. i hope others can learn to love there self even through there horror of mental health .

Hello.  My name is Jeff.  I’ve been coping with moderdate depression, general anxiety, issues around self-harm, and trauma issues since I was a teenager.  Around age 16 I turned to music and started playing guitar to give me a sense of worth, and accomplishment.  Iplayed a lot of metallica and megadeth when I first started playing.  I ended up at Berklee College of music.  While I was there I made a number of close friends, that I am still in contact with.  I however also began drinking quite a bit.  I wouldn’t drink every day, but when I did I would get totally obliterated.  I was mostly ro compe with anxiety, and to express things I had kept to myself for years out of anxiety.  Ultimately I came to the point where I was drinking alone.  By the time I finfished music school I was self-harming.  The first time or so it was about self punnishment, but before too long I realized that because of the endorphines I would feel ok for about a half hour after. 

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I first thought of suicide in grade school and have struggled with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder for over 10 years. My life was controlled by fear and I have struggled with negative coping skills for years. Self-harm was a way to control the pain I felt and then I ended up turning to substances to numb myself. Because of some childhood experiences and traumas in my late teens and early twenties I developed severe PTSD. I have had several attempts to take my own life with the most recent one being extremely severe over six months ago. I used to hate myself and think the world was better off and that I was a victim of a cruel world. In June of this year I took some of the power back. I decided to learn from my past and look at the positives.

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Mybname is Paul. I have been dealing with mental illness most of my life. I have PTSD, DEPRESSION, ANXIET, AND SUICIDAL TENDENCES.  I mention all of thes in bold lettering to offer a hand to say, “I do struggle myself.”  The blessing is I have a job that allows me to give a little bit of myself back.  I have tried to end my life more then once. I know how addicting cutting can be or just the thoughts of ending everything.  I am the last person to ask for help. Even when I should be the first,  I Apologize if this seems to be all over the place. My mind since my brain injury from assault lt has changed my view on life.  I had to relearn how to walk and talk all over again from being in a comma. I do have static paralyses in my right hand. I am so learning how to better myself every day. Sometimes you just need a little help.  Due the COVID 19. I have retreated and not looked for any support on my own. I experience a few NAMI programs. I would like to force myself to make time to manage my mental health the best I can..So, for inspiration.  I am requesting help.  My life is Stagnant and is a lot of struggling on a daily bases. I work as a personal trainer with people with disabilities. It is very rewarding to know that I am doing with folks is pain management.  And is rewarding the little gains of lowering someones pain and mental outlook on what they can do to better them self. Personally finically I am barely making it for for now.

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When I was 12 I was sexually assaulted twice and stalked. From these events I developed Anxiety, PTSD, Insomnia, Depression, and Trichotillomania. I began to self-harm at 13 and was hospitalized for suicide attempts at 14. It’s been a long hard journey, but there is hope! Keep moving forward, you got this!

        I had battled depression and suicidal thoughts for most of my life. Up until my daughter was old enough to leave home, I was mostly okay because I was able to function in society, hold jobs, have friends. The depression, PTSD, and anxiety were something I pushed aside into the back of my mind as always moved ahead, driven, motivated. I worked multiple jobs and juggled college along with raising a daughter. I filled my life so full of projects and other peoples’ issues I didn’t have any time to think or address my problems. When a dysfunctional relationship stressed me out, caused me to quit working and isolate myself, I began to really see that I was being mentally abused. He tore what was left of my self esteem into shreds. In the fog of my severe depression and mental anguish , I fled my abuser, try as I might it seemed like I couldn’t get any sort of stability in my life back. As I was financially dependent on him, I became homeless. My “friends” abandoned me. My mother told me to go back to him because “you don’t have much going for you” she said. I couldn’t get a job, it seemed. I found that having these problems and not being unattractive physically brought all sorts of people who did not have my best interests at heart. “Friends” took anything valuable I owned and one year ago this month, I found myself utterly alone, with yet another abusive boyfriend who drank and used drugs. I attempted to take my own life. Obviously, I am here, thank God. I just want to let people know that battle severe depression and suicidal thoughts that these feelings, while we hurt from them, aren’t forever, they are temporary. While the pain we feel is real, those thoughts that plague us are not. I know I am not worthless. I know that I am capable of much more. I have renewed hope in the future and as a result, my suicide ideations have ceased to be. I realize that as an active participant now in my recovery, that I will not only be better than before my suicide attempt, but have now the potential to be a much happier person.