Introduction Thread

[Civet Moon]

Now that we have some new people joining this guild, I thought it would be nice to have a thread where everyone can come and introduce themselves. Perhaps you can tell us what your interest in mental illness or psychology in general is, and why you decided to join the guild.

I guess I'll start, since I am the one making the thread.

I'm Civet. I'm a 21 year old art student, and I've been interested in psychology, particularly abnormal psychology since I was a teenager. I took an intro to psych course in high school, but since my teacher was a bit senile and took two minutes just to say her own name at the beginning of each class, we didn't learn all that much. So I have been studying it a bit on my own, and took a college level intro to psych course last semester, as well.

I have some social difficulties as well as some sensory sensitivities, but I am not diagnosed with any sort of disorder or illness. I suspect that I may have either Asperger's Syndrome, social anxiety, or a combination of the two of them.

As for why I joined this guild, well, that's probably apparent from my previous two paragraphs, already smile .  

[Llelwyn]

I'm Llelwyn, I'm 19 and a psychology major (planning to be a clinical psychologist).

I've been diagnosed with clinical depression and AD/HD, and whenever I get to see my psychiatrist I'm going to get him to diagnose my PTSD and anxiety disorder. Fun fun.  

[Doctrix]

A bunch of ya' already know me. I'm Alex! I'm 23 years old and disabled. I wasn't very interested in Psychology at all until I got diagnosed with chronic, Paranoid Schizophrenia in 2002. Now that I'm experiencing the difficulty of daily living with the symptoms and stigma of a mental-illness, I'm becoming more interested in the subject of Psychology as well as advocacy for the mentally-ill. I like making friends on Gaia, so feel free to PM me with questions, or whatever, even if you're a n0rm! wink  

[1000NoKotoba]

Kotoba, 16 years old, Gamer/Novice Anime Artist. Currently under Depression, in remission, PTSD, and Stuttering. Had a ruled-out diagnosis under AS. Currently in HS pursuing a career in... dang, I dunno. sweatdrop Maybe I'll become a SpecEd teacher in the school I used to go to or something. I poke the forum every now and then... but the greed for gold is starting to overtake me. I'll have to stave it off with DDR or something.  

[SassyGrrrl]

hi, i'm sassio and my sis is diagnosed schizofrenic. i am 35 years old (yes, that old biggrin ) and she will turn 40 this year.
when she was 24 she got her first psychosis, do we didn't know what it was at that times, just thought she was being rebelious.
anyway, she was submitted to a psychiatric hospital then because she heard voices and saw persons that weren't there. that was really scary to be in the same room and see her shout at those people that i didn't see. she was very scared, and all you/i could do the get her calm again was hug her big time and sit by her bed till she fell asleep.

that was 15 years ago, she's been medicated for live, lives in a home with other people with a 'psychiatric; background and has to take medication for the rest of her live. she doesn;t at times, and then the psychoses start again. the past 4 years, she has had one about every year and she being my big sister that is hard to look at. it hurts me too to see her in a way you wouldn't want for anyone, family or not.

anyway, so far for now, there's lots more to tell, but let's keep this an introduction, right? ;o))

greetz, sassio  

[Doll Parts]

Heya everybody...

I'm Lucy, 14...have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bipolar. I find psychology really interesting and just...erm, yeah...  

[Memento Mortalis Es]

Smart Alex

A bunch of ya' already know me. I'm Alex! I'm 23 years old and disabled.

Disabled? I didn't know that. How so?

Dang, I gotta go. I'll edit my post later to put my introduction in.

EDIT: Here we go.

I was originally diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age, but that was changed to Asperger's Syndrome after a while. I have made so much progress with it, though, that I'm probably only Aspeger's-like now. I enjoy reading about and hearing on the radio the self-told stories of people with similar things to what I have. I do this because I often learn about myself in the process. For example, I once read Songs of the Gorilla Nation, the autobiography of a woman with undiagnosed Asperger's. In it she mentioned that she likes to wear big leather jackets because she finds the weight comforting. Now, for years I have insisted that I only wear pants with tons of pockets because I fill all the pockets with a bunch of stuff. I realized while thinking about that book and that statement that the reason I do that is because I find heavy clothing comforting. I thought of other times when I wore somebody's big, heavy clothing, and I remebered enjoying that too. Soon after realizing that, I got a big leather jacket, and I'm happy now. Squee.

I also have a fascination with psychology and the human mind.  

[lelybee]

hi, im leslie, 19, and a psych student at the university of oregon  

[Doctrix]

Manhattan

Smart Alex

A bunch of ya' already know me. I'm Alex! I'm 23 years old and disabled.

Disabled? I didn't know that. How so?

I'm mentally disabled because of my illness. I'm trying to hold down a job so that I won't be on disability forever. X-P But a lot of the time I'm not functional enough to make enough money to pay for my treatments, so I have some government benefits.  

[dangerous_jade]

Hey, all! I'm Kate, 19, currently attending college in Washington. Diagnosed almost two years ago with depression and generalized anxiety disorder. I was pretty under control until this fall, when I fell very ill (some bloody virus that no one's ever heard of but has stronger effects than mono and sticks around longer to boot). I missed a lot of classes, which led to a few professors failing me and the school board trying to kick me out. I was allowed to stay on probation, but that means that I can't be involved in extracurriculars. Kindof a bummer when I'm majoring in Theatre and Communications but I can't be in productions or write for the newspaper. *sighs in frustration* And then my ex-boyfriend starts sexually harassing one of my best friends, leading her to seriously consider leaving school (which she just did, but for family reasons). Needless to say, I'm having a hard time getting a grasp on life right now. It's especially difficult when my closest friend tells me that I'm being melodramatic and says that I use my disorder as an excuse. My doctor is switching me to a new prescription, so hopefully it will help and I won't feel like such a stranger in my own skin. I just don't know how to explain how I feel to friends and family when they can't seem to see it from my perspective. Does anyone else have this problem?  

[Fira]

Hey everyone! My name is fira and Im 17-years old. Im just interested in psychology and philosophy as of late and Im just self-researching on some matters. I did a guild search on psychology and came upon this guild so yeah. I just graduated from high school recently so learning about psychology is just for burning my time just before college ^__^

Ive never been clinically diagnosed but I used to be suicidal and depressed when I was around 13-14. Its not as bad anymore but the thoughts do come up when Im not feeling so good. But so far, its been okay.  

[Fira]

M is for M+Ms

fira

Hey everyone! My name is fira and Im 17-years old. Im just interested in psychology and philosophy as of late and Im just self-researching on some matters. I did a guild search on psychology and came upon this guild so yeah. I just graduated from high school recently so learning about psychology is just for burning my time just before college ^__^

Ive never been clinically diagnosed but I used to be suicidal and depressed when I was around 13-14. Its not as bad anymore but the thoughts do come up when Im not feeling so good. But so far, its been okay.

What happened when you were 13-14 to make you depressed?

What exactly does 'suicidal' mean in this sort of context? redface I can't quite figure it out.

dangerous_jade - It's sad that your friends and family can't understand. sad I know a little of what you mean, but haven't really been in circumstances like that. My dad can't understand me having a phobia (not a clinicaly diagnosed phobia, and I doubt it's severe enough to be but I feel the word 'fear' is innacurate here). He thinks I'm being childish and stupid or I am nervous about soemthing else or that I think someone is going to attack me (which I suppose is a possible subconcious cause).
Anyway, try to compare how you feel to other situations, or just try to explain normally. I don't think it could make things worse, and they would probably improve their understanding, even if it was still bad.

Sorry for not being more direct sweatdrop . I had problems at school and most of the other kids kind of made me as an outcast. One time when I was 13, me and my only friend (not myself mind you) had a fight and she turned the whole class against me and no one would talk to me and I was basically a loner. Even when I tried to strike up a conversation, no one would really pay much attention - even once, my "friend" challenged a classmate of mine to slap me in the face and she did. I was too shocked and cried. I always locked myself in my room at home and think of ways to kill myself. I always thought of slitting the vein in my wrist and I had razor blades in my room. I never really attempted to slit but I did slash the razor on my skin..just enough to feel the sharpness and the skin breaking (but not to the point of bleeding). My family just moved from our house into a condo not too long ago and often at times, I always wondered what it would be like if I were to open the window, climb out and let go (we live on the 29th floor). Dont worry though : Im too much of a chicken to go ahead with it. I have too much going on right now and life has been much better since I graduated 3 months ago. I have a great boyfriend, I have an awesome bestfriend and Im really close with my family compared to before. I dont mean to be so much like a stereotypical goth teenager (which Im not but Im just being stereotypical) but my school years were hell.  

[Doctrix]

dangerous_jade

Hey, all! I'm Kate, 19, currently attending college in Washington. [...] I just don't know how to explain how I feel to friends and family when they can't seem to see it from my perspective. Does anyone else have this problem?

Hey, if you're in Washington, as in Washington state, so am I!

I totally understand how you feel. I can't tell you how many times family and friends have told me to "just stop" doing something that I can't control due to my illness. X-P