Thorn, Rose, Bud: Talking about our mental health

@Downandout Hello, I am 66 and alone.  My husband was verbally abusive so I am divorced.  I feel I should be happy since I'm no longer with him but I am still depressed a lot.  Money is also a problem or will be after awhile because my savings is dwindling.  I have lots of friends but don't see them now since the covid virus.  I do talk to most of them on the phone, a couple of them almost daily.

I have a group of friends that I used to meet with and work on crafts and have lunch but not since the virus for almost a year now.  My 2 boys live in town here and their wives and my grand children but I don't see them very often due to covid.  I realize I should be very happy because I am blessed.

I wish that I could help you in some way.  Do you like to read or have a hobby?  Do you have any pets? These things help me a lot.  Anytime you need an ear to listen I am available. 

 Since covid I feel so isolated and alone this year or should I say last year was going b. My year of change. I wanted to get out meet new friends change my life.  But covid seem to kill all that. I am so depressed.  And I don’t know what to do. I feel hopeless and alone. I left my job after mince years because I was unhappy. But leaving. Did not work out.   I do not regret leaving my job I just wish I knew what to do with my life. Nothing has gone as planned.   I feel so hopeless and alone.  I can’t talk to family. I don’t have any friends. 

My thorn my childhood trauma my bud I'm about to become a first time grandmother. My rose a chance at new love.

For me, my thorn is the depression and anxiety I've been battling alone and not really treating, my bud is that I've started online therapy while being stuck at home and even though it's been hard I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere, and my rose is that I've come back to this group after a while and I can talk to people who get it. :)

Hi my gf is a unmedicated bipolar woman who has so many up & down moods . She self medicates with weed and when she doesn't have any you don't want to be around her

Hey, there KellyJo....I had 3 ECT Treatments in my young life.....My memory was affected afterwards, though....I am stable now, yet I know it put a scare in me to lose some of my memory.....It came back years later.....I thought I was losing it!!! But, I usually have a very good memory of things, especially my past....I am grasping on to it, I guess....I talk about letting go of it in therapy, a lot... I am gradually getting better at simplifying my life through therapy.....My music, drawing, reading, writing books, singing, etc. are all part of my 7 coping mechanisms that I even use today.....Again, I am stable now, and I am doing fine, now....

I don’t know how to explain it. I am happy but I’m depressed too. I feel so alone. I feel like nobody understands me or what I go through every day living with bipolar and PTSD anxiety.I really just feel alone.

I'm symptom free. My medicines work

Hello my name is dekenna and I suffer from depression from the lost my brothers and dad in the spand of four years and nobody understands I can’t talk to friends because it’s if I’m getting on there nerves and I really don’t feel like I have the support I have a therapist but only goes so many way. I’m out ideas don’t know what to do I have nobody I’m all alone and it’s hard because I’ve thought about harming myself please help

My  thorn has been the stigma associated with mental health.  I was diagnosed bipolar 1 when I was 43 yo.  Rather late for the diagnosis but probably could date it back 15 years prior to that but was ashamed myself to admit something was wrong so I ignored stuff for years.  The rose was when a kind hearted team of doctors knew my suicide attempt was a cry for help, told me what was wrong with me and set me in the right direction!  I've had several thorns since then (going to be 65 this year).  But there are several buds along the way.  I have a wonderful relationship going on now.   I have 2 activities that help me focus on the present.  I color and read on a regular basis!!  And I love both!!