I think having no pre-warning is the most annoying thing. I always feel really bad organising something with friends a few days in advance, then waking up on the day and thinking 'I really cannot be bothered today'. Then it's the lesser of two evils - To go out and spend the day staring into space or to let them down and bail out. It's definately affected my social life in a big way. Nowadays I have a small circle of good friends and that's about it. But I think I'd rather have it like that anyway. I get really annoyed at myself if I blow them out though.

My aunt/school counsellor for another school told me she thought i was exhbiting signs of Avoidant Personality Disorder.

So I've decided to get out more and join more forums :D

Looks like we're all Axis II whores, then!

Amen sistah! :bowdown:

That "Avoidant personality disorder" is rubbish, I'd say more than half of teenagers are socially awkward or shy in some way, doesn't mean they have a disorder. People just love labeling themselves with a disorder of some kind so they don't face up to their problems: eg: "I don't have any friends, I don't talk to anyone, nothing I can do about it's just a disorder I have"

I have a disorder known as Trichotillomania (horrible name) which means i have a hair picking compulsion. It started with eyebrow picking but once i got facial hair i started picking that, leaving big old bald patches. I also pick scabs a lot. It's not as bad as it used to be, i've half controlled it with a lot of wrist slapping, but it's still a pain in the arse.

I believe I have mild OCD, like I wash my hands a lot, and my general disliking for germs and such. But it isn't a problem because I can work around it.

Getting depressed spells every once in a while too I guess but I'm sure that's pretty normal. Especially at this age, when the girl you like is fucking around with someone else.

I guess I find solace in my solitude as well, but then again who doesn't appreciate some alone time? I hate when people amplify their problems more than is necessary and I guess it happens a lot when everyone thinks their life can't get possibly worse that anyone else's. I guess life on the whole is fucked up. And we should just try and enjoy it for it is when we can instead of bitching about it to everyone every chance we get.

I've got self diganosed demotivational syndrome... I blame pot.

I actually went to school with a guy who was declared clinically insane.

So I basically stopped talking to him...

Reminds me of a guy who used to live down my street when I had an apartment in Florida for a couple years. He was probably around 30 or so. This guy, his hair looked like a bird made a nest in it, so everyone called him bird nest, naturally. Anyway, he used to come over every so often and there was always something strange about him. Comes out, he was a paranoid schizophrenic and a bunch of other stuff who never took his meds.
The guy actually told me that he was the reason 911 happened, and had this whole disjointed story to go along with it. He also always used to talk about having "a white horse, and a black horse, who represented two sides of himself and dictated future events".
After a while, some friends reported watching him have a nervous breakdown, completely in the nude, in the corner of his house that he shared with mother, screaming about demons or something.

One thing I gotta say though, we had a party at my place and he brought over his amp and guitar, and when he played, it was the best guitar playing I've ever heard... Not so much for composition, but this guy's solos were insane. No pun intended. I always asked if he wrote his own pieces and he always changed the subject, but when he eventually told me, he said he wrote hundreds of songs and notes on paper but always burned them because he was afraid the recording studios would come and steal them and make millions off his work.
Poor guy. I wonder what ever happened to him.

Creativity and mental illness tend to go hand in hand. There's even a wiki article about it!

if you're wasting half your time on a forum you might have Disorders and Character Flaws

Not really a smart comment coming from someone in that group.

Really though, if a guy enjoys spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in his closet petting a sock... is he really wasting his time? I think the real character flaws are those that lead people to believe their own opinion is somehow valid for everyone else.

i know i'm in that group that's why i posted that :usehead:

To be more precise, creativity and bipolar disorder.

Well that's the most common. Depression is too. As is the case with our friend Van Gogh. Or, more specifically, Major Depressive Disorder. I read that the main factor is latent inhibition. There's a wiki for that.

You should have read the second part of my post. It kind of makes the point that you're not wasting your time by being here if you enjoy being here.

Do you think you're wasting your time here?

Well I certainly enjoy being here, it takes me away from the hectic hassles of life.

yes :beer:

It's an easier to just relax at, after a school day and day with my mom trying to be as they wish I was.

This thread was very interesting for me to read. I do have several medically diagnosed "disorders," but to refer to them as character flaws is somewhat humorous to me. While I am prone to moodiness and impulsive outbursts I do not consider it any part of my personality that is worth dwelling over. Honestly, I find many other people I deal with in day to day situations way more "flawed" than I am, because not of some disorder but simple insecurity. Social interaction I believe causes most of the flaws in personality and only through loving who you are and not believing you are inherently flawed is how you can have effective interpersonal relationships. Disorders where you are prone to getting angry or sad should not effect your life as much as people give it credit for. To really have an happy life I believe you need to surround yourself with people who love you unconditionally and when you experience this love you will find many of the "side-effects" of your disorder to be lifted. Personally, because of the people I have surrounded myself with I no longer even need to be medicated because I am so comfortable in my life and trust those around me so much.



Furthermore most of these understandings people have on this thread seemed to be solely formed from wikipedia, which in no way is an understanding of how it is to live with a disorder or to really know what it is or how it works. I promote understanding and acceptance and I truly feel for those who are still trying to figure out what it all means, but I plea to you in no way believe that it means you are a defect in society. The only defects in society imo are those who only think of themselves no matter whom they hurt.

eh, this doesn't make total coherent sense but try to take some points from it.

I'm pretty much sure I have something going under the radar, but meh. Who doesn't everyone has a disorder these days.

I don't know if could be considered anxiety disorder or not but I get anxious quite often, but it's only because of Tachycardia, cause I get scared.
Other than that, if I have any disorders I don't know about it.
I do think I should go see a therapist, my heart doctor suggested I should go to a therapist sometime.

As for character flaws, don't even get me started on that one. I have too many.

I'm just extremely quiet in public, what's that called? And don't say shy cause I know that.

you're shy. you don't have a "disorder." you can choose to not be shy. have some responsibility, get on with your life.

I drink too much sometimes when I am down but that is a mechanism and not a disorder.

I have no disorders or medical conditions. It's called life and each and everyone of us goes through it.

A harsh personal trauma is a reasonable excuse for certain behaviour but c'mon. If you haven't been through that then you are just going through life like the rest of us.

We all go through similar emotions unless we visit a shrink and then we can acquire names for the same emotions that we all go through.

Again I have stated that certain things DO happen to people and it is understandable that they feel that way and I respect that. But 80% of us just think too much and are desperate to have an ailment to hide beneath.


I just think people should try to be mentally tougher instead of hiding behind a medical term.

I'm assuming you're not talking about bonafide mental disorders, right?

I do think that many many people 'assume' disorders instead of facing up to the real world.


Again. I will not negate genuine Mental disorders out of hand but even 50 years ago many were unheard of.

I have been through tons of **** in my life but I will not hide behind a medical term in order for me to function unless it directly impacts upon my life.

There are so many people out there messed up and I feel for them but there are many too who are just down and lack purpose. Life is a crock people. We all have to deal with it.

I agree in the sense that there are people who tend to use the guise of sickness as a crutch for not being able to cope with life, but if it's actually a physical/chemical problem, there's really not much that can be done about it by will alone. I know you realize that, but you bring up a very interesting question with the statement "even 50 years ago many were unheard of"...
I'm sure you recognize something like paranoid schizophrenia as being an actual disorder. But before it was studied and confirmed as a disorder, I'm pretty sure people thought sufferers were inflicted with demons or something equally ridiculous. The point being, with the changing times, our knowledge grows (or at least changes) and our perspectives will follow suit. While it's convenient to place a solution at the door of issues we try to compartmentalize in the absence of proof, it holds no practical value to the people who do believe they're suffering if they actually happen to be suffering.

paranoid schizophrenia is something that is very serious and indeed, very noticeable and again. It's something that I can notice in someone but that is not what I was pertaining to ( even if It seemed that way :)

I just abhor people being depressed at the hand that life has dealt them and use it as an excuse for their behaviour thereafter when it's something that many of us go through-parents splitting, leaving home etc and getting a name for it.

I had 17 different addresses before I was 21, I was a father at 21, my parents split when I was 14 and I am partially blind- so what? I am still alive and healthy and full of life. Emotions are stacked in the attic, only to be brought out out when a clear out is needed.

Too many people hide behind new labels of loneliness for me. life can quite honestly go feck itself.

RT has been through far worse then me over the past couple of years and is still far stronger then the crop of whingers around these days.

Agreed. But you're both grown, mature adults who were able to cope and carried on to the point where you are now. You have to expect some others to not be at that level. You can only hope that they will be, eventually. But having been there and through it intact, you should know that it's not the same as just taking someone's word for it. ;)

I went through a six month stage of everytime I felt nervous I was physically sick. No exaggeration. Everytime I went on a date I was sick beforehand or after, its a miracle I wasn't sick during.

edit: that was just one example of a nervous situation. I was sick because I was nervous about driving once. total lightweight.

It took me 2 years to feel comfortable enough to get my permit. On this past Friday I got my license.. finally. Feelsgoodman.

Congrats!! I passed mines recently too! :D

Autism here. Aspergers syndrome to be precise.
Able to function pretty normal, not able to have a job or finish a school (so far).
I'm pretty social, but I am very, very bad with authority and I'm not all that good at adapting. I'm pretty good at surrounding myself with the right people to avoid the adapting problem ;).

I've been looking for the right word for days now, but I can't seem to find the translation: I get my money from the government. They pay me every month because I've been tested (lots of times...) and turns out I have good reasons not to be able to attend a job.
But what do you call it in proper English when you are receiving your payment from the government and are allowed not to work?
If there's any dutch person reading, I'm searching for translations for "Uitkering" and "Afgekeurd" ;).
Google translate comes up with "benefit" and "rejected". Does that make sense?
I'm not sure about benefit, but rejected just sounds to generic for me ;D

Disability?

That's what we call it in the U.S. Although it's more appropriately titled "Disability benefits", most people I know just shorten it to Disability.

Disability Benefits. Sounds logical to me.
Jup, did some googling and that's about right.
I'll try to remember that :)

Thanks again! You're really helping me out tonight.
Compared to most people I know here my English is above average.
But wanting to express oneself is a lot harder than I thought.

Indeed. :)

I've been diagnosed with rapid-cycling Bipolar I, but I can't afford my medicine or therapy anymore, so I just have people around me who help me to cope. They can see my moodswings coming from a mile away now, and while I'm not completely healthy, it really does help to have a strong core of support surrounding me.

I do hope to be able to go back eventually, but I feel that I definitely have a lot of help and people to reach out to as it is. It does suck, though, because I feel a bit ashamed of the whole thing and don't feel comfortable a lot of times bringing new people into my life because I'm terrified that they'll realize what's up and be like, "This I can not deal with. I can't deal with you. I'm leaving."