Skip to main content
Forums Home
Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Our stories

Historylover
Senior Contributor

Why can't I change this?

Hey everyone, I'm just checking in for a bit of company as things are getting on top of me at the moment. That business with the magpies the other day has left me feeling spooked. I wish I could say it might have been a good omen, but it didn't feel that way. I can't get out of this mess and it's just a matter of time until I can't take any more of this nightmare. It's not just the isolation, which is enough trauma by itself, but the many betrayals I've been subjected to continue to play on my mind, always bubbling away just under the surface. Nothing will ever turn them off from replaying and bubbling to the surface, so the distress plays on, all the time. It's the damned injustice of it all and the pain it causes. 

 

I rang a chat line earlier today but my phone just kept cutting out before I got connected. I didn't want to talk about my problems, just the opportunity to talk for a while. To feel human.

 

An audience member on a television program several nights ago was talking on a similar subject–scams. He said lies are like rats. When you find one, you know there are lots of others. How true. My relationship with my ex-psy–and my family–keeps unravelling in my mind. I can't stop it. The lies, the treachery, the betrayals, the duplicity. I don't know how anyone can do that to another. If I was given the opportunity to offload all of this on another, I like to think I'd decline. Could I look at another person whose life had been hell already to the extent that their personality was extensively damaged, fix it, get them to trust me implicitly, promise them a better life path, then betray them when there was no chance they could recover? And help all others to do the same to me? I hope not. Even in my lowest times, I really don't think I could do it and walk away with my head held high. I'd be living with it for the rest of my days. None of them have a twinge of conscience. 

 

I'll never fit in anywhere. I've tried everything already. I don't self-sabotage–my situation just makes me a sitting duck for other's abuse and I just can't take anymore of it. I am in such pain.  I'm hoping for a heart attack which would fix everything. 

 

I just want a little bit of happiness. I hurt so badly. I don't trust anyone in the real world. I just wait to see what calamity they will inflict on me next.

 

No e-mails, please. I'm still safe.

22 REPLIES 22

Re: Why can't I change this?

Magpie-wise, you may be sitting on opportunities. This is how our relationship with dogs evolved.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqSbDcks_uA

 

Re: Why can't I change this?

Thank you @wellwellwellnez, it brought a much needed smile to my face. Thank you.

Re: Why can't I change this?

Our situations and conditions are different. I still wouldn't mind sharing my notes, from a cult-survival point of view. One of my things is the process of de-programming and re-programming. It's a real story/touchy-feely analogy.

 

I had a song stuck in my head. It was a cover of the Pokemon theme song. A really good one. It's hold was deep. I kept it going deliberately for a while, it was that catchy, but every song has there limit. In not too long it was exhausting the poor little mp3 player in my mind.

 

So, I tried a new thing for me. I put a bunch of other songs of similar intensity in my head with it. In a weird way choosing similar intensity songs was key. I countered with raw 80s rock stuff. "Holding out for a Hero", "Final Countdown", "Manhunt" that sort of thing. It felt like the martial principle of choosing redirection (as opposed to deflection). After a while I could control song choices and volume again.

 

What do I think I learned from this. I think I learned that trauma recovery is definitely about moving on but sometimes it's all about taking things back.

 

Also, have you seen the TED talk using a cow as anti-depressant story? It echoes some of your thoughts you were saying about the "science" of psychology. Added the link if anyone's interested.

 

https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_this_could_be_why_you_re_depressed_or_anxious

 

Re: Why can't I change this?

@Historylover  

A virtual cow is probably better than saddling you with a real one.  @wellwellwellnez Thanks for that TED talk.

MOOCOW-plain-export.png

 

Had some good moments today...

but a bit of SI yesterday ... due to ruminating about one of those past horrible interactions we have to move forward and away from.  

I still feel the forum is more my tribe than anything I have yet encountered.

Just sending a Cooee ...

 

Re: Why can't I change this?

Your not alone I felt similar today.i went for a walk .it helped a little forced to move to unfamiliar area .feel like I'm in a different country.

Re: Why can't I change this?

@wellwellwellnez, thank you again. My mood has lifted completely. It is amazing that every time I offload here when I am unable to continue without doing so, as soon as others respond, my mood immediately lifts. I had been thinking maybe I should go on anti-depressants for a while, but your response has been the 'cow' I needed. I'm back on deck again. Thank you.

 

I enjoyed the TED talk. I may have seen it before. He talks a lot of sense. Ordinary people do, don't they? It is the experts who are totally out of their trees. I'm a great fan of Paula J. Caplan's youtube videos. @chibam put me on to her several years ago. A spirited lady with great intelligence and willingness to fight to correct the stench of psychiatry, DSM-V, medication, conflict of interest etc.

 

Cheers, @wellwellwellnez. Have a good weekend. 👍

Re: Why can't I change this?

Cooee to you too, @Appleblossom. Sorry to hear of your SI yesterday but pleased today has been a bit brighter. So hard to get those replays out of our head, isn't it? Love the cow. Cheers.

Re: Why can't I change this?

Hello @Marilyn52. Thank you for dropping in. Sorry to hear you haven't had a good day today either. I hope your mood lifts as well and as quickly as mine has.

 

You've been forced to move to an unfamiliar area? I've been worrying about how I would cope if that happened to me for any reason. We get familiar with an area and become part of the suburb. If you keep up with the walks, perhaps you'll feel part of the place in no time. Take care. Sending best wishes.

Re: Why can't I change this?

oh @Historylover 

I stumbled on that Allen Frances link I mentioned on other thread and now realising he is one of the bad guys from Paula's video, which I had seen a while ago. I remembered the outline of the pattern but forgot the name.  The psych situation is such an intricate nightmare ...hard to know who to believe.  Feeling naive and overly trusting.  

Trying not to let them get me down.

I have a good day planned for tmrw.  Hope your day goes well.

Illustration of people sitting and standing

New here?

Chat with other people who 'Get it'

with health professionals in the background to make sure everything is safe and supportive.

Register

Have an account?
Login

For urgent assistance


Mental Health Australia All rights reserved.