A New Mental Health "Safe Zone" Thread Is Overdue - So Here It Is

a reply to: Hefficide

Great read and idea Heff...never knew that about you.

I don't want to minimalize your story OP. But, you got plenty of posts above with support.

The change from DSM- IV to DSM-5 eliminated asbergers. As its no longer a thing ... you can't have it? I don't know honestly. It was always on the Autism spectrum and that's what I think you may be diagnosed with.

I am not a medical professional. I am a mother that just heard the words," I would have diagnosed your son with asbergers, he is a textbook case. But that's no longer a legitimate diagnosis. " May I suggest you make another appointment to your medical professional?

Definitely keeping up with this thread!


Endorsed by my two favourite Mods as well.

Hope everyone is having a stressless day!

a reply to: Hefficide

Thanks for sharing about yourself, Heff. S&F. I hope it helps someone that needs it, and that it helped you by writing it.
For some odd reason I thought you were a war veteran. I guess it must be because you've mentioned having PTSD before and I just assumed that you were. Proves that saying about assuming things, I guess.

originally posted by: Mugly
a reply to: wantsome

sounds a bit like my life.
my dad killed himself and i came up in detroit. i was in my early 20's when he killed himself. it would have been better for me if he had done it when i was 5 though. would have saved me a lot of pain. i still have scars on my arms from the cigarette burns and scars on my face/lips from when he split them open.
oh well. he is dead and im glad for it.
van horn road. lincoln park. right near you.
i still remember the address.

anyway, i have had several diagnoses over the years.
few docs told my i am bi polar.
most recently i was told by a forensic psychologist that i show signs of schizoid personalty disorder.

maybe i have it maybe i dont.

i know mental health care in the states is a major joke. good luck getting help.
i was at a family doc about a month or so ago trying to get the ball rolling on seeing a shrink or something and the earliest i could get in was like 4 months down the road.

How do you feel about studying? If you look around online for a short course on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, just an introductory short course, something like that. And/or have you access to somewhere you can garden? You have to find ways of living while you are waiting, doing things that help you find the peace and quiet, and safety, you need to come to terms with yourself and all that you have experienced. Writing about it could help? Being around animals? Fishing? You're allowed to say # off to the world from time to time in order to do what you need to do to live in the world. Better that than going postal...oh the days that I craved an AK-47...but with work, on myself, I have significantly fewer of them...barely any in fact...the work is still in progress though, it's a long haul but it gets better if not easier.

a reply to: Anaana

im good with studying, gardening, etc etc
ive lived this long without actually ruining someone. i will continue to deal like i do now.
the feelings are definitely there though

originally posted by: Mugly
a reply to: Anaana

im good with studying, gardening, etc etc
ive lived this long without actually ruining someone. i will continue to deal like i do now.
the feelings are definitely there though

I worked it through in my own way. I wasn't interested in a psychiatrist, my GP stopped pushing that option but used it effectively as a threat to break my destructive habits, I just kept finding new, more secretive, ones. I had to find ways to live with myself before I could learn to live with others. Still learning, expect that I always will be.

Take care of yourself.

Heff, you have always been so open and honest in sharing your experiences. It is wonderful that you are offering this thread for others in the community where they can come forward, share their experiences and offer support for one another. A big hug to all of you in here!

a reply to: MALBOSIA

You are apparently younger than I am. The radio catheter ablation that cured you right after your diagnosis did not yet exist when I was eighteen ( 1985 ). In 1985 the best they could do was open me up ( full open heart surgery ) and literally nearly sever my cardiac wall - just to see if doing so would ablate the pathway they knew was in that general area.

That shot in the dark probably kept me alive long enough for the cure to be created. After the open heart I no longer had the same variety of arrhythmia. I used to have paroxysmal atrial tachycardia, before the surgery. An arrhythmia that would often morph into ventricular tachycardia.

After the "shot in the dark" procedure I still had arrhythmia's - but no longer P.A.T.... from that point forward I always ended up having supraventricular tachycardia ( SVT ) - which did not tend to morph into V-tach.

While in the hospital for open-heart I did volunteer for an experiment involving running catheters and cameras into the heart - which was part of the groundwork for the eventual cure. However in 1985 electronics were not nearly as small as they were today and, to be blunt, it hurt like nothing I have felt before or since.

However, when the cure was developed I was one of the first to receive it.