u/Purple_Preference847

Hello, recs and ideas for being vegan and veg in Belize? Thanks!

Curious to know the age range of folks in this group and how old people are. Just pure curiosity, no assumptions or judgement! And also I get the sense there's a pretty wide range, which makes me happy, because I like that we're all supporting each other and learning from each other. (I'm 43)

Hi! Hope it's okay to ask this here. Internet searches have led me completely nowhere on this question and I'm feeling really clueless.

I am not a Whatnot user but I keep getting USPS tracking notifications from whatnot. Sometimes they appear to be sent right when I have ordered something from Amazon or Etsy and delivered right when I am supposed to get those. Other times, I've gotten such notifications where the delivery was listed as one town over from where I live now, where I used to live. My credit cards have no weird activity on them, nor does my email or other accounts where I buy things. The USPS site is legit that they're coming from.

I don't have a Whatnot account, so I made one with my email address to see if anything funny was happening, and there's nothing there at all.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here?

Who do you like? Any recs? Thanks!

I was in the psych hospital a couple of times in the 2000s, before cell phones and smart phones became what they are now. I had an old-school cell phone but was not allowed to use it. Is this still the case on psychiatric wards? Are you allowed to have your phone?

What's your definition of being "in love"?

Hi everyone, I have a friend w/ BPD and long story short it has come time for us to not be friends anymore. I genuinely do not know what to do. In the past when I have tried to communicate and give her the benefit of the doubt, it has ended in her either having a rage attack at me or lying in some way (I have proof of the latter.) So I have started to distance myself, but she has started to notice, and is moving more closely toward me.

I got an email from her about it and I do not know how to respond. My two options are to respond and almost definitely have it result it what has happened before when I've tried to communicate, or to feel like a huge jerk and sort of stonewall and ghost. I feel like it's a no-win situation. I'd love some genuine practical advice here on how to handle the email in which she basically states she wants to talk about it.

For context, this is an old dear friend, which is why I've given her benefit of the doubt and tried to communicate in the past. At times, she has been incredibly kind and supportive and we've been through so much together. But when she is abusive, she is really abusive. I know the friendship needs to be over. I don't feel right stonewalling but I am totally frozen, and this ending to our friendship has been so dragged out, basically two years of growing distance and her not letting it dissipate. Are there any ways to respond which could in any way cause minimal chaos?

Can trauma cause psychosis? Just curious. I can see that there are likely overlaps between a lot of different types of mental illnesses and symptoms, but can experiencing trauma or having PTSD be a direct cause of psychosis?

So I know a lot of folks probably have this question, but I'm having a hard time finding answers when I search here, and my own doctors have been confusing about it. I've been on hormonal birth control pill since my 20s and I'm 43 now.

The pill regulates my period, as it's meant to. I haven't had my normal cycle all this time, so I don't really know what it looks like. However, when I was 40, I did stop taking it for a year (long story) and my period was definitely irregular. And my gums were bleeding a little which NEVER happens normally. This did make me wonder if I was in peri, as I was off it for long enough for my regular cycle to come back, I think.

I went back on BC eventually, and those issues stopped. I will be continuing the birth control as long as I can.

I also have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which causes all kinds of things including brain fog, temperature dysregulation and night sweats via POTS, etc. so those have been an issue for me since I was young.

Has anyone else here been able to figure out that you were in perimenopause despite having regular periods from birth control, or have you had things like night sweats due to another condition, leading to even more confusion?

One doc said I was too young for perimenopause, which is obviously not true even via a basic google search.

Thanks for your help!

NAT. I am genuinely curious as to what therapists here think of the controversial DID diagnosis, whether you've seen it, any nuances the lay public might not be considering, or whether you are skeptical. (Not trying to start a fight here. Also this isn't about thinking I have DID or someone telling me so; I do not. Just want to hear opinions from experts about this curious concept.)

So I upped my lamotrigine dose. It's a med I've taken for a couple decades and the best med I've ever had. It has made me hypomanic to up it, though. I've read it only lasts a few days, and if it lasts longer than that I'm going to call my med prescriber. But I just want to know if anyone has had this experience. I am so sensitive to meds this happens a lot with any med I fiddle with. So I don't want to make anyone else nervous about lamictal!

I'd love to hear people's experiences with paranoia. Like, what it feels like, examples, etc. and how do you know when it crosses the line from normal to pathological? I am guessing folks without mental illness feel paranoid sometimes? Or no? Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi all, not sure what I'm even looking for by writing this, I'm just kinda at a loss with a BPD friend and need to get it out. This is an old friend and we are middle-aged. It's been a couple years in the making that her other close friends and I have put two and two together about the BPD, including all the classic symptoms. She masks well, and fawns a lot, so friends she's not as close with don't realize what happens behind the curtain.

But it has really deteriorated and become a huge issue for her close friends, and she is creating self-fulfilling prophecies where people do actually abandon her because she has these rage attacks or passive aggressive super weird things she does. She has become traumating and anxiety-producing. I've gradually distanced myself over the past time period, and she has noticed, saying things about it in different ways. Long story short, I can tell that the end is coming because she pulls closer the more I pull back.

Recently I pushed back on something that was really problematic, and since then she has pulled closer and closer and I can feel that it's ready to explode. I am not normally someone who stonewalls or ghosts, as I find that abhorrent, but I genuinely do not know what to do. There is literally no way to talk to her OR back away slowly without a mess happening. I feel awful that I almost HOPE she explodes so I can have something acute and clear to point to--is that messed up? UGHHHH.

Hi, NAT here. Very curious to know if it is common for therapists to actually diagnose NPD or ASPD. Or any other personality disorders for that matter (except Borderline Personality disorder which seems to get diagnosed and treated a lot more often, whether or not it's actually more common than the others.)

And if you do diagnose something like NPD or ASPD, how did you figure out they had it, since I would assume they are adept at hiding certain aspects of their lives and personalities that are seen to those close to them?

And also, do you tell them, if you do diagnose it? If so...how does that tend to go?

I know personality disorders are a whole can of worms in terms of different debates surrounding them, but I'm just curious to hear the therapists in the room talk about the process of deciding upon and "handing out" these diagnoses, since they're often talked about so much on the internet, etc. When I worked in non-clinical roles in community mental health a number of my clients did have PD diagnoses including antisocial, histrionic, and schizoid, though I don't know whether or not they knew it.

I know it's not a clinical term. But I'm trying to understand what people mean by it and I can't find any youtube vid, podcast, or explanation about quiet borderline that makes sense to me. I am looking at this in good faith; if it's a real thing, I want to understand. If it's not, I want to know. Thoughts?

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My doctor thinks it's potentially the Classical Type though when I was genetically tested, the test for that type was not as good as it is now. So it's best to assume hypermobile type. I experience problems with POTS, chronic pain, subluxations, stomach problems, eye problems, and so forth. There are some issues I don't seem to deal with that are common to EDS, like migraines and severe dislocations. Feel free to ask me questions and I will answer them if I can. (Everyone with EDS has a different story and body, so this is just me talking about my individual experience.) Currently unable to sleep which is why I posted so forgive me if I actually do fall asleep and can't get back to you ASAP.

What happens if one of your clients talks about someone you know? Or even another client? I live in a pretty tight nit community and I'm positive this happens with my therapist. She's extremely ethical but I'm just curious as to what that is like from the therapist's side of things. In fact, I dated someone I know she knows and talked about them in therapy a real lot (she isn't friends with them, but they are in our community in a role that is relevant to her life) and I accidentally found out that I know someone else who sees my therapist, who might have had reason to talk about me in therapy. Have you ever found out things about someone you knew, or another client, that you didn't know before? What is that like and what do you do?

I don't mean in a creepy way, or that they are going to act on it. I mean a genuine sense of "if they weren't my client, we would probably be friends." And I don't mean in a countertransference sense; I understand that concept, but I don't think it can be that simple. My therapist and I are actually in the same extended community, with friends in common. We don't hang out or see each other in public, but I do think there's a very good chance we would be legit friends if we had met in the normal world, projections aside. People are people, and I don't think everything's always about countertransference. I'm genuinely curious if therapists ever access a part of themselves that authentically feels they would be friends if a client weren't their client. (Again: I understand the ethics of this. Not saying we SHOULD be friends.)

I love my friend and we go way back but I'm just not sure what to do anymore. She can tell I'm slipping away, as I've quietly created distance, and I can tell the other shoe is going to drop and that she will eventually freak out about it. She just did with another good friend. I resent having to worry about this at all, and my normal view of friendships is that sometimes people do slip away from each other and grow apart, come together, grow apart, and that there doesn't necessarily need to be a breakup convo or drama. With this, I feel like there's no option for me that doesn't involve having to be on the wrong side of her rage. What do I do? Has anyone here ever been able to quietly slip away in a way that feels more organic? Like, just growing apart, which is sort of what I feel is happening anyway?