u/nbfinery666

I've been actively trying to recover from my emetophobia for years (in therapy, medication, exposure therapy etc) but i was wondering if anyone has any advice to stop having flashbacks to hearing and seeing the throwing up? I am a lot better than i used to be but i witnessed someone throwing up recently and all i just see and hear it any time i stop or lay down. I've come a long way with being able to handle myself when i feel sick but i still get so overwhelmed when it's someone else. I thought by witnessing it that it would be a form of exposure but it's honestly set me back a fair bit.
TIA

I'm 26 and have only in the past 4 years realised how much my childhood impacted me. It's the reason i am so far behind in life because i was never taught the correct life skills and that contributes to my depression. I can't be vulnerable because my parents punished our emotions and made fun of us. We never said "I love you" so i can't even say that now without feeling sick with awkwardness. I'm just so angry all the time because how much of my life has been wasted due to my trauma and how much it continues to impact me. I'm in therapy but it's been a very long journey.
It really sucks that parents bring a child into the world only to treat them like shit and ruin their lives before they even get to live their own lives

Is there genuinely a way to overcome burnout when a lot of it is because of your life circumstances? due to my autism i cannot work a full time job, therefore i do not earn enough to rent my own apartment (i live in australia where the cost of rent is insane even in a regional area). I don't think I'll ever truly be able to regulate myself unless i have my own space and realistically that is not feesable for me anytime soon.
Is there ways i can at least make things a bit more bearable in the mean time? my burnout has been about 4 years so far and i'm at my wits end. i'm in therapy and tried many different medications, i eat healthy and exercise but nothing is improving my burnout and i don't know what to do.
TIA

As an asexual lesbian i often feel so excluded in the lesbian community. have had so many people call
me a "fakebian" or "not a real lesbian" because i don't sleep with girls. i've tried to find other asexual lesbians but tbh it's so hard. has anyone else dealt with this? is it wrong to call myself a lesbian? i think i'm on the aromantic spectrum too so that makes it even harder

I am a firm believer that anyone who preaches doing things alone does it by choice. of course it's important to do things alone and a lot of introverts prefer alone time but i can assure they have friends to do stuff with if they want to. i'm so sick of doing everything alone the novelty wears off so quickly and i just sit there alone looking around at all the groups having fun and it makes me more depressed. i truly feel like im living life on the outside while i watch it very one else enjoy it

I'm a 27yo Female from australia, i started a uni course in 2018 but i basically had a mental breakdown and had to stop and never went back to studying. I've always wanted to study abroad in the UK but i'm afraid that it's different to australia and i will be too old. when i was at uni there both international students and aussie students that were double my age and it seemed so normal but online i see lots of people from the UK and US say how abnormal it is for someone to be even studying at 23.
i'm autistic and definitely not a party person so i understand it will be odd staying with younger people but i'm hoping i can make connections outside of uni.
basically just wondering if anyone has done it in their late 20s/early 30s

Hoping there's some aussie autistic adults on here that have experience with moving out alone when you don't have a full time job.
i'm on NDIS and get the DSP but it's only $1k a fortnight which i don't think will be enough for me to live on.
is there any way to do this? i live with my parents and i am going insane and it's impacting my mental health greatly

Anyone in autistic burnout even lost interest in their special interests? genuinely nothing brings me joy anymore, i'll get a little bit of excitement every so often but it's barely anything. I don't even want to socialise because i feel nothing after or about anyone. I've been this way for about 3 years now. i'm in therapy and tried different medications but nothing seems to work. just wondering if anyone else has experienced a long term burnout like this?

Is there actually ways to get out of your own head with socialising or am i doomed? I genuinely don't know if i'll ever be able to enjoy a social interaction. I know humans need social interactions but they're literally ruining my life with how much i ruminate on them after they've happened. the tiniest thing ever makes me spiral like "why did i say that" "they hate me" "just don't talk next time" but then when i don't talk i think people think im rude. i'm autistic but i am in therapy, on medication but im just painfully self aware i wish i wasn't like this.
The only time i ever know peace is if i don't interact with people but then i eventually feel lonely. has anyone ever recovered from feeling this way? i want a partner but i don't think i can ever communicate well enough to get one or be able to believe that they like me. I am chronically embarrassed and my fear of being perceived is debilitating.
Any advice at all would be helpful

For years thought i couldn't have bpd because ive never been in a relationship or had sex (im 26) or use substances/drink and it seems to be a big part of diagnosing BPD (at least according to doctors), so i am wondering if theres others out there with BPD who are the same way? the main reason is i'm autistic and i have very bad social skills and extremely low self esteem so i've never got that close with someone. also have severe ocd so one night stands have never been something i could do. I am extremely obsessive in platonic relationships (not that i have many to begin with) so i think i would be probably worse in a romantic one so i've just avoided them all together.