Young people

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BeyondBlue New to this Forum? Please read this first!
  • replies: 0

Hey there! Welcome to the Young People section of the Beyond Blue Forums. The purpose of this section is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss life issues, tricky situations and the difficult emotions and feelings that come with tho... View more

Hey there! Welcome to the Young People section of the Beyond Blue Forums. The purpose of this section is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss life issues, tricky situations and the difficult emotions and feelings that come with those. If you are aged over 25, please be mindful that this is a space for younger people to connect and provide support for each other. These forums are moderated, so your posts may not appear straight away. Information on moderation on the Forums can be found here. Being familiar with our Community Guidelines can help ensure that your posts appear online as quickly as possible. If we have concerns about your wellbeing, one of our friendly moderators will check in with you privately to make sure you get the support you need. If you need more immediate support, we recommend reaching out to the following: Beyond Blue Support Service – any time, chat online to a counsellor or call 1300 22 4636 Headspace – between 9am and 1am (AEST), chat online to a mental health clinician or call 1800 650 890 Kids Helpline – any time, chat online to a counsellor or call 1800 55 1800 Thank you for being here. We’re glad you’ve found us here and hope this can be a supportive space for you Beyond Blue

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Sassyxxx Alcoholic abusive mum
  • replies: 5

I am 16 years old and live with my mum, she has been a heavy drinker for over 10 years atleast and she turns into a very nasty person when drunk, there's no physical abuse just verbal, she just talks to herself for hours saying the most horrible thin... View more

I am 16 years old and live with my mum, she has been a heavy drinker for over 10 years atleast and she turns into a very nasty person when drunk, there's no physical abuse just verbal, she just talks to herself for hours saying the most horrible things and she is also delusional, she accuses me and my older brother of stealing her stuff and going through her room and if she looses her keys or something she will straight away blame us. Yesterday we were getting along fine and my brother was out all day, when she started drinking she started getting angry and abusing my brother who wasn't even home I just stayed clear and let her talk to herself but it's hard hearing all the things she says it makes me upset and angry . I've gotta move out cause she keeps saying she wants to be on her own. My brother has been staying with us for like a month now and it's been going well until last night she kicked him out on the street which she has done multiple times for no good reason . She needs to go to rehab but she never will I've asked her to stop drinking she says ok I promise , stops for a day or two and starts again but mostly she's drinking every night . She needs help what can I do?

VeeTee Social Anxiety - What goes on in your head?
  • replies: 4

Social Anxiety - you're scared of talking. The thing is - are the reasons close to the same? I'll start off with why i'm so scared to talk to people. I have this idea lingering in my head every time - they don't like me. I have close friends (they're... View more

Social Anxiety - you're scared of talking. The thing is - are the reasons close to the same? I'll start off with why i'm so scared to talk to people. I have this idea lingering in my head every time - they don't like me. I have close friends (they're the closest people to me anyways... Though my relationship with them is a bit different in a way. We have this private online chat group and I speak to them openly in there - we play games together, talk about like problem and they know I have a bad case of social anxiety. We're pretty close. In school (We're currently in year 11), i'm just a shadow. I know (although for some reason when it comes to it - I won't know anymore) that they enjoy my company. They would be in a group talking to each other and i'll be wanting to go to them but I won't. I'm afraid. Once in a while they'll tell me to come - then I will. Otherwise, i'm sitting down staring at the floor, contemplating life. Why? I have this thought. I feel like everyone doesn't like me. By "doesn't like" I don't mean lowkey hate - I mean i'm just there. I feel like by going up to people and talking to them i'll make things awkward and not really do anything - be a hassle. I feel like they talk to me out of pity - "Damn, he's lonely. We'll be friends with him.", but they don't actually like me. My parents both cheat on each other so i sort of think they "fake" loving me because they can't just leave their kid. Sometimes I can't help but blame them for my problems - it's probably wrong to do so, but I can't help it. They don't let me go out so I can't get "closer" to my friends, which I feel could be another reason. Those are my reasons, what're your reasons? Or reasons you think may "cause" social anxiety?

feelsbadman Am I just being overly dramatic or am I depressed?
  • replies: 4

Hi, I don't know if I'm actually depressed or I'm just going through the regular teenage angst. I've been feeling very down lately for the past few months, I've been getting less willing to go to school or get out of bed lately. I would beg my parent... View more

Hi, I don't know if I'm actually depressed or I'm just going through the regular teenage angst. I've been feeling very down lately for the past few months, I've been getting less willing to go to school or get out of bed lately. I would beg my parents to let me stay home from school as I'd dread every single moment at school. I'm not a loner by any means, and I do feel like I'm actually happy when I'm with my friends but that disappears as soon as I get home and am alone. I've been more irritated than usual at my friends at school, but I try my best to hide it from my friends as I fear that they'll come to hate me or start talking about me behind my back. I just get angry more easily even if it's over petty things. I can't seem to care anymore about school, I still study but that's just cause I have to. Psychology used to be my favourite subject but I can't feel motivated about it anymore. I hate that I'm feeling like this but whenever I think of this I just start getting even more irritated or sad. Nothing makes me feel like its worth giving my time or effort to anymore, so I just not do anything. I'm tired all the time, I just want to stop doing anything and sleep. Am I being overly dramatic and is this just a phase? Because I've done the beyond blue test and it says I'm included in the High range for depression but I don't believe it as I think I'm being overly dramatic? I tried telling my parents but they don't think anything is wrong with me and that this is just a phase. I'm lost right now. The more I think of the possibility of me being depressed the more I want to believe I'm not? If that makes any sense. It makes me feel even worse as I always feel like I'm over exaggerating everything. Am I depressed? What do I do?

Laurenn No friends. No family support. Depression. Family divorce.
  • replies: 2

Im 14 years old and in the past 18 months my life went from sunshine and happiness to tears and fear. I don't know who to turn to. I haven't got many friends and my family don't listen to me. I wish my mum supported me but every time that i try to te... View more

Im 14 years old and in the past 18 months my life went from sunshine and happiness to tears and fear. I don't know who to turn to. I haven't got many friends and my family don't listen to me. I wish my mum supported me but every time that i try to tell her whats wrong she begins to tell me what I am doing wrong and i loose all self-confidence. I hate the constant reminders that i am not a great person and that i need to change but i struggle so much to change who i am. I hate so much that I can identify what is wrong with me yet i still cannot fix it. I only have one friend to turn to. Another girl my age who has dealt with issues of her own. Because we got very close people then started to spread rumours that i was a lesbian. I am not homophobic however all we want is a friendship and to have someone to turn to yet whenever the two of us are together people shout negative comments at us. I know its easy to say don't let is bother you but it does. I hate that i let it bother me but when it isn't accepted for me to be happy there is nothing else i can do. My parents split up recently. I can't turn to my mum because I ALWAYS end up very upset with our relationship and myself. I do not want to turn to my dad though because i don't feel 100% safe around him. Sometimes i feel as if there divorce was my fault. My dad did something extremely wrong which i witnessed. Not only being scared forever, telling my mum was so hard for me. I wonder if i had never let my mum know what he had done they would never have split up. My dads family are very rude too. His parents and siblings (My grandparents and uncles/aunties) are not great people either. my mum used to work in a family business with my dad and grandfather. After being completely kicked out of her job they threatened to take her car. Even little things like going on a holiday with them, my dads brother in law would make jokes about throwing my mum overboard of a boat. As a child i don't want to hear it at all and don't feel comfortable around people like this. I cant get away though because they are my family. I feel very alone most of the time. Sitting in the school toilets alone is common for me. I spend many lunch breaks doing this. AM I ALONE? I am lonely but hopefully not alone in the sense that there is someone else out there feeling the same way.

birdleirdle Mum won't stop trying to get me to want children even though I'm not interested (+ closeted trans)
  • replies: 6

Heya. This is my first post here, so uhm. Hi? So, for context, I am transgender although I'm not sure of the specifics. All I really know is that I'm not (consistently) female, I'm usually nonbinary, and my gender is somewhat fluid. I'm not out to an... View more

Heya. This is my first post here, so uhm. Hi? So, for context, I am transgender although I'm not sure of the specifics. All I really know is that I'm not (consistently) female, I'm usually nonbinary, and my gender is somewhat fluid. I'm not out to anybody except a small and anonymous social media group, and I'm not prepared to come out as things stand. Although I have not really been able to contact a psychologist outside of school, I do show symptoms of anxiety (most notably panic attacks and severe phobias) and the school psychologist agrees that it's likely I could be diagnosed. My mum is insistent that I will have children when I'm older and won't let me say anything to the contrary. The thought of it honestly sickens me - it's a female thing and to have that very gendered stereotype shoved upon me is rather distressing. It comes up occasionally (once every one or two months) but probably more than it does for other people, and I have never seen her go off at my sisters like she does at me. For example: I said that we should store the dollhouse that for some strange reason sits in my bedroom, and she said that it would be useful "when have children". I then said that no, I don't think I will, and she rebutted that she didn't want kids when she was my age, she just wanted dolls (said exactly as infantilising as it reads), and I would change my mind when I get older. I did mention the fact that lesbians exist, but I was too nervous to say anything about trans people. Her response to that was that she knows plenty of gay people with children, just to drive in what she thinks everyone's priority in life is. I felt horrible and experienced massive dysphoria for days after that incident. I wish I had some disease or something to make me infertile, because maybe then she would leave me alone. Do note that she's forcing this idea of parenthood upon a 16 year old kid (not that it's appropriate to say to anyone in my opinion). She does this nearly every time children come up in conversation. I don't know if anything can be done. This was more of a vent, really. She just doesn't stop talking about it. It's like she thinks sex and children are everyone's goals in life (never mind aro/ace people or anyone who otherwise doesn't want those sorts of things). Just because I have a uterus doesn't mean I want to use it, but she refuses to respect my decisions, identity and boundaries.

maryyyy I'm going insane.
  • replies: 3

I'm the kind of person that see bad situations before they happen. I can normal tell if something bad is going to happen before anyone else notices whats going on. For example in 2015 I warned people that mass muslim immigration would cause 100s of t... View more

I'm the kind of person that see bad situations before they happen. I can normal tell if something bad is going to happen before anyone else notices whats going on. For example in 2015 I warned people that mass muslim immigration would cause 100s of terrorist attacks and I was called racist, stupid and crazy in return. Then about two months later the Paris terror attacks happened and heaps of attacks have happened since. I constantly warn people about certain situations yet no one ever believes me, they just call me a "crazy conspiracy theorist" or "literally hitler". I'm currently taking a gap year. This year so far I haven't had a proper in person convo with anyone out of my family. Due to the fact that everyone I know either is incredibly stupid or they think I'm "literally hitler" for speaking the inconvenient truth. I've become literally so emotionally unstable due to isolation and no one believing me. I'm starting to feel like Cassandra from the story of Troy. I have no idea what to do. Please help, because I've actually become insane.

Poppy_Grace Time to make a change
  • replies: 2

Hi everyone, After years and years of anxiety and panic it got very serious, I finally went to get professional help and was diagnosed with depression and Anxiety and Panic Disorder. I'm newly medicated and trying to make changes to my life, my anxie... View more

Hi everyone, After years and years of anxiety and panic it got very serious, I finally went to get professional help and was diagnosed with depression and Anxiety and Panic Disorder. I'm newly medicated and trying to make changes to my life, my anxiety is 24/7 and affects my every-day life at school, my job, at home, in my relationship etc. As a result of such anxiety I've developed insomnia and now need medication to help me sleep. I'm going to be in Year 12 soon and I want to get into the right headspace, not only for myself but for the people around me that I deeply love. I've started to realise just how my depression affects the people I'm close to. I want to make a change, I want to change the way I see myself and I want to believe in the bright future I'm working towards. I guess I'm joining this forum in hope for some advice, maybe some people can relate to me so I don't feel so alone. I know that his battle will take a lot of time and effort, this is the start. Thanks x

Hocko11 Unemployed and it's making me lose control of everything.
  • replies: 3

Hi. I'm a 17 year old guy who just lost his job. I'm scared of the fact that I won't find a job again and It's getting to me badly...I have no self confidence and I'm struggling to find any hope... I hope there is someone out there who can help me... View more

Hi. I'm a 17 year old guy who just lost his job. I'm scared of the fact that I won't find a job again and It's getting to me badly...I have no self confidence and I'm struggling to find any hope... I hope there is someone out there who can help me...

justalittlebitconfused Overwhelming sadness
  • replies: 2

It would help me so much if there was someone who feels the same way about me and knows why it is I feel this way and what I could do to help myself. Over the past month or so, I've been feeling extremely nostalgic. Memories of events and my thoughts... View more

It would help me so much if there was someone who feels the same way about me and knows why it is I feel this way and what I could do to help myself. Over the past month or so, I've been feeling extremely nostalgic. Memories of events and my thoughts. At the start of this year, I got myself a journal to write in at the end of every day. Just events that happened and things that were significant for me that day. However, it came to a point when I would forget some nights, and eventually, I ceased to write in it every day. I think it was at this point that it really got me. I knew that I wasn't putting enough motivation. This lead to this extreme sadness that I will forget things in my life. I won't be able to remember and recall each moment that I live. Even small insignificant things. It's just so sad. That we forget. The fact that I haven't written for some days makes it even worse. I will probably never, ever remember that day. What I did. What I talked about. Is there a word for such feelings? And such thoughts, lead to much more. The fact that I will never be able to experience life through someone else. That I won't be able to do everything that can possibly be done. Of how much I hate making conclusions about myself because I fear then that I won't be able to change. How I hate thinking so much about deep issues because it hurts my head and just makes me sadder. I don't think I'm going through an existential crisis. Because I know why I am here, and of things that will happen. It's just these small things that cause me a lot of stress and anxiety. Thank you for whoever is reading. It would mean so much for some words of understanding.