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Sophie_M How are you feeling about the social media restrictions in Australia for under 16s?
  • replies: 14

Hey everyone With the upcoming Australian social media restriction for under 16-year-olds coming up we want to know what this means for you and maybe even the young people in your life. This conversation is a place for all of us to share how we are f... View more

Hey everyone With the upcoming Australian social media restriction for under 16-year-olds coming up we want to know what this means for you and maybe even the young people in your life. This conversation is a place for all of us to share how we are feeling and what we think the challenges and benefits might be for you or the wonderful young people in our community. Have you thought about how to stay connected with friends you’ve met online? Are you focused mostly on the positives, or the negatives? What do your parents think, and what could they do to support you? Importantly the Beyond Blue Forums are not impacted by these restrictions, we're here for anyone under 16. In short, from December 10 Social Media companies will need to ensure that only people over 16 actively engage with their platforms. There is a lot of information out there which can make it tricky to know what to expect on when it comes into effect. To learn more we think these are a helpful place to start eSafety commissioner + Headspace FAQs. We know this change will impact some more than others, QLife provide anonymous and free LGBTIQ+ support and 13YARN are here for all Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. We want to hear your thoughts on how this might impact the mental health of under 16s in both a positive and negative way. The Beyond Blue Forums are a place for constructive and helpful conversation and the regular moderation rules apply which means we look forward to a kind and understanding discussion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings Sophie M

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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Broncies_18 Health
  • replies: 5

So my story is I posted a while back regarding my anxiety surrounding my health and after a couple of days I finally felt good as if I was over it but alas it has returned, don't know how or why but every time I exercise now I feel like my hearts gon... View more

So my story is I posted a while back regarding my anxiety surrounding my health and after a couple of days I finally felt good as if I was over it but alas it has returned, don't know how or why but every time I exercise now I feel like my hearts gonna just stop and it's really annoying. It's like every beat now is my last and my mind is all over the place atm. Even cancer has become a stressful possibility for me now and being only 18 I've really had enough of this and I just don't know how to get rid of it. I used to have the attitude that 'whatever happens happens for a reason' but tbh now I fear death at my age more than anything and it's really impacting on me at uni. I can't concentrate, I exercise 6 days a week and have so for the last while and had previously played a lot of rugby, touch, afl and had kept me very fit. However my heart was beating fast the other day during excersise and I know that's normal but I decided to google symptoms and alas I may have Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias (are sudden death type issues especially for teenagers) and God knows every heart problem known to man. I don't know why I keep putting myself through this and I know it's all in my head but I just can't get rid of it and have even thought about "what would happen if I died today" but not in a suicidal way. Anyone got any tips for me as I really don't know what to do im 18 btw

grl i cant stop eating
  • replies: 3

im addicted to food. i don't mean to trivialize the real addiction issues people face, but i genuinly feel addicted to food. and fizzy. i go on these binges where i eat like 6 big mas and fries and chips and 2 l of coke and pizza all in one meal. it'... View more

im addicted to food. i don't mean to trivialize the real addiction issues people face, but i genuinly feel addicted to food. and fizzy. i go on these binges where i eat like 6 big mas and fries and chips and 2 l of coke and pizza all in one meal. it's not like an eating disorder, because i don't force myself to throw up afterwords. i mean, sometimes i literally eat till i throw up, but im never shoving fingers down my throat willing myself to be sick. but i also cant stop. its a dumb thing to complain about when there are people with no food & im sooking about not being able to stop eating i dont even enjoy the food, i rarely even taste it that much anymore, but all day i look forward to it, its like im so extremely stressed and cant relax untill i have my fizzy. its really the only thing that makes me happy. it could be 10 at night but i cant sleep untill ive had it. its gone from a few times a week to basically every night. the only thing that sort of works is to completely avoid all food for like 3 days, but then of course i get really hungry and the cycle repeats. i drink upwards of 2l of diet coke a day and i absolutely hate the taste but i just cant stop. i dont usually sleep till like 4am but i havent slept in a couple days and by like 10pm tonight i was so tired and ready to just be asleep but i just could not stop myself from going to mcdonalds (i hate mcdonalds) and buying 4 burgers and 4 fries and drinks and coming home and eating it all in like half an hour. i know it could be just bad restraint, but i know what bad restraint is, ive been crap at eating healthy my whole life but this just feels so different. like, ive never been one to say "mmm yea give me apple instead of chips yum" but ive also never been the "ill just had 2 family size pizzas and a subway for a snack" untill now. ive been trying really hard to eat healthy and drink water (doesnt last very long) & i figured that might stop me but it doesnt. so now my diet is usually nothing all day and then 2l of coke at night and then binge the next night. sometimes i try not to eat for a few days to balance out the binging and i just drink fizzy for energy its not even an apetite thing because im rarely get hungry anymore, unless i go for a couple days without eating , and i still binge even after ive had a days worth of relativly healthy satiating meals.

Atauciq hello, New to BB, would like some advice and opinions.
  • replies: 1

wasn't sure where to post, I'm 18 and though that others might have had similar thoughts. since late last year my confidence and persona has changed as have my habits and opinions, late last year they sounded to me something like this: (diary) I am n... View more

wasn't sure where to post, I'm 18 and though that others might have had similar thoughts. since late last year my confidence and persona has changed as have my habits and opinions, late last year they sounded to me something like this: (diary) I am not sure about my own desires, whether I want, or not- this has become a chore more than a personal truth. I have anxiety about society despite my own tiresome effort to distance myself from the egocentric environment of conscious thought. sounds [of language] still frustrate me. I have become aware of my self conflict but refuse to let it dissolve me; mentally , it seems as if my conflict may be an excuse from the stress of linear education and its continuously unnecessary pressures, however it's my level of self awareness that makes me think otherwise. I contradict my ideals when I am anxious about a sense of know masculinity, towards myself. I believe that this is entirely due to my desires to appeal, is this necessary?'. This diary insert was written in August and many more like it followed. At the time I distinctly provoked my internally rationalized arguments and ideas with other contradicting arguments and ideas, this practice become habitual, and for the most part it either served as a general logical think bubble for my own internal monologue, or accumulated into nonsensical dialogue and mere fiction; but, sometimes It touched a sensitive part of my own developed personality and belief system and left me acutely aware of things that I needed to either know and understand through study or develop and evolve through personal experiences. the overall knowledge and wisdom that I wanted was unattainable during last year, nevertheless I did still proceed unwisely to investigate 'myself' by studying literature and art; by reading the KJV bible, broad works on existentialism including a UNI of Singapore Nietzsche course which a "good" friend gave me a password for, Japanese and indie film, and so on. All this information accumulate into a stressful nexus of more information, and it seemed that I had gazed long into an abyss that gazed back into me. This year my mind has has been threading a similar web of intricacies and I have taken up as many hobbies as possible to keep stimulated. In retrospect last year was intense but a fun learning experience, most of the absurd anxiety has been replaced by acceptance and want for deeper insight and clarity. Advice & opinion about this or anything would be cool.

77 New Here. I need some advice.
  • replies: 4

I've been Depressed since the second half of 2015. My School performance has gone off the rails. And the CBT and meds didn't work. I don't really know what to do now and I don't have much hope for the future. I'm completely unhappy with my life right... View more

I've been Depressed since the second half of 2015. My School performance has gone off the rails. And the CBT and meds didn't work. I don't really know what to do now and I don't have much hope for the future. I'm completely unhappy with my life right now and I'm powerless to change it. Ive already done the CBT and meds song and dance so is there really anything I can even do now?

crystal_wolf Hello
  • replies: 3

Hello I am new here. I will try.

Hello I am new here. I will try.

TAHNS I feel like I'm losing myself.
  • replies: 4

So, for the past year I have had these waves of sadness, a lot. I've just usually talked about them to my friend but now it's gotten worse, I blame it on being sick a lot to my dad as I can't talk to him about it. (I can't bring myself to) and I am c... View more

So, for the past year I have had these waves of sadness, a lot. I've just usually talked about them to my friend but now it's gotten worse, I blame it on being sick a lot to my dad as I can't talk to him about it. (I can't bring myself to) and I am constantly tired, I feel myself changing. I haven't been to school in two weeks and also I just don't feel right. I've cried more than I ever have these past few months, it's just getting harder and harder each day. I want to feel happy again, how do I even tell my dad this if he thinks I'm fine?

Ripley123 Numbness, lack of emotion, not depression?
  • replies: 2

Hi all, I'm a teen and new here as I've recently joined to talk about this issue that has been bothering me lately. I've found myself to be emotionally numb as I don't feel any strong emotions to anything at all. This is odd as I still show a lot of ... View more

Hi all, I'm a teen and new here as I've recently joined to talk about this issue that has been bothering me lately. I've found myself to be emotionally numb as I don't feel any strong emotions to anything at all. This is odd as I still show a lot of personality and find myself to be quite an extroverted person. I once thought that maybe I had some sort of minor bipolar mentality as I found myself quickly turning to these seemingly depressive thoughts, but I now found that maybe I only have these thoughts when I have time to myself and basically talking to myself about how I am 'feeling'. Sometimes I find myself having somewhat obsessive thoughts as I often think about certain people romantically when they have no contribution to what I'm doing. A few years ago I was obviously depressed after my friends were bullying me as well as some other complications. I cut off these friends and moved to a new school, it was hard but I was able to do it, although recently I've made friendship again with one of them and I am glad we are friends, we are now very close, although I often get scared of her hurting me like she did a while ago and sometimes find myself trying to push her away. I don't believe I've felt any strong emotion since this time. I'm fairly certain I am not depressed, it's just this numbness I feel now and how little emotion I actually have - I'm just rolling. Sometimes I think that I am happy, as I know I am in a good place at the moment - I have a lot of friends, good grades and a healthy and happy family, but I think that maybe I only acknowledge that this as a good position I am in and I'm not actually happy - I can differentiate the good and the bad and acknowledge and identify which is which, but I can't actually feel anything towards it... I think. I don't know what I'm looking for when posting this, but I would value your opinions. Thank you!

jazzyw_98 Uni Student with Anxiety
  • replies: 7

Hello, I'm new here and I thought I would share my story. I'm sure there are many of you with the same problem so I would just like you to know that you are not alone. I am a 17 y.o. uni student from Brisbane. I graduated from high school last year a... View more

Hello, I'm new here and I thought I would share my story. I'm sure there are many of you with the same problem so I would just like you to know that you are not alone. I am a 17 y.o. uni student from Brisbane. I graduated from high school last year and I was extremely excited to start uni and I thought this year would be great. But after I was accepted into I started getting really terrified about the idea of going to uni, the thought of it made me feel sick. I started to develop agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house alone). So I started uni but I couldn't go alone, my mum had to come with me and my friends were all at a different uni. I hated uni immediately and wanted to change to be with my friends. I skipped every tute and I wouldn't eat. I went to a psychologist for a few sessions and that helped a bit but I haven't been in a while. So now I'm at the same uni as my friends and I love it there but I'm so scared to go to class and the bad habits I developed last semester are getting worse. I've skipped a couple of tutes and I don't know how to catch up and the thought of going there being behind scares me. I'm scared to be alone. Anyway I hope this all makes sense, this is a really broken up and condensed version of my story.

Guest_322 Getting help
  • replies: 10

Hi again, It's now kind of late (and I should probably be in bed as I've a morning lecture tomorrow yet I'm still wide awake). I've just been thinking. As much as I hate to admit it- call it pride or stubbornness or whatever- I think that I probably ... View more

Hi again, It's now kind of late (and I should probably be in bed as I've a morning lecture tomorrow yet I'm still wide awake). I've just been thinking. As much as I hate to admit it- call it pride or stubbornness or whatever- I think that I probably need to go see my GP (cue inward groan). The sadness isn't going away. The morning struggle to get out of bed isn't going away. The not wanting to face the day isn't going away. The wanting to cry isn't going away. I haven't seen my psychologist in a while (& by a while, I mean I haven't seen her since last year) because I was doing okay- even well- the 1st half of last year. But it's like something snapped towards the end of last year/this year. I'm not even sure what the point of this thread is...maybe it's just to feel a little less lonely. I don't know. Anyway, thanks for reading and let's hope things improve. You guys are the best! Dottie

teenytiny Hi, I'm new here
  • replies: 11

Hey guys, I know you don't know me but, I am really hoping to benefit from talking about how I feel to a supportive community. So, lately I have been feeling really down and angry about various things going on in my life at the moment. I didn't reall... View more

Hey guys, I know you don't know me but, I am really hoping to benefit from talking about how I feel to a supportive community. So, lately I have been feeling really down and angry about various things going on in my life at the moment. I didn't really realise anything was severely wrong until one of my teachers called me to her office after class the other day. She was asking me what was going on and I started crying, I thought I was going crazy. I've spoken to her before about my struggles but, this time I couldn't let the words come out of my mouth. She told me if I didn't talk to someone about it by the following Wednesday she'd talk to me. Wednesday came and she said it was optional because I was so determined not to spill the beans. Thursday branded a new day and I couldn't cope, I knew I couldn't do it on my own so I gave her an overview what was happening before school started. We didn't really get too much into it because we only had a few minutes but, I don't really enjoy sharing my feelings. I feel they are personal, like intimate, one on one. I do believe I need some support and I am hoping to find it here. This past week has really harboured more anger and hopelessness inside of me, with stress from both school and home taking it's toll. I have friends at school who love me and support me but, I am unable to confide in them. I have trouble trusting people. When you've been hurt too many times, it's difficult you know. Anyways, thanks for reading and by the way I am only 15.