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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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Guest_545 overachiever who doesn't know how to seek help
  • replies: 2

Hi, I'm very new to seeking help because I've been denying that I need it and am still in doubt. Honestly I don't know where to start but let's start with not being able to sleep at night. I'm not sure if that's a symptom of something but the reason ... View more

Hi, I'm very new to seeking help because I've been denying that I need it and am still in doubt. Honestly I don't know where to start but let's start with not being able to sleep at night. I'm not sure if that's a symptom of something but the reason I can't sleep is because of my tendency to overthink things and doubting myself and the future that lies ahead of me. On the surface I seem perfectly fine to everyone around me, a typical overachiever. I have a purpose in life but I have failed once before in trying to pursue my dream career. I know I'm still young and by no means have I given up hope on my ability to reach my dreams but maybe being on a gap year and having nothing to do has allowed this feeling of being useless to creep in. My family are all very hard working and I wish I could be as well but nowadays my lack of sleep has made me very unproductive and it feels like a vicious neverending cycle of crying myself to sleep because I feel useless and being unproductive during the day. I'm still very much dependent on my Asian parents. During this gap year they think that I am always sleeping in and have nothing to do. They're not wrong but I really don't want to be like this, that's why I need help. What they don't know is how I can't sleep at night, how my pillow is often wet and how my dried tears sting when I wake up. I don't know how to tell them, they are all super busy. Don't get me wrong, they are very understanding and will probably listen to me when they're free but I'd feel extremely guilty and out of place. Unlike me my twin sister has succeeded where I failed before so I have lost my no.1 and only confidante, although I expected that would happen at the start of this year. The problem is that I don't know how to tell them I need help. My parents are always supportive of me and are always encouraging me to do things like volunteering and tutoring to fill my free time. Perhaps it would cure this feeling of uselessness but I need to address the fact that I lack energy and motivation everyday before being able to do those things. I don't like doing things unless I'm fully engaged and enthusiastic in doing it otherwise I feel guilty towards others I'm working with hence why I still feel absolutely useless. This is just one thing I struggle with. A lot of the other things have been discussed by others, such as my inability to be myself around people outside of my family. For now I don't want to lose that ability completely. What should I do?

Ambrosia132 why can't i make friends
  • replies: 3

i don't even know why i am posting this, i guess it's just easier when i can write everything down and not try to explain it to someone. Every year i try to make friends and it goes okay and then it's like i slowly start to pull away and all my frien... View more

i don't even know why i am posting this, i guess it's just easier when i can write everything down and not try to explain it to someone. Every year i try to make friends and it goes okay and then it's like i slowly start to pull away and all my friends go in one direction and i'm left all alone. Ever since i can remember i would try my best to make friends and fit in but i still ended up feeling lonely towards the end of the year. I like being on my own and i think that is part of the problem. I want to just have space to relax and do my own thing and in doing so i think people just end up leaving me alone. I have extreme social awkwardness and anxiety. I struggle to make a conversation with people outside my immediate family like cousins and family friends who i have known all my life. So making friends is absolutely terrifying and difficult. I think one of the things i struggle with is my sister who is two years older than me. She goes out with her friends almost every day and comes home late every night. She is always making fun of me and saying i don't have any friends. I have one friend but she's not very nice and picks on me all the time. Last year she told the whole school that i punched her. lots of people came up to me and were being really rude. We eventually made up after a few weeks but I lost most of my friends because of that. She makes fun of me and tells really mean jokes about me but she's been my friend for 5 years and if i stop being friends with her i will have no one to sit with. School starts back on Monday and i am terrified. We have been at home in quarantine for almost three months and my social skills have declined even further. My homeroom teacher started making me see the school psychologist a few months ago but i don't know how i'm meant to talk about everything. I just feel all alone all the time and even when i hang with other people it just makes me want to go sit alone because i don't know how to connect and fit in to their conversations. I keep asking my mum to let me move schools which might be terrifying to some people but i just want a fresh start where no one knows me and i can just be myself. I had one friend who i felt like actually knew me and i could talk to and open up to but she moved back to England at the end of last year. i have tried everything i play lot's of sports, i join school clubs but i always feel like im in this bubble and i don't know how to get out. Please i need help i don't know what to do.

Guest_9368 Constant jealousy and possessiveness over boyfriend.
  • replies: 7

Hello to whoever has clicked onto this thread. I’m an 19 year old female who has been with her boyfriend since February 2019. I don’t know where to start. These things are hard to put into words. We have a good relationship. He treats me well and res... View more

Hello to whoever has clicked onto this thread. I’m an 19 year old female who has been with her boyfriend since February 2019. I don’t know where to start. These things are hard to put into words. We have a good relationship. He treats me well and respects me at all times. Just at the beginning of our relationship we did have some ups and downs. We had people trying to get between us and it caused some arguments. Fast forward a couple months and we are happy and in a healthy relationship. We love each other so much and all is well. This year before COVID came along, he went out one night with friends and decided to flirt with another girl. All they did was flirt but it ruined everything. I haven’t been able to trust him the same. We have spoken about it a million times and yes he regrets it so much and swears black and blue he would never do it again. Technically he didn’t physically cheat but I see it as him emotionally cheating on me. He seeked the attention of another woman and I just can’t understand why. If you knew the two of us you would never think we would hurt each other because we truly are in love and seem like the happiest and strongest couple ever. It’s just since then, I’ve become possessive and I hate it. I’m continuously jealous. I try to avoid watching movies with decent looking girls in it because I don’t want him to “check them out”, I get super jealous when I see him liking photos of other girls on Instagram (I’ve spoken to him about this and he has stopped it but I know he still does it here and there), I feel sick at the thought of him thinking someone else is better than me, I continuously try to change myself so he will always want me, and there’s so much more. I’ve had to delete social media because I always go on his account and see him following all these new girls full of Botox and it just makes me feel so sh*tty and makes me feel like I need to change myself all the time. I continuously cry over this because I hate feeling and being like this. Ive even started to have dreams of him physically cheating on me and it kills me!!!! I’ve become a toxic person and it’s gotten to the point where the way I’m feeling is absolutely ridiculous and I feel stupid for even telling him half the things I’m feeling. I just want to get better. I hate being like this. I hate constantly being jealous and possessive. I just love him so much and I don’t want to lose him to someone else.

Cron_Crust New here and just want to let out some thoughts
  • replies: 24

Hi, As I’ve mentioned this is my first time posting on a forum. Um, so I just wanted to talk about mood swings and how it’s affecting my life so far. I’m at uni currently and just switched courses because my previous one made me so miserable, mostly ... View more

Hi, As I’ve mentioned this is my first time posting on a forum. Um, so I just wanted to talk about mood swings and how it’s affecting my life so far. I’m at uni currently and just switched courses because my previous one made me so miserable, mostly because of my fluctuating mood. I couldn’t bring myself to do much work on most days because my mind was filled with thoughts about how I don’t deserve to be there and how I’m not capable enough. I should probably mention that I have experienced these thoughts for many years and have had mood swings for the same amount. I initially chalked it down to hormones seeing how it coincided with my teenage years but later on I began to think that maybe that’s not it. At one point in the last few years, I found myself attending therapy where I was diagnosed with mild depression. My main concern is with my studies, because I’ve become avoidant of my responsibilities towards my degree because well... it scares me. I want to go on to study educational psychology myself in the future (hopefully) but my mental health may become an issue as it’s stood in the way of my passion before. I really would like to get better but I just don’t know how. If anyone could share strategies that have worked for them or someone they know I’d greatly appreciate it.

Guest_9368 Body dysmorphic disorder
  • replies: 3

I need help. If anyone here has suffered from body dysmorphia, please tell me things you did to get better. I can’t even look at myself without crying.

I need help. If anyone here has suffered from body dysmorphia, please tell me things you did to get better. I can’t even look at myself without crying.

TimH2 I’m not sure what wrong
  • replies: 1

Hi everyone! It my first time posting here because I’m not sure what to do. April this year I started getting headaches throughout the day. They were annoying but I could keep doing normal stuff and work. After they persisted for over 6 weeks I took ... View more

Hi everyone! It my first time posting here because I’m not sure what to do. April this year I started getting headaches throughout the day. They were annoying but I could keep doing normal stuff and work. After they persisted for over 6 weeks I took my self off to my GP. My GP ran blood tests, sent me for blood pressure monitoring (it was a bit high), checked my heart, kidneys. And then finally sent me for a head CT and by this point I started feeling nauseous throughout the day. The week it took for the results to get back I noticed I lost nearly 10kgs possibly due to feeling sick. The CT results came back crystal clear (thank god) and I mentioned that I had been feeling sick and he then sent me for an abdomen CT, not so lucky this time around, the results showed “thickening in the bowel wall” and my GP sent me back to a gastroenterologist who sent me to hospital for a camera (both ends lol - sorry) this took nearly a month to happen and during this time I was a mess, crying on the shower floor, deflated, I was so convinced that I had bowel cancer or something major. A Month passed and the cameras came back all clear, visually (still waiting for the biopsy results) while waiting for the camera I started to shake in my hands and feet at random times. I went back to my GP and he told me that “I just need to chill and relax” and told me to come back in 6 months. I went off to see another doctor for a second opinion and I’ve developed a new symptom of tingling hands and feet (random times), she sent me for some blood tests to check for auto immunity issues and just to be sure referred me to a rheumatologist, my mum has auto immune issues, yet to have the appointment. And now I’m sitting here waiting for results on Monday thinking that maybe the headaches started as a bit of stress and then all the possible medical issues triggered anxiety that I can’t shake. I’ve never been an anxious person before either. I guess I want to know if I ask my GP for something to stop it will they give it to me on the spot, I’ve been feeling like this for over 6 months and it’s affecting my life and I need some relief. Now I’m left with headaches still, shaking hands/feet, I’m always tired, I hardly sleep and I feel like I’m fixating on my health. But I honestly feel like there is something wrong with me either mentally or physically. Thats my story.

yuki_imafuyu I'm the weird one out there
  • replies: 2

anyone can relate them being the left-out one/ background friend in a group? I'm a new immigrant from Asia and have been in Australia for nearly a year. Because in my homeland we don't speak English frequently, or maybe it's just my English level is ... View more

anyone can relate them being the left-out one/ background friend in a group? I'm a new immigrant from Asia and have been in Australia for nearly a year. Because in my homeland we don't speak English frequently, or maybe it's just my English level is below average, i often can't express what i truly want to say. when my classmates are starting interesting conversations, i tried to engage in it by speaking a few words or giving some reactions. but it turns out i'm the one ruining the vibe. it becomes awkward whenever i speak and people will look at me with a face that says 'i don't understand what you're saying/ what are you doing here?'. even some international students have done a better job than me. they have the good social skills that i don't have and manage to fuse into a friend group within a week or 2. this doesn't work for me. it has almost been a year, and it seems that i don't have someone i could call as a 'true friend'. from the next week onwards i will be going back to school, and struggling during every lesson, recess and lunchtime to find someone to talk to. some classmates, who are so kind-hearted, will try to talk to me and ask me to be groupmate during group project. i'm so thankful for them for not letting me feel left-out, but at the same i feel extremely guilty, because they could have partnered their close friends. they could have spent their time happily with friends joking around, but instead, they choose me. i feel i have to at least not being that boring, but my mind goes blank every time. the conversation turns out to be dull and didn't last for long. when i realize that i could have made a joke afterwards, it's always too late.

pinklemonade2 everything is becoming so much
  • replies: 3

hi everyone, hope you all had a great day i dont really know how to start this but i really need help and support with something in my life right now i have really bad depression, it kind of comes and goes like waves but i recently have had a really ... View more

hi everyone, hope you all had a great day i dont really know how to start this but i really need help and support with something in my life right now i have really bad depression, it kind of comes and goes like waves but i recently have had a really bad depressive episode. i didn't ever want to get out of bed and i didn't want to go out at all, instead trying to get myself out this hole i found myself in, i turned to abusing drugs instead to cope with the pain. over a 2 week period i was constantly drunk, stoned, never sober. the drugs gave me this false sense of happiness and sercuity which i dont really have in my life right now. im trying to stop using doing drugs but it is so so hard when all you want is that high, im still struggling but idk who to talk to about this i hate the person i've become i want to change not only for myself but the others around me, but i dont know how to stop any advice or support would be appreciated

JP11 I feel different
  • replies: 1

I don’t really know how to start this but here goes nothing. I have recently started uni after graduating high school last year. I did well in high school, nothing amazing but I got into the course I wanted. I’m not good in new social situations and ... View more

I don’t really know how to start this but here goes nothing. I have recently started uni after graduating high school last year. I did well in high school, nothing amazing but I got into the course I wanted. I’m not good in new social situations and considered going to an online uni for the sole purpose to get an education without the stress of a new social life and environment. I have been struggling more than I had expected. I never missed high school other than for being sick and now find myself missing quiet a few lessons. I have stopped eating breakfast on most days and my personal hygiene is lower. I don’t know if this is because I’m am struggling because of a new environment, the difficult year or if there’s something more to it. Like depression, anxiety or autism. I look at symptoms and signs and find myself matching up to them. I don’t know if I am making these up or if they are really there. Or if they are as bad or as often as I think. I don’t know if I am convincing myself of these signs or if I’m convincing myself I don’t have them. I haven’t spoken to my high school friends in weeks and don’t have anyone I really talk to at uni, besides trying to small talk when someone else initiates a conversation. I also don’t have anyone that I really feel comfortable talking to and thought this might be a good place to start.

Jolly_Chaplin Understanding your emotions - why they’re happening
  • replies: 2

Do you wonder why you suddenly feel awful and you have no control over it? Have you felt fine, but then feel trapped in negativity wondering when it will end? I’ve felt this too. It’s rare for me to feel down anymore but only because I’ve paid attent... View more

Do you wonder why you suddenly feel awful and you have no control over it? Have you felt fine, but then feel trapped in negativity wondering when it will end? I’ve felt this too. It’s rare for me to feel down anymore but only because I’ve paid attention to it, and worked on areas that were possible for me to change. Remember that you have reason to feel the way you do. It may be biological, or it could be other various things that changed your view on the world. Your mind in tangible. You have ability to change the way you think. If you decide to contact me, I’ll give you some answers. Hope you’re well. -Chris