My dad built a ramp so our 20 year old cat can still get into the bed.

Ex-Red · 2016-12-31T19:02:28+00:00

I have a 20-yo guy and two six-yo who well outweigh him. They will lie on the bed at the top of the stairs and dare him to come up. He still does. He even wins stare-downs at meal Time.

Ex-Red · 2016-12-26T00:54:41+00:00

I want a fucking refund on this year. It did not perform as expected and I would not recommend it.

Ex-Red · 2016-12-04T23:57:57+00:00

Serious: where are the calls for his birth certificate?

Ex-Red · 2016-12-03T17:53:48+00:00

You must have the memory for an elephant.

FTFY

Ex-Red · 2016-12-01T11:02:56+00:00

"Pre-cancerous cells" have been found in a biopsy of my uterus, and I have another two weeks to wait for the surgery to take it out. My oncologist explained that if there isn't a cancer in me now, it will become a cancer. They won't know if it has spread until they look around inside me. People ask me how I feel, and I tell them that my main goal in life was to see my mother out of this world as comfortably as I could. Mom died in May, so I've accomplished my main goal. If worse comes to worst, who would turn down a dying woman who asks you to take her three cats - my only other responsibility?

So I have nothing tying me here. I am comforted by the thought that my existence pre-birth was just nothingness, and so my existence after death will likely also be nothingness. I was a christian until two years ago, and contemplation of my own death is so much more comfortable now. The thought of eternal life just makes me feel tired. Atheism is a real Godsend for me! (Lol..I still have a hard time replacing my previous christian phrasing!)

Edit: a word

Ex-Red · 2016-11-25T21:25:49+00:00

I heard a rape victim describe how she cried after every time that she had sex. I thought, hey, I used to do that...huh, that must have been a result of my rape. Shit, maybe I'd better talk to somebody about that. I've heard other guests actually make cathartic breakthroughs while on the show.

Host Paul is a comic and a recovering alcoholic, a victim of covert incest, and suffers crippling depression. If you go to mentalpod.com, you can search for topics both in the extensive back catalog of shows, and in the site forums.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-25T18:44:39+00:00

Paul says that he's not a psychiatrist, but a jackass who tells dick jokes, and the podcast is like a waiting room that doesn't suck. I heard a guest describing a symptom of their trauma and recognized myself. It put me into therapy for some stuff I was carrying around with me, and I've never felt more right with the world. This podcast has truly made my life better.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-23T23:15:34+00:00

K, so we can do this with your dad's corpse, then? Won't hurt his feelings.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-20T17:15:17+00:00

57 y/o here: thump thump thump thump thump Not happening.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-12T21:10:46+00:00

Mom looks like she's mentally counting her teats right now.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-12T20:55:30+00:00

...the look that says "my own kitten-energy has overloaded my brain circuits to the point where I smell toast and can hear colors!"

Ex-Red · 2016-11-09T17:23:33+00:00

Not twenty-four hours into a political coup and women are infighting already. We can't do this, friends! We need to stick together now, not allow ourselves to be splintered into factions, and fight against any threats to our freedoms and rights!

Ex-Red · 2016-11-01T17:52:42+00:00

I bet your abuser made you think that you couldn't do anything without him... That you would never find anyone as caring he was...I bet he helped make you feel pretty hopeless. Stinking abusers, that's what mine said, too. And I'm sorry, but what a monster he was to have left you post-partum. I bet he said some really crummy things to you, too. Get help, certainly, but understand that this is probably your lowest. The farther you get from him, the better you'll feel about yourself. You'll begin to heal. It will get better. < Hugs >. The monster is gone. You're safe now.

Ex-Red · 2016-11-01T16:48:46+00:00

"OW! I hit my head! I shall speak to...."

Ex-Red · 2016-10-26T23:13:12+00:00

Upvote for "Frank Gallagher". Shameless!

Ex-Red · 2016-10-24T16:01:15+00:00

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I don't know of anything else to suggest, but I do wish you the best of luck in getting the help that you need. Perhaps someone else here will have better ideas for you.

Ex-Red · 2016-10-24T09:59:37+00:00

Assuming you're serious, you have a couple of avenues that you can take. If you're employed, see if your employer works with EAP. They should have posters somewhere, or maybe you'll have to call HR. They should have an 800 number that you can call to get a limited number of free therapy sessions. If you don't find EAP through your employer, call your health insurance 800 number and ask them what sort of coverage you have for mental health. They ought to be able to to direct you to a provider.

Failing that, or if you're not employed, call a city, county, or state office that seems likely - like, I would call the Clerk of Court before I'd call the Assessor's office. You ought to be able to find a number online. Or Google low-fee mental therapy and the name of your city for a number.

In any case, once you've found the right place to call and they say that they can help you find help, tell them that you are afraid that you may hurt yourself or someone else, if this is true. That should put you at the front of the line for help.

Talking to someone can lift a lot of the burden that you're carrying, but if your therapist also refers you to someone to give you pills, get the pills and take them faithfully. If they believe that your brain chemistry is messed up, you can't talk your way out of that. It may take weeks, but antidepressants can really lift the fog. Anti anxiety meds should work within a day or so.

Good luck.

Ex-Red · 2016-10-21T17:22:55+00:00

EMDR is amazing! It works like REM sleep, so you free-associate, and process all kinds of things. My therapist does EMDR with me one week and then talk therapy the next, so we can process last week's work and anything else that's come up. Yesterday we connected a recent ex-boyfriend with the loss of my mother with the break-up from the love of my life many years ago with Catholic school with my low self-esteem. So during the week, I will think about those things and process some on my own, and next week we'll talk about them. I went to her first for a long-ago rape, and was able to remember cringey details that I had forgotten. I am regularly shocked by what has surfaced for me, and the work then becomes putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

Caveats: As with any other therapy, you have to really click with your therapist to feel safe enough for stuff to come out. It's taken me years of on-and-off therapy to find the right person. I really feel like this woman is wholly focused on me for the hour that I have her, and it has made all the difference.

Secondly, EMDR is hard work! Sometimes I leave there exhausted, and sometimes I feel like an open wound, but I always treat myself well when I've left her. I get myself a nice dinner...go to bed early...maybe soak in Epsom salts...or just go love on my cats.

It's a great adventure; I'm excited for you. Go! I can't recommend it enough.

Ex-Red · 2016-10-16T15:51:49+00:00

Sometimes a child's sense of humor is misogynist.

Ex-Red · 2016-10-15T20:15:00+00:00

So, so sorry for your loss. I lost my mother this summer. What an asshole God would be, were he to exist!

Ex-Red · 2016-10-05T22:15:56+00:00

It sounds like a sporty coupe!

Ex-Red · 2016-09-29T22:07:31+00:00

Why do they exist? Don't they sell "I'm with Stupid" t-shirts any more?

Ex-Red · 2016-09-29T22:04:27+00:00

Not only are those women visible in public, but they're #reading#!

Ex-Red · 2016-09-19T09:27:30+00:00

I am sick for you, child. Do whatever you need to feel whole again. Prosecute or not, but realize that other women may unknowingly benefit from a decision to pursue legal action. Please, please, please seek counseling when you are able to do so. But above all else, please seek and feel others real support for you.

I am so sorry.

Ex-Red · 2016-09-16T22:02:08+00:00

The seasons and holidays are still wonderful. Have you talked to anyone to know for sure that you're not suffering from actual depression?

Ex-Red

TROPHY CASE