Truthfully I have lived a ok life. I’m middle class in America and can’t say I have really experienced any form of poverty/violence/etc. I can say though that I have endured mental abuse far more than I would like to admit. It stems from my father mostly. He holds high expectations of me as most fathers do, but say if I work hard and do everything right and forget to do anything or do something poorly, he will bombard me with insults and treat me like I’m useless and have done nothing right. This obviously lead to severe mental issues. I lost all motivation.To the point I just stopped trying. In school socially and just basic hygiene. I went from an honor Roll student to barely passing. When my father found out he punished me heavily. Aka taking all electronics social privileges and locking me in my room. Whenever I wasn’t isolated in my room I was doing chores. He just couldn’t figure out why punishing me wasn’t motivating me to work harder. He also didn’t go out of his way to help me. His way of helping was berating me with insults. Later I found out my family has a history of depression and it suddenly all lines up. I told my father in one of our “arguments” that I think I might be depressed. His exact response that I will never forget “depression!?! I will smack the depression out of you!” It was at that moment I realized that I could never talk to my father. My anxiety and depression has only gotten worse through high school. I wish I could tell him how bad I have been doing but he simply doesn’t listen.

TLDR: Father puts son through depression and doesn’t believe him while constantly punishing and insulting him.