do you feel looked down upon by former friends or people you know

[karl7]

i do....very much so.....i currently have no friends but the friends i did have growing up looked down upon me and desserted me.....i remember one time when i was 20 and i met up with a friend in the states.....unfortunately i had a touch of social anxiety then and was quite quiet then....anyway i had to go out with this friend but i also had to mix with his wider circle of friends, people that i did not know.....i was a little socially awkward

anyway, my point is this friend looked down upon me, he was embarrassed of me......anyway since then i haev never heard from him....he distanced himself from me.....i nevar saw him again but i have heard through others that he thought i was a loser....that hurt

anyway all the friendsthat i had from that era all desserted me......i had depression and none called on me or asked after me....that was about 20 odd years ago.....i look back with a little bit of resentment but i try to forget about it

how about you, do you feel looked down upon by former friends, or pepole u know

 

[Tawny]

Some are strangely envious of the interesting nature of mental illness, or fascinated. Some are cautious and frightened. I am sure some look down on me but i don't care anymore. Their lives have turned out differently and they very easily could have been unlucky like me. I prefer to think this was my destiny and that was theirs, and neither are better.

 

[Purpleplum]

You just have to say: "f*** -it what other people think. Start liking yourself and those people's opinions won't matter.

 

[Blue Opal]

I am sure my family, which are my parents, my sister and brother in law, all look down on me. On me an my boyfriend both. Because in their eyes we are just lazy losers that should have their arses kicked and get a job.
They never aks how I am because they probably don't want to know the answer.
I don't care much anymore and also stopped asking how they are.

 

[zula77]

I think we are so desperate to be viewed in a positive way by other people. I'm trying to let this go and just be myself but it is so hard when you are so used to trying to make yourself seem 'better' for other people. In reality, they probably aren't looking down on us at all. But it's very hard to change that way of thinking

 

[OCDguy]

I think a lot of these things come down to poor communication... If we have struggles they are likely to take their toll on the way we portray ourselves etc... For me life isn't all about that flashy job title, that flashy car, that large house etc. It's what we do with our lives that count, and having a positive impact on others'. Not everyone has the best starts in life too, or during our journey through life, disasters can strike. In those cases for some it can be a life's work to overcome those obstacles chucked at us, and just surviving on a daily basis... Everybody's story is different...

 

[PetitPois]

Mental illness is seen as a weakness by some of my family members. Also a forum that I run has given me some issues as well. I had 3 other Admin with me and I had previously told one of them about my diagnosis. They were not kind. A big thing for them was that I manage the coding (CSS, templates and JS) on the forum. It was as if my being capable of such things was unacceptable. Like someone with my illness should not be able to do things they can't. I got rid of them eventually but it was an awful experience.

I struggled with these opinions of me based on my mental health. Now I see it as their problem, not mine

 

[penguinlady]

People who look down on you or don't care about your feelings or anxieties are just not friends worth it. I've had so many toxic friendships that I've forced myself to stay in just because I felt lonely.

Hopefully the stigma on mental health will change and people will be understanding.

 

[OCDguy]

I do think attitudes are gradually changing. Thing is we all have challenges on a daily basis, even those who appear to be perfect. People need humbling, then we can all start to listen, and start to understand. Thank you for sharing