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People Explain Which Things Can Really Break Someone Mentally

There is always a last straw!

People Explain Which Things Can Really Break Someone Mentally
Image by Josh Clifford from Pixabay

2020 has really taken it out of everybody. You can just feel the stress pouring off of people. Of course life isn't always easy or fair; no one said it would be, so people are usually good at holding it together, but humans can only hold so much. There is a breaking point for everyone; a moment or a trigger (big and small) where the mind collapses. And this year is crushing those moments. Sometimes you've just had enough and you're not alone.

Redditor u/YourAverageTurkGuy wanted everyone to share about the times they've reached the brink by asking.... What can break someone mentally?


Those Closest

Destroy Diary Of A Mad Black Woman GIF by BounceGiphy

Toxic families leave people broken for a long time.

Umbraldisappointment

Lost Zzzzssss....

Lack of sleep.... seriously it's one of the most effective torture tactics out there.

jsmiff573

You beat me to it. You're 100% correct. It's more effective than physical torture.

Add to that screwing with the victim's sense of time. Keep him in a room with the lights on all the time. Serve him breakfast at, say, 8:00 a.m., then lunch at 11:00 and dinner at midnight.

Breakfast the next day at, say, 10:00 a.m. Keep doing stuff like this, making it impossible to tell how much time has passed. Let him fall asleep for a few minutes, then wake him with by pouring cold water on him.

Within just a few days he'll have sleeplessness-induced psychosis. He'll believe anything. "Remember" whatever you tell him. Confess to anything.

DancesWithTrout

Lost Faith

Seeing someone whom you had complete faith in, just switch on you and actively try to hurt you. Yeah it makes you question every little interaction with them.

incrediblerealitydis

Had this happen to me recently. Did not see it coming. My body and mind just shut down for a while. The sense of betrayal hurts more than the thing they did.

Scribberlings

And then over time you'll start noticing from remembering that time that those little interactions you had actually had sinister meanings behind them.

Horrible realizations however I feel it helps the healing process, knowing and understanding they were never a good person and there's nothing to change from it but learn, grow and live your life.

nahiaintdoingthat

9 to 5

paper airplane rage GIFGiphy

Not being able to leave a crappy job with a toxic environment because people depend on you.

notyouravgredditer

Alone

Loneliness. I suffered a mental breakdown because of that in 2017, and still didn't recover completely. It has made my depression worse and it has affected my life deeply.

tliamatt

I get it. I really do. With being separated,empty nest,now lockdown, I totally understand. I also had a few breakdowns. Have you tried any Vitamin B12 and magnesium sulfate supplements?

These will speed up your recovery. Studies show that those who are really depressed and anxious often are lacking in magnesium sulfate, and B complex vitamins. I tried it, and it really helps. As for the loneliness, keep coming to the online platforms, you will find that there are other people who are battling it too. My heart goes out to you. Heres hoping things look up for you real soon. 💛

Platinumsurprise

Weapons

Emotional abuse. The abuser slowly learns to turn their partner's best traits into their weapons. They use and twist the love, compassion, patience and forgiveness they receive and fuel it with fear. Many victims need years to make sense of their story and trust themselves again.

Allegutennamenweg

Nothing can be off....

Perfectionism.

Pentacostal-Haircut

If you mean failure when you're a perfectionist, then this has happened to me. Nothing causes me to have a mental break except for when I fail at something that I check all the boxes to be perfect at.

guitarplex

The Public Evils

customer service do not want GIFGiphy

Working customer service.

SoundedDoughnut

My son is in customer service and tells me some of the terrible things people say to him every day. He tries hard not to let it brake him but after three years of it I'm afraid it's taking a toll on him.

Agreeable-Scratch424

Honesty Matters

Lack of trust.

When it's impossible to believe anyone, everyone becomes an enemy.

McMetas

To add: when you create a system where everyone is afraid of everyone else, anyone can be cracked to collaborate with the state (just threaten their family or livelihood)... it changes the whole populace... and if you are all alone in this... it can totally break you.

whatisherenow

A great quote I heard a while back went along the lines of "I'm not mad that you lied to me, I'm mad that I can't trust you anymore."

I feel that this is very similar to what you're saying. I've had a few close friends lie to me about some potentially serious matters and now it pains me to know that level of trust and confidence is gone.

Mustafa_19

Deep Breaths....

Stressed Over It GIF by HULUGiphy

Stress.

weiyichi

Dude this should be higher up.

I really don't think people understand how bad this is. I have a host of problems because of a few months of chronic stress, things that seem like a real disease. I now even make more mistakes while speaking and am super spaced out a lot. Stay away from hyper stress. And most of all, don't stress about being stressed.

Scarlaire

the emptiness

Loss.

Lots of people just break when they lose their spouse, kids, friends or family. Either to death, or taken away by authorities.

greffedufois

I've always wondered how hard it must be for a parent to lose a kid. Basically your entire life's purpose ripped away unlike a child who knows that their parents will die and be gone someday and they will have to live through it. But most parents don't think they will have to live through their own children's death.

Father_Mooose

Being Still

Daffy Duck Waiting GIFGiphy

Doing nothing for too long.

Maybe some people can handle it. But I remember many years ago I was not going to school or working for about 6 months and just about lost my mind.

BlazerFan86

Goliath

Bullying. (that's underrated, isn't it?)

Lee_errado

Damn right. If you're a decent person you just think the bully needs to see what a good person you really are and it will stop, so you try hard to change their mind about you. When the bullying then continues, you can really start to believe there is something defective about you.

Scribberlings

I was Wrong

Realizing that one has misplaced his trust in someone.

Even if trust was misplaced not because the other person was ill-intentioned, but just incompetent.

Points multiplied by the amount of trust one used to have.

Ferrara2020

Please Don't

Danny Devito No GIFGiphy

The threat of being tortured.

Experts say more information is given up while anticipating torture than actually during it.

Scrappy_Larue

bad education

School.

shinyglassycanon123

In high school, you learn a subject over the course of a year. In college, that is condensed down into one semester. It's just a lot of information in a shorter period of time so you have to really stay on top of studying or you will quickly fall behind.

nago7650

A Time to Heal

My sibling works in a psyche ward. The answer: a lot of things. Like any part of your body your mind can break as well. Be it financial stress, drugs, even being kicked out of a band. What's surprising to most people is how common it is. The good news is it's also very common that, like a broken bone, it just needs a bit of time to heal. The vast majority of her patients are only in for a week or two before they have gone through their healing process, and are ready to move on in their life.

Wilthywonka

Career Moves

Being in an awful workplace where you are bullied, harassed and discriminated against will do it. It makes it even worse if your disability means you'll struggle to find elsewhere and you need a job to feed, cloth and put a roof over your child's head.

CyrilNiff

Life

For me is was a wave of tragic deaths.

My miscarriage

My mom's death due to alcohol induced organ failure

My step grandfather's death, who I just discovered was my biological grandfather

I was a wreck. I had always had depression but this was just bad.

My anxiety and stress was so through the roof that I put on 40 lbs and was starting to have major problems with my vision. I thought I had torn a retina, when it was actually just a great amount more pressure in my eye. And my cycles were so out of whack that my Dr thought I might be starting early menopause (which does runs in my family, and I will have to deal with eventually, but I'm not even 30 yet).

Anyway I'm all better now. In fact I'm happier/more content than I've been my whole life.

Reddit

Living Single

living single dancing GIFGiphy

Dating can. You have enough people treat you like crap or refuse to give you a chance because of a trait you have that is totally out of your control, it makes you give up and just accept you will be alone forever.

Cannabilistichokie

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REDDIT

Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

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