"What's the most f**ked up thing someone has told you about themselves after barely getting to know them?"
Not At All The Same Thing!
"Visited a coffee shop for the first time on holiday."
"Barista commented on my tattoos."
"I said thank you."
"She told me she's not allowed to get tattoos but she cuts herself to enjoy the pain and that's nearly the same thing."
"I found a different coffee shop for the rest of the holiday."- kyridwen
You Meet All Kinds Of People
"Stuck driving a coworker out to a remote gas plant to do a system install."
"He was kinda f*cked up but assumed it was just socially awkward IT way."
"Nope."
"He starts telling me about him and his dad collecting nazi memorabilia and how proud he was of his German grandparents."
"Trying to make other small talk and he would just trail off answering questions and start singing to himself."
"Thought for sure I’d end up on the news and a manhunt would be conducted."
"Second best story, met the neighbor right after we moved in and she started telling me about them wanting another kid but doing the deed was hard because she was overweight and had bad knees and it just made it difficult."
"I’m a guy who never met her and have my kids playing mere feet away so I can’t call her batsh*t crazy." - Reddit
There Is Such A Thing As Too Much Coffee
"A customer explained to me the benefits of a coffee enema to heal everything from my acne to preventing cancer."
"I couldn't get her to leave me alone for an hour because it was dead and no one was there to help."
"I worked for a skincare counter in a department store."
"Like if you don't need my products because cleaning your butt with coffee fixes it, why are you here?"
"But she went on about how she started her kids on these and did their enemas until they could do theirs on their own."
National Coffee Day GIFGiphy"What?"
"Then she also grabbed my hands and kept saying promise me you'll try it."
"Promise me."
"She left after I promised."
"No, I didn't try it." - Reddit
Makes You Value What You Have
"Had to get my picture taken for a visa so went to a local photography shop that took the pictures and printed them out for you right there."
"I had been talking to the guy as he worked on other people's photos and when I finally got my picture taken he started opening up about his family."
"Apparently his son was killed 3 years ago in a car accident and he was telling me how much I reminded him of his son, going to school for engineering, 1st generation college student etc."
"The son was killed in his senior year so didn't even get to graduate, he even showed me pictures it was heartbreaking."
"To make things worse he said he had a degenerative muscular disease and doctors had given him about 2-3 years before he'd be bed ridden."
"He then went on to say his daughter was taking care of him and how she isn't married yet and deserves to live a young persons life and man, it really put into perspective how bad some people have it."
"I still think about that guy to this day and hope he's doing well."- EA721
Don't Be So Sure Of Who You Can Trust...
"I made the unfortunate mistake of inviting my old neighbor over when we were having a party."
"He had like five gins in my kitchen and confessed to an unsolved murder in Nunavut, Canada."
"He's in jail."- _HossBonaventureCEO_
It Takes Courage To Ask For Help
"Moved to a neighborhood not to long ago."
"First person I meet was an older woman in her 50s."
"She told me all about her drug use and how sometimes she ends up outside naked and asked if I would help her back inside and put clothes on her."
"This was all in 5 minutes of saying hello."- Horribleheadaches
homer simpson lawn GIFGiphyAn Unexpected Family
"Sat on an Amtrak across from a very sweet older man, who within twenty minutes was telling me about the purpose of his trip to Maryland."
"To meet his biological father, who he had discovered via 23andMe, to discuss changing his last name, which was the condition of becoming the sole inheritor of his father’s estate."
"And that he was feeling a little guilty about that because his three half sisters would be excluded from their father’s will because he 'finally had a legacy.'”
"Woof."
"He disembarked twenty minutes later, and I have thought about it constantly for the following four years."- mom_jean
No Better Truth Potion Than Alcohol...
"Bartender for awhile."
“'I’m here to meet a man to cheat on my husband with'.”- Oh_Archie
Some people just have that way about them, that leads all those who meet them to think they will be fast friends.
Often leading to a bit too much information on a first meeting.
And yet they wonder why you never want to hang out?
Redditor Music-and-wine wanted to hear what some therapists thoughts about our wildest issues.
"Therapists, what is something people are afraid to tell you because they think it's weird, but that you've actually heard a lot of times before?"
I think everything I think is weird. So... no shocking here.
Explore
the office therapy GIFGiphy"I have heard some variant of 'This is probably weird, but I feel if I am my true self around others then they won't like me' more times than I can count. As I explore the formative situations to this belief alongside my clients it definitely pulls at my heart strings."
oreganick
Brush them off...
"Intrusive thoughts. Nearly everyone has thoughts about pushing the old lady onto the subway train, swerving into opposing traffic, or stabbing their loved one in the stomach while cooking dinner with them. Some folks, however, take these thoughts very serious that believe that they might act them out. It's called thought-action-fusion. Most of us are able to brush them off, though."
vedderer
'Fit in'
"I'd say a common one is believing that there's something innately, irreparably wrong with them that makes them unable to ever truly 'fit in.' For a lot of people it's such a deeply ingrained belief that it can be extremely painful to acknowledge or express, regardless of the level of personal success in their lives."
GuidedBySteven
On the Daily
"That they don't like their family members, are angry/want to stop communication with their parents etc. I work in a country which Is more culturally collectivist, so not wanting anything to do with your parents makes you an a**hole in the current cultural sense."
"We deal with this almost on a daily basis. There is deep and profound shame in this and when we find that line of 'oh, it might be that your parents are toxic to your mental well being/trigger your trauma' many of my clients actually get visibly angry with me."
"Cultural psychology is so important, cause when I first moved here I had my American/European hat on, oh boy, did I need to adjust."
leonilaa
So far it's agreed. We all need help.
Fail
"Clients become quite fearful of admitting that they weren't successful since the last time they had a session. This could include not succeeding in using a coping skill that they're learning about, or not being able to complete a homework assignment I gave them. Humans aren't robots, and therapy is a lot of work."
"That being said, I don't expect people to be perfect as they start to work on themselves in a positive way. It takes time to really commit to change, especially in relation to trauma or conflicted views that an individual holds. I feel as if the client doesn't want to let me down as their therapist, but these 'failure' events are just as important to talk about as successful moments!'
DnDYetti
Many Questions
"Usually it’s sex related. Shame about their desires or kinks is common. Gender questioning is another. Some people are ashamed of things they did in childhood or adolescence, haven’t ever told anyone and think the team will be horrified. We have heard everything. Everything. I’m always compassionate and always understand why we do the things we do. I’ve yet to have anyone bring something I can’t ‘get.'"
throwaway4u2021
Normal
"Many of my clients lived through severe childhood trauma and neglect. They had no one to model or explain healthy emotions or to show them appropriate ways to react to stress, fear, anger, etc. Most often they’ll describe a completely normal reaction to a stressor and then follow that up with 'I don’t know if that’s normal.' These are adults who were exposed to so much dysfunction during their formative years that they don’t know whether it’s normal to cry when they’re anxious or afraid, feel angry when their boundaries have been violated, etc."
yayeayeah619
Too Close
"Hidden sexual dreams and fantasies about family members. More common than people think, and often stays that way and doesn't really interfere in the person's close relationships unless they allow it. Many things we dream or think are unconscious and involuntary, and the root of such things is often nonsensical."
I'm Done
Tired 90 Day Fiance GIF by TLC EuropeGiphy"Women often feel really ashamed when they tell me they are burnt out on being a parent or that they never want to have kids. I wish all of them knew how common this thought is."
trick_deck
Therapy is rough, but so helpful. Below are some resources to utilize if necessary.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
