Did your mental health issues get worse with age?

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selin
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23 Sep 2015, 4:45 am

Or has your mental health always existed, simply stayed the same or improved?

I think I was always a bit more sensitive and anxious than other kids, a "scaredy cat", afraid to climb the rope in PE, afraid to jump off things, afraid of trying to climb anything high and needing help because I was simply crap at it, afraid of dogs barking, afraid of people's masks on Halloween...but this tendency to be afraid wasn't debilitating and my childhood was mostly normal as far as I can tell.
My anxiety has actually gotten worse with age, particularly social anxiety and agoraphobia. Agoraphobia itself feels like I've reverted back to childhood in a sense as I feel small and overwhelmed by the outside world but can largely cope now with the help of medication and CBT.



Rodland
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23 Sep 2015, 4:58 am

I suppose that you are talking about mental health issues as problems which are related to autistic traits.

I think that negative feelings that I get from the presence of and interaction with other people have become worse. In my childhood I was a rather normal child, had friends. In teenage I started to be a loner and it has got just worse during my twenties. Some people that I could tolerate when I was 20, I would not tolerate anymore. Also, I suspect that my ADD symptoms have become worse. My problems with aggression seemed to mostly emerge in the late teenage or early twenties. Sudden shocks of aggression appeared first around the age of 23 or something. Some sort of forced thoughts have appeared during my twenties. Insomnia started to be a problem in the late teens or early twenties.



corroonb
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23 Sep 2015, 5:26 am

Worse. I was always anxious and nervous as a child but I wasn't really aware of it until I got older. When life pressures started to increase, I became depressed. I haven't exactly gotten worse but I haven't developed much due to my mental health problems. There's a reason why early intervention is important. But better late than never, I suppose.



TheNameless
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23 Sep 2015, 6:31 am

I don't know that they are worse but rather that I can express them more freely now that I have no pressure to conform to normality daily.

When I was younger and I was expected to socialise and interact with people at school or work, I had to repress an awful lot. Now that I am older, I have the same issues but I don't feel as though I have to hide them. I am more open with my family about my feelings. They don't understand but they call me a hermit and such so they are aware. My mother mentions therapy a lot but I don't need it. To me, you get therapy to fix something. I don't need fixing. My anxiety, frustration and depression is triggered by having to interact in the outside world against my will. When I am living my life the way I choose, I am ok.



ASPartOfMe
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23 Sep 2015, 8:10 am

Yes it is can as you get mentally exhausted or burnout from years/decades of trying to pretend to be typical. Things slow down in middle age for most, add burnout and autistic traits and latent mental issues can increase with a vengeance.


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Jacoby
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23 Sep 2015, 8:22 am

certainly seems like it



selin
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23 Sep 2015, 9:21 am

I'm not sure if I have ever consciously tried to be normal (my family are pretty accepting of me and quite strange themselves) but I have thought about burn out. I.e one's defences no longer seem to work as well due to the pressures one has to cope with. But consciously trying to act more allistic is only something I've done recently...i.e with small talk and "banter".



whatamess
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23 Sep 2015, 8:40 pm

Possibly worse...but I think it is mostly related to more stress and being more vocal. I think that before even if people said rude things to me, I kept my mouth shut...as I have gotten older, I have decided I will no longer shut up. Needless to say, those who were used to abusing me and using me, don't like me much and those who have attempted in the last few years, have been shot down immediately with the same compassion they showed me.



BudDickman
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23 Sep 2015, 9:29 pm

For whatever reason, yes, I think they've gotten worse in a sense as I'm much more weary of having to out there and put my mask on and act through social norms to the best of my ability. In the last couple of years I've started to give up 'acting normal' and I think I've felt the social consequences of that, which in turn has added more insecurity, etc...



Aristophanes
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23 Sep 2015, 9:54 pm

I'm only middle-age so I can't speak with the experience others here have, but I can say for myself that all of my issues have always been about the same. My circumstances and situations have changed, and in some cases my "quirks" have been a burden in those changing situations, but the quirks themselves haven't changed. The most I've noticed with age is that others around me have different expectations than they did when I was younger and my quirks stand out more because of those expectations. This is out of my control so I ignore the negative feelings said people project upon me-- and only time will tell if that approach is correct for me.



Luzhin
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24 Sep 2015, 3:47 am

It seems that everything, physically and mentally, has gotten worse as I've gotten older.