var title = 'Psychology and Mental Health Forum Psychology Feed';
		var url = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/random_blogs_c-3.html';
		var site_url = 'https://www.psychforums.com';
		var site_desc = 'Psychology and Mental Health Forum';
		var time = 'Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:25:50 -0400';

		var data = new Array();
		

		data[0] = new Array();
		data[0]['title'] = 'Running Out of Options, Time to Try Catharsis';
		data[0]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/running_out_of_options_time_to_try_catharsis_c-3_u-248903_b-5872.html';
		data[0]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/running_out_of_options_time_to_try_catharsis_c-3_u-248903_b-5872.html';
		data[0]['username'] = 'ThanatosRising';
		data[0]['blog_id'] = '5872';
		data[0]['blog_message'] = 'I was diagnosed with PTSD after a car accident in 2010 (age 25), and was shocked when repressed memories from the past started surfacing without warning. Along with the scenes from the car accident replaying without end, images of an abusive relationship I had been in for three years started playing, a sexual assault by a boyfriend at 19 that I blocked out, a rape I had experienced at age 18 that I COMPLETELY blocked out, emotional and mental abuse from age 11 at the hand of a boyfriend of my mother&#039;s, and various bullying events I had sustained from around age 8 through 14. It was entirely overwhelming; for about two months after the accident I spent most of every day in bed, having nightmares when sleeping, waking up screaming thinking whatever I was dreaming about was happening, then having no perception of time when I was awake, being continually trapped in recurring flashbacks that seemed to last for hours when they were really just 10-15 minutes. I sustained serious lumbar spine and nerve injuries that required heavy medication (50mcg fentanyl patches every 3 days, 200mg neurontin daily for nerve pain, 10mg klonopin for panic attacks, 30-50mg oxycodone daily for breakthrough pain, 100-200 mg orphenadrine daily for muscle spasm and opiate potentiation). I could barely muster the energy to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and shower because of the pain, so I stopped eating, lost nearly 25 pounds within a few weeks (I am a 5&#039;5&quot; female and was an active and relatively muscle-toned 130 lbs., so I became underweight and lost a majority of my muscle tone), so coworkers I ran into once when I had to go to my office to sign some insurance paperwork started rumors I was abusing drugs due to my frail and noticeably gaunt appearance. I withdrew almost entirely from my social circle with the exception of a few friends who were so worried abouy my sudden changes they forced me to keep in contact with them. After nearly two full years of weekly psychotherapy, many hurdles, setbacks,  tears, angry and violent outbursts, losing my job, and weaning off all the pain medication, I finally got my PTSD symptoms under control in 2012. During this time I was also pursuing my undergraduate degree in psychology, which obviously delayed my studies as I dealt with my illness and injuries. Since then, I have had a very exaggerated startle response that never went away (loud noises or someone approaching me from behind seriously frightens me, causing an immediate panic response). I&#039;ve had difficulty with controlling or moderating anger, and sometimes respond angrily way out of proportion to the irritant or situation. Social anxiety that I always had got somewhat worse, and depression has been a nearly constant battle also. However, I was able to find a new, better job, and maintain my GPA at 3.85.<br /><br />Things were going relatively smoothly until this October, where I suddenly experienced a PTSD retriggering event. I did not consciously recognize or want to acknowledge it at first, instead convincing myself that the eerily familiar feelings were just imaginations and nothing serious, until it suddenly dawned on me one day what was happening, about three weeks after the initial retrigger. I began addressing it with my psychologist and the psychiatrist I started seeing right before the retrigger for my depression that was getting out of control in the summer. It just caught me so off guard and has made me feel so powerless again. I keep thinking that no matter how far I get in time from these events, no matter how well I do, these horrible feelings are going to arise at any time and ruin my happiness. I feel that I never truly have felt happiness, and that now I may never know what it is like. It&#039;s caused me such horrible thoughts, the suicidal thoughts, the thoughts of giving up on everything, the thoughts of withdrawing into myself, the paranoia that everyone can see through me and thinks I&#039;m pathetic and weak for not being able to just get over it....<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/running_out_of_options_time_to_try_catharsis_c-3_u-248903_b-5872.html" class="postlink-local">[ Continued ]</a>';
		data[0]['blog_time'] = 'Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:22:08 -0500';
		

		data[1] = new Array();
		data[1]['title'] = 'GAD, OCD, Irrational Fears';
		data[1]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/gad_ocd_irrational_fears_c-3_u-233962_b-5266.html';
		data[1]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/gad_ocd_irrational_fears_c-3_u-233962_b-5266.html';
		data[1]['username'] = '_FatimaM';
		data[1]['blog_id'] = '5266';
		data[1]['blog_message'] = 'Hello,<br /><br />Well for starters I wanted to say that I&#039;m a Seventeen year old girl who has recently been diagnosed with GAD. I have always feared a lot, and would always obsess over a certain thing/thought. I never really thought much of it, but now that I look back, it all makes sense. When I was around Seven years old, my older brother had came home from school one day and told me about germs, he explains how they were all around us. I quickly became obsessed with the thought that I would catch all these germs and catch a deadly illness and die. Every time I touched anything or anyone touched my hand, I would run to the bathroom and wash my hands. I was washing my hands up to 15 times a day and I didn&#039;t want to touch anything at all... Well like I said, I never thought much about that.. Until recently during summer break I had nothing better to do, other than watch TV, and everything I saw had to do with murders and people going insane. Well I saw this episode on a Hispanic show about a lady who had some type of Multiple personality disorder, who ended up killing her boss. She took medication for her disorder, but that day she forgot to take it.  She didn&#039;t realize she had killed her, until the memory of her kept haunting her. She would see her everywhere, and she would speak to her telling her &quot;You did it, you killed me&quot; much later she got the clue that she had committed that murder. Well I quickly became obsessed with the thought of me going insane or sleep walking and doing such thing. I actually started putting things against my door so if I did sleep walk, I wouldn&#039;t be able to get through. The thing is there hasn&#039;t been a time where I have slept walked. The thoughts used to be much worse, but I&#039;ve been seeing a therapist since the moment I realized I had a problem, and I&#039;ve been feeling much better. There&#039;s days where I feel completely fine and happy and then there&#039;s those other days where I completely panic and feel like my world is falling apart. I would much rather kill myself than to ever hurt anyone in anyway. The thought of doing such thing causes me so much emotional pain, because I know that I wouldn&#039;t hurt anyone. Sometimes I cant help but feel so hurt and upset with myself because of those thoughts, that I just want to end my life. I try to talk to the people who I love about this and try to explain it to them, but they don&#039;t really seem to understand. They say &quot;Oh everyone has those types of thoughts, just get over it&quot; although, everyone might have those types of thoughts, I cant seem to just &quot;get over it&quot;. I basically want to know, is there hope for me? How many others can relate to the way I&#039;m feeling? <img src="https://www.psychforums.com/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" />  <img src="https://www.psychforums.com/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" />  <img src="https://www.psychforums.com/images/smilies/icon_cry.gif" alt=":cry:" title="Crying or Very sad" />';
		data[1]['blog_time'] = 'Tue, 03 Sep 2013 17:22:52 -0400';
		

		data[2] = new Array();
		data[2]['title'] = 'Need help, am I gay bi or straight?';
		data[2]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/need_help_am_i_gay_bi_or_straight%CA%94_c-3_u-252308_b-6176.html';
		data[2]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/need_help_am_i_gay_bi_or_straight%CA%94_c-3_u-252308_b-6176.html';
		data[2]['username'] = '23yroldguy';
		data[2]['blog_id'] = '6176';
		data[2]['blog_message'] = 'Hi there, I need some help.  I am very confused about my Sexuality and not sure whether I am gay or bi, or even straight.  <br /><br />I&#039;ll tell you my story,  I am from South America and as a kid I messed around with my friends sexually just trying to experiment as it was easier than getting girls...  We wanted girls but decided to play around with each other...   That was when I was 13-15 I am now 23.  We probably spent half a year messing about, if was never emotional or anything like that but just sexual..  <br /><br />I&#039;ve lived all my life liking girls ever since and have felt love for women too.  I&#039;ve had two Gfs (real ones), the last one I was with for five years and the current one for around 7 months.    I&#039;ve never really looked at guys at all in any emotional way but I do like to mess around with guys sexually..  And have done a few times in the last 6years..  From oral to sex.   Most of the time I didn&#039;t enjoy it but it was a sexual thing and fancied oral sex...  That&#039;s as far as it got with men...  Just casual sexual encounters...  Not often but we could say once ever three or four months...  I haven&#039;t since with my Gf as I have been truly happy with her and feel deeply in love with her and always have enjoyed her body too.  <br /><br />Around two weeks ago or just a bit less than that I told her about my sexual experiences and that I think I might be bisexual,   however since then I have developed somewhat of an ocd, hocd...  Re questioning my Sexuality asking myself whether my whole life as straight has been an illusion and even force myself to see myself with a guy.  It doesn&#039;t really attract me, but I can&#039;t say I would never do it as I think if I can sexually be aroused by men too then it means something,  and I have not been able to stop forcing myself into thinking if I am gay or not, and that surely I must be if I fantasise about men whilst with women,  <br /><br />I don&#039;t understand whether it&#039;s something in my head that has caused me to not stop thinking about my sexual orientation or whether I&#039;m gay but have never really seen it until now, the emotional side I mean...  And reconfuse myself by acknowledging that I haven&#039;t really at all ever felt emotions for guys, but many times for girls.  <br /><br />I guess I need to establish whether I can be straight and then turn gay, or if I&#039;m simply bisexual, or if I just like sex with men too..  And that&#039;s it.  As that&#039;s how it&#039;s felt all my life.  <br /><br />I think about everything to do with this, asking myself if it&#039;s that I don&#039;t want to be gay and I just have forced myself to be straight, but it&#039;s hard to put that to ground as I think at least I would have acknowledged emotions for men before, which I truly haven&#039;t until all this began.  <br /><br />Any ideas comments would be greatly appreciated.. As I can&#039;t even function a normal life atm..  And when I think of being gay and not being with my current Gf it makes me sick as I want to be with her,  or maybe I want it that way because it would just be easier?.';
		data[2]['blog_time'] = 'Thu, 16 Jan 2014 08:34:00 -0500';
		

		data[3] = new Array();
		data[3]['title'] = '17 year old attracted to men in their 50s';
		data[3]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/17_year_old_attracted_to_men_in_their_50s_c-3_u-91118_b-3094.html';
		data[3]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/17_year_old_attracted_to_men_in_their_50s_c-3_u-91118_b-3094.html';
		data[3]['username'] = 'Cindy6';
		data[3]['blog_id'] = '3094';
		data[3]['blog_message'] = 'As a 17 year old girl i have always been attracted to older men. For as long as i can remember I have been both sexually and emotionally attracted to men in their 40s, 50s and in some cases 60s. The first time i can remember having these feelings is during primary school when i was around 9 or 10 and it didn&#039;t feel right.<br /><br />I am aware of various theories about &#039;daddy issues&#039; and i know this is not the case with me as I have a great relationship with my father...so what is it???<br /><br />I have no idea where these urges come from or why they happen. I have tried talking to my mum about it but she just thinks it&#039;s a stupid phase i&#039;m going through and my friends just think i&#039;ll end up a gold digger. This is not the case at all as I am attracted to older men from all different walks of life. <br /><br />When my friends talk about fit guys at college i just pretend i feel the same when really they repulse me but i&#039;m scared to say who i&#039;m attracted to.<br /><br />Please help me, it seems like no one can at the moment. I just need to know why i am like this.<br /><br />Thank you.';
		data[3]['blog_time'] = 'Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:08:22 -0400';
		

		data[4] = new Array();
		data[4]['title'] = 'What can I do if my family is causing me pain?';
		data[4]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/what_can_i_do_if_my_family_is_causing_me_pain%CA%94_c-3_u-265849_b-7452.html';
		data[4]['url'] = 'https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/what_can_i_do_if_my_family_is_causing_me_pain%CA%94_c-3_u-265849_b-7452.html';
		data[4]['username'] = 'XxMariexX';
		data[4]['blog_id'] = '7452';
		data[4]['blog_message'] = 'I&#039;m a teen and I have an Anxiety and Depression disorder, I&#039;m not positive but I may also have mild OCD. I&#039;m really new too this website and forums so sorry if I do this wrong <img src="https://www.psychforums.com/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" title="Embarassed" /> . I have so much running through my mind right now that it&#039;s really hard to decide what to say, so sorry again if what I say doesn&#039;t make sense. My parents have always been the over-protective type, both of their childhoods sucked and apparently they were both bullied tons. Unlike them, I was never bullied at school or anything like that I quite liked it, but I hate it at home. My parents like to start a fight over basically everything, either if it&#039;s with me or with each other, but either way, it always ends up my fault. I have a younger sister too, she&#039;s currently the age of 10 and I&#039;m pretty sure she stopped aging at 6. I mean she&#039;s always had it easy, and her attitude towards me has never changed. I was never allowed to watch TV other then Family channel or Disney until late Grade 6, but she started as soon as I did... Meaning she was only in grade 2. Meaning, my mum thinks that everything I can do or/have she can do or/have. Moving on, my mom always treats me like I am her when she was my age. She decided I was a Tom-boy, that I don&#039;t like &quot;girly things&quot; like clothes, make-up, dating, going to the mall, going to the spa or looking good. And she really had be convinced that I was that person for a while, but once I was a little older (around 10, but not the dating part tbh none of my friends have even dated before.) I noticed that all my friends liked those things now too. I was getting older, and I wanted to act more like my gender. That&#039;s normal isn&#039;t it? Well, after all my friends changed more &quot;girly&quot; then they were before, I thought I should too and not just because they were but because I felt like I wasn&#039;t being who I really was. But to be completely honest, I was scared to change. Strangers looked at me and saw the fun-crazy-weird kid, the one that didn&#039;t want to grow up. And apparently my parents thought that too, so when I did start looking at different clothing at the stores when me and my mom went shopping she would say things like; &quot;Oh no, that&#039;s nothing like you.&quot; or &quot;Don&#039;t you think thats a bit too fancy?&quot;. When really all I would be showing was casual clothes, clothes that my close friends wore. My anxiety would kick in and I would just shut-up, agreeing to whatever she bought me. What really confuses me about this is that she always complains about the terrible clothing her mom bought her when she was a kid/teenager, and I thought that would make her want to treat me better? But I&#039;m a teen now and guess what, you will still only find pairs of jeans and leggings in my closet with basic tees and you will only find a pair of runners and a pair of gumboots on the shoe rack that belong too me. It&#039;s not fair that I&#039;m not allowed to grow up, I&#039;m not allowed to be a girl, that I have been stuck in the same hole for my whole life and it&#039;s only getting bigger. All my friends wear mascara, a bit of eyeliner, eye shadow, lipstick, and all that crap, but I can only wear concealer and a bit of foundation (whatever the difference is) to hide my acne. Note: My friends are good friends, my parents have no problems with them and I have known them my whole life. Even though I&#039;m currently only talking about 2 of them, because technically the rest left me for some unknown reason. But I do have other friends, although they are all online <img src="https://www.psychforums.com/images/smilies/icon_cry.gif" alt=":cry:" title="Crying or Very sad" /> . Onto another subject now, remember it may not seem like much so far but thats because it&#039;s all the little things that build up inside of me. My parents like to fight with me or each other ALL THE TIME, it&#039;s really bad. When its just the two of them fighting, and it&#039;s...<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.psychforums.com/blog/Psychology/what_can_i_do_if_my_family_is_causing_me_pain%CA%94_c-3_u-265849_b-7452.html" class="postlink-local">[ Continued ]</a>';
		data[4]['blog_time'] = 'Tue, 09 Sep 2014 03:54:37 -0400';