Emotionally Desperate

Hi,

The very first thing you need to do is work on the mental health issues. I hope that you understand that depression + drug use is totally playing with fire, and will lead to a severe addiction if it has not already. If you are comfortable sharing, what drugs are you currently using, and how frequently?

 

I have background and training in the mental health and chemical dependency field, and have worked in treatment centers, which is why I asked. So my viewpoint isn't from the media, but from working with those who are affected, as well as those who run treatment centers and programs.

That said, LSD is generally not a drug of addiction, and if you're talking about a single use, that's less of a concern. But using *any* recreational drug as a means of dealing with uncomfortable feelings is a huge danger sign that does, in most cases, lead to dependency. Using more than one increases risk, and using drugs more than one further increases risk. All of this, combined with your age and the pre-existing depression, put you at severe risk for problems that are exponentially worse than the depression itself.

It's also worth noting that at your age, all emotions tend to be more intense, and less controllable, than they are when people have passed adolescence. So the feelings will eventually pass. That isn't much help now, but it is something you can attach yourself to when you think about self-harming.

What is your relationship like with your parents? close friends? Have you considered talking to your parents or to school counselors about getting help from a counselor or therapist? The depth of the feelings you are having may be beyond what you can resolve yourself, and the risk of numbing with recreational drugs is, in your situation, not one that you would be wise to take. This means getting professional help. That might sound scary or not an option, but it's one of those things that thinking about it is, for most people, a lot scarier than actually doing the work once you're started in it.

What do you think about exploring that idea?

 

Hypnosis and psychotherapy are completely different things.

Hypnosis when done by a psychologist or mental health professional with training in clinical hypnosis vs. someone who just does hypnosis but has no mental health training are also completely different things; the latter generally does only have short-term effects because the mental health professional uses it as one tool in combination with other interventions, which someone trained only in hypnosis cannot do.

It's problematic that you consider it a burden to talk with your parents about what's going on for you. Feeling like that's a burden is... not healthy. A major part of parental responsibility is helping their children deal with the ups and downs of life, and that includes depression or anxiety. So I would suggest that you need to work through asking for help, and my guess is that if you do sit down and talk with them about this, and let them know that you need to see a therapist... hopefully they will work with you to make that happen. There are even low or no-cost ways of getting therapy in most parts of the world.

There is actually some pretty good research on the use of hallucinogenics of various types in treatment of mental illness, and some promising reports from it when done in clinical settings supervised by mental health professionals with experience working with hallucinogens. But self-diagnosis and self-treatment is never a good idea for a whole variety of reasons, not the least of which is you never know exactly what you're getting no matter how reliable your source, and the risks of adulteration or even getting something entirely different from what you thought are real. I would strongly encourage you to stop taking this approach and get appropriate help.