Mental Illness and Guilt Towards Friends
Mental illness and guilt towards friends can impact our friendships and how we feel about ourselves. If feelings of guilt persist, they can lead to feelings of depression and can exacerbate the symptoms of our diseases. But dealing with guilt towards friends with regard to mental illness early can help you maintain healthy relationships and restore your emotional equilibrium.
Mental Illness Guilt Towards Friends May Lead to Depression
Merriam-Webster defines guilt as, "a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that you have done something bad or wrong."
In the case of mental illness, guilt can manifest because you believe it is wrong to need or accept support for your disease. You may also feel guilty about the things you have done during an episode, such as missing an event because it was too difficult to leave the house. When experiencing this kind of guilt towards friends because of mental illness you may isolate further, avoid interaction with those who make you feel guilty, and ruminate over your negative emotions. Being alone in this state can cause increased negative thoughts and feelings of depression and anxiety.
Addressing Mental Illness and Guilt Towards Friends Can Break Negative Thought Patterns
One way to address mental illness and guilt is to talk about it with friends. Let them know that you feel guilty about not seeing them when you feel bad, or about accepting help during an episode. Good friends will likely remind you that they care and are willing to help you during a difficult time. Hearing positive reinforcement from friends can uplift your mood and remind you that you are a valuable person in spite of your mental illness. Another way to address guilt is to confront it with therapeutic tools. Exploring guilty feelings with a therapist can help get to the other emotions and situations underlying the guilt, such as childhood experiences. Once you uncover the root causes of your guilt, it will be easier to address them in therapy.
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APA Reference
Lloyd, T.
(2015, June 25). Mental Illness and Guilt Towards Friends, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 21 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/relationshipsandmentalillness/2015/06/mental-illness-and-guilt-towards-friends
Author: Tracey Lloyd
Sometimes the truth can be simple. try to live one year in a cisliived country, like Australia or Sweden, and one year in China (one of those ugly, characterless, polluted cities) and compare the differences. Then you will realise why you don't want to be Chinese in your next life.My kudos to Joe Chung for his pithy observations of the "ugly Chinamen". The deeply rooted problems with the Chinese probably will never be solved in another 1000 years, considering that tragic history keeps repeating itself in China.
It's a sad world out there when your husband of 3 months leaves you, after being together for 5 years,,, all because of your "MENTAL ILLNESS" He could not handle it anymore, plus people and online theripist said I was toxic!!! I also have PTSD & a inoperable brain tumor.. Lost the best thing in my life at the time.. Now it's just me and my journey!! One day at a time... No one to even call when the time comes....
Great information, thank you. In my view guilt is not an adequate emotion because no offence was committed. No one is responsible for a mental illness, just as no one is responsible for diabetes, hearing loss, or a physical handicap.
Mental illness is not the result of the way a person was raised (I sheltered him/her too much, or, on the contrary, I did not shelter him/her enough), but rather a biological predisposition genetics) associated with environmental or personal factors (loss of a job, academic failure, lost love) that create a breeding ground for mental illness to develop. Simply put, the illness was already present, and stress factors, difficult for that person, triggered it. Do not feel guilty when it comes to the illness of your loved one; unhealthy guilt is very harmful to your psychological well-being because it literally eats you inside, makes you suffer needlessly, and poisons your life.
What is it when somebody blew a gasket over small things daily and be the nicest person after that in five minutes.Is never wrong attitude and very jelous