Asexuality and mental illness history.

[joesmo28]

Hello all,

Just wondering if asexual people on here have experienced depression, anxiety or any other mental illnesses. I know I have always felt alone and aloof, due I anxiety, and assumed that the anxiety caused it....and attributed to my lack of sexual desire / attraction. A major depressive episode was triggered by a failed relationship in which I did not enjoy the sex (first relationship at age 26). After treatment, I still do not enjoy sex, hence I'm asexuality and the lack of "fitting in" may have led to my depression.

But anyway...do others on here cope with mental illness?

[RK800]

Well I have anxiety, phobias, nightmares, derealization, anorexia nervosa and I've had problems with self destructive behavior and gender dysphoria. I also had a bit of mania while on Zoloft but I consider that the medications fault. :P Then while on a 'normal' dose of propanolol I became very volatile but again, that's not me normally so I assume it's the medication.

I think that's all of it.

[Absol]

I have dysthymia and anxiety (maybe a bit of OCD, but that hasn't been diagnosed), and I'm asexual. I was on Zoloft for a while, and while I had some crappy side effects, there was no change with my asexuality. I don't really think there is any causation between the mental issues and asexuality (that is, I don't think depression or anxiety caused my asexuality) However, I did hear somewhere that someone may have noticed a higher rate of depression and anxiety within the ace community, which may be due to all of the marginalization we face. (can't remember the specifics or where I heard that though :( )

[<Tom>]

I suffer from ADD, OCD, Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder and Depression. I'm taking medication, and I'm making progress towards ridding myself of the depression and agoraphobia.

[Charcoal face paint]

Hey, I've suffered from depression, suicidal thoughts, self destructive behaviour, social anxiety and a number of other things that I'd rather not talk about for most of my life (mostly caused by childhood abuse and trauma). I really don't know how I'm still here and the things I do to cope may not be all that effective but they're all I've got. Most of the time I try to distract myself from it and just ignore the thoughts which a friend recently told me is the worst thing you can do but whatever, I'm still here right. I also have a diary that I keep on my laptop (a word document) that I will write into whenever I can't distract myself/ignore it any more and I've found that it's something that really helps and it also gives you something to look back on in a way and say, well I was in a horrible place at this time and now I'm in a slightly less horrible place so you do have a sense of progress instead of feeling like you're constantly trying to climb a wall that's growing even faster than you can climb. That is, if you are making progress. Another thing is that I've tried to remove myself from situations involving anything that may trigger memories/flashbacks and have tried to distance myself from the people who where the cause of my mental health issues (I don't know how useful this will be to you but yeah). I also have kind of created another identity for all my negative thoughts and feelings so that I can kind of remove myself from the situation and it reminds me that it's not really me with those thoughts and feelings. I can't do therapy because of my anxiety and can't even talk about anything regarding my mental health with people who I talk to face to face because I find it impossible to voice this so yeah. I don't do medication because it feels like lying and not really solving my problems to me but that's only because they come from my past instead of being something that I was born with a predisposition to or whatever.

As far as I know, depression only has an impact on your sex drive so it isn't something that will have an impact on your sexuality and I don't really know how to get your interest in sex back as it's something I've never really been interested in, sorry. I hope that some of the things I mentioned can help you and if not, sorry for wasting your time.

[Butterfly Belle]

I have depression and anxiety, but it's got nothing to do with my asexuality. Antidepressants really do help me to feel "normal".

[TaylorSwiftNewRomantics]

I have, but I don't know if they're related at all.

[eclectickathy]

I'm an asexual biromantic.

I have depression, anxiety, exercise anorexia, and suicidal thoughts. I'm currently fighting self harm. I take welbutrin, Prozac, Xanax, and before I was on them thought I was asexual, afterwards I was fairly sure. Not sure if there's any connection, but I'd figure I'd contribute

[chair jockey]

Heh. The most popular threads, and the ones that get the most replies,. are the ones in which the OP asks people to talk about themselves.

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1991 but that appears to be a misdiagnosis, as doctors discovered in 2012 that I've had a brain injury since 1976. They're not going to open themselves up to legal liability by admitting that I might have been misdiagnosed, so, instead of being a respectable person with a brain injury, I continue to be misidentified as that target of universal bigotry even from other mental patients, a schizophrenic.

But none of that has anything to do with asexuality. I've sometimes wondered whether asexuality is hereditary, because my late mother was so severely sex-repulsed that she probably died a virgin and my brother and I were spontaneously conceived without the involvement of sperm. I don't believe that my parents ever had sex even once. There's a chance I inherited asexuality from my mother although I am not sex-repulsed and am generally positive about sexual people having sex, as well as reasonably well-informed about sexual biology, practices and terms.

[Guest]

Diagnosed with depression and a "severe combined" personality disorder (psychs never formally specified that latter diagnosis any further, i.e. what exactly it is combined of).

[Tarfeather]

New question: Are there people on this forum without some sort of mental disorder? :x

[Agape]

New question: Are there people on this forum without some sort of mental disorder? :x

As far as I know.

[Glyn]

I have mental health issues in my family. I personally have had depression and even considered suicide in 1998. Yes, when the depression kicks in, my sex drive disapppears - but when I am fine, my sex drive returns to normal.

However, when I am fine, I still experiance no more desire to be intimate with someone than I did before.

[allrightalready]

i have been depressed quite often (first and most severely in a relationship with violence) and diagnosed with anxiety and bipolar but i think it is more about my autism and opposition to my preference for same-sex relationships

[b_oat]

Chronic depression, major depression, anxiety disorder and suspected personality disorder.

[stonehengegirl]

Depression and anxiety disorder. I'm on mediation and managing well.

[chair jockey]

New question: Are there people on this forum without some sort of mental disorder? :x

The way medicine works is that anyone can be diagnosed with a health problem even if they feel perfectly fine and aren't having any functional issues in life. That's part of the marketing side of medicine driven by the profit motive. There has even been research done showing that, upon undergoing a psychiatric examination, 95% of the population would end up being diagnosed with _something_ and prescribed medication. This applies to physicians as well as other people and certainly applies to psychiatrists. What has been done with this research is to increase the aggressiveness with which medication is marketed and maximize the number of people who take some kind of medication for the rest of their lives, providing a cash cow to the business side of medicine. tl;dr there isn't anyone on earth "without some form of mental disorder" if you define that phrase as meaning _diagnosable_ with some kind of mental disorder or already so diagnosed (although those last two things are headed toward being the same thing as greater and greater proporiions of various populations are diagnosed).

[DigitalBookDust]

I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in my 30s, though my current psychiatrist is wondering about this. Either my meds are working INCREDIBLY well, or the dx is off, lol. Whatever. I'm doing fine now, on a minimum of meds (two to be exact), and much happier than I was when younger. I see my psychiatrist every three months to check in and a therapist a couple of times a month just to say howdy. Basically I'm one of the most well-adjusted and sanest individuals you could encounter-I've dealt with my issues, know what my stressors are, and am able to communicate directly and well. Granted, I consider myself eccentric and a bit misanthropic even, but I think that a healthy response to modern times. I've always preferred books to people. ;)

[Corretto]

I'm sure you'll see you're not alone.

But like me, you may have noticed there's no norm re how people relate their mental-health conds to their sexual orientation [or vice-versa].

IMO you shouldn't identify with a specific course that one member follows. Take us all on, and there's no shortage, and put together an orientation that suits your circumstances. We can all list a range of mental-health conds, the meds we take, and the counsel we receive.

I've shifted my 'treatment' around all over the place for years now...but only recently identified my sexual orientation.

How one's influenced the other...I don't know, and I'm not looking while it's working. Good luck.

[JDM]

Depression and anxiety. Really screwed up my life. Making slow but steady progress though.

[potato-chip]

Hey, I've suffered from depression, suicidal thoughts, self destructive behaviour, social anxiety and a number of other things that I'd rather not talk about for most of my life (mostly caused by childhood abuse and trauma). I really don't know how I'm still here and the things I do to cope may not be all that effective but they're all I've got. Most of the time I try to distract myself from it and just ignore the thoughts which a friend recently told me is the worst thing you can do but whatever, I'm still here right.

I could have written the same thing for myself. I've been in individual therapy for a few years now. The roots of my problems are chronic PTSD from child abuse.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I've been diagnosed with depression on two separate occasions (a two-year episode in elementary school and a shorter episode in 9th grade). I had a rough two months at the beginning of this year, but I managed to get over it without seeing anyone. I think it had to do with dorm life at uni. As soon as I ran away from the dorms and went back to living at home, I felt much better.

[Peachyy]

Depression, anxiety, ocd.

I haven't been formally tested for the first two so perhaps I'm another stupid self-diagnos-er.

I'm sure that the combination of being in a negative environment + the issues I already had, brewed up some nasty soup, but one was not caused by the other--its more than that, to say that I'm depressed because I'm Ace or vise versa (or toss in the others as variable). There's no denying the obvious anxiousness of square peg and triangle hole, when I was younger. But I'm not living with the same things I was dealing with before (being all self accepted, and all),however, those leaches didn't just disappear. I'm still obsessive compulsive, just as I was before sexuality even meant anything, or was anything (such as it is now to me). My hands still go numb, I still get dizzy, and I still get elevator-syndrome around groups of interaction. I'm long past my sexual identity crisis, if there ever really was one.

[b_oat]

New question: Are there people on this forum without some sort of mental disorder? :x

The way medicine works is that anyone can be diagnosed with a health problem even if they feel perfectly fine and aren't having any functional issues in life. That's part of the marketing side of medicine driven by the profit motive. There has even been research done showing that, upon undergoing a psychiatric examination, 95% of the population would end up being diagnosed with _something_ and prescribed medication. This applies to physicians as well as other people and certainly applies to psychiatrists. What has been done with this research is to increase the aggressiveness with which medication is marketed and maximize the number of people who take some kind of medication for the rest of their lives, providing a cash cow to the business side of medicine. tl;dr there isn't anyone on earth "without some form of mental disorder" if you define that phrase as meaning _diagnosable_ with some kind of mental disorder or already so diagnosed (although those last two things are headed toward being the same thing as greater and greater proporiions of various populations are diagnosed).

No, that's not how it works. Diagnosis have multiple specific and general criterias. While everybody certainly has some traits of some disorder it is by far not enough for a diagnosis. That everybody can be diagnosed with some mental disorder is just a misconception people have due to the lack of knowledge they have about mental disorders in general. Of course a clinician can misdiagnose you but you do not have to accept misdiagnosis.

One of those general criteria is "causes clinically significant distress". Just someone beeing a bit on the narcissistic side doesnt warrant a NPD diagnosis.

[AgentKEW]

I"ve dealt with chronic depression, which tends to reach up and punch me in the face with an episode of MDD every so often, perfectionism bordering on OCD that's caused more than its fair share of problems, suicidal thoughts throughout all but about two months of middle school, ADD, and a few other minor things, like the day I spent hearing voices when I was seven.

[Platitude]

I have a mild case of Aspergers, but nothing that really makes it difficult to function. However, after being diagnosed back in elementary school, I would say that I've become slightly more obsessive. Nothing major though, and I don't think that it has any link to my asexuality.

[Archived]

I'm only 13 and I haven't been diagnosed with anything, but I do have ongoing anxiety and nightmares. I've researched about the concept of dreams and when you dream, you're unconscious and it's just a bunch of stuff in your mind thrown together, so it probably doesn't mean anything. It's more so how you feel about the dream, that means something. Anyways, my family believes that I've got OCD and my friends have asked me if I have ADHD. My anxiety is about people (as in, I'm always nervous, but just when I'm around people, which is the majority of the time). I've always felt pretty uncomfortable not being sexually or romantically attracted to anyone, since everyone else was. I had depression for a while and to be honest, I get pretty depressed sometimes now too. I've always been good at hiding it though, so I have only opened up to one person about it and I regret that. One of the reasons I haven't opened up to people is because I have major trust issues, and I don't even know the cause of it. I often don't do bad things because I don't trust myself to not tell on me (sorry, that might sound really weird). I'm a naturally awkward person so that disguises how weird I feel about being asexual sometimes. I don't personally know someone else who is asexual and that kind of bothers me. I'm not sure if this at all relates to my sexuality, but I've always been asexual and I've always generally, had mental discomfort. But yeah, we've all got something, you know? I'm kind of a hypocrite when it comes to giving advice. I think people should open up about their thoughts and emotions, but me, I can't do that. Well I might be able to, but never have really tried. When I did open up to that one person, it was because of circumstance. Anyways, that's me in terms of mental illnesses and such. Trust me though, I don't assume that you're saying asexuality is the result of mental illnesses, but I think a lot of us have felt weird about it and that may lead to our trouble.

[Xavy]

I have a mild case of Aspergers, but nothing that really makes it difficult to function.

^ me

[Guest]

I've never had any diagnosis but I strongly suspect I've had some severely depressed spells.

I do have chronic migraines (15+ migraine days per month)

Honestly I don't think any of this has influenced my orientation.

[ajanderson78]

Hello all,

Just wondering if asexual people on here have experienced depression, anxiety or any other mental illnesses. I know I have always felt alone and aloof, due I anxiety, and assumed that the anxiety caused it....and attributed to my lack of sexual desire / attraction. A major depressive episode was triggered by a failed relationship in which I did not enjoy the sex (first relationship at age 26). After treatment, I still do not enjoy sex, hence I'm asexuality and the lack of "fitting in" may have led to my depression.

But anyway...do others on here cope with mental illness?

I went through a period of time when I thought my bipolar (mostly depression) and anxiety were to blame for my lack of sexual attraction and lack of desire for sex. But as my moods became stable I never gained any desire for intimate relationships. I'm sastisfied with having a few friends and I still need a lot of alone time (with my 2 kitties of course).

I cope with my mental illness with therapy, meds, my kitties, exercise, only part time work and A LOT of alone time. I can't imagine living my life and trying to maintain a relationship.