Write poetry..Take guitar lessons express your feeling.

Right after my breakdown, I used an old sweatsuit and stuffed it with filling. Whenever I needed a hug my fake man was always their to comfort me. He was my comfort doll.

Now I am interacting with more people, so I have a few real people I can turn to. None of them are family members.

No I don't really trust the people I turn to, but it fights the loneliness.

DS really helped at first, but then I found other real people with disorders that can relate to how I am feeling.

I can still get lonely in a full room, but I have been working on my own about not isolating my self too much and also not telling my life story the first time I meet someone.

T

When i feel lonely ,Going on Ds and chatting helps me not to feel so alone.Sometimes turning on the radio to a talk station and hearing a voice or leaving on the tv for noise helps.I will pick up a good book and it takes it off my mind for a little while

Walkingonthewhiteline,

People on DS are real, I am always saying it is a real community rather than a virtual community beacuse the people are real, but I know what you mean, meeting people in real life who have similar problems to your own and using them as a support network gives a dimension that DS is just not capable of.

I would be interested to know any ideas you have for getting to meet people in the real world with similar problems to your own.

Well for me meting real people is easy in a way as I go to a mental health Day Program. I do have several real friends with mental illness and one I have a lot of similarity's with that I'm trying to bond with as a friend. But suffering from borderline symptoms make me question if people really like me as I have been abandoned by family (emotional neglect, invalidation, verbal, and physical abuse) ans I don't see myself worthy of good healthy friendships so I think people will let go of me when they find out I'm lacking. I was never taught by my family that me as myself was ever good enough for them. So even in a place with around 60 or more people a day I can still feel totally alone. I now that's my illness speaking and that I do have good close friends esp 2 of them but it sometimes is not enough to klll those fellings.

I deal with this all the time. And it is awful. First I try to take care of sensory issues. Make myself feel physically better. I like deep pressure, like those with autism, and I (no really) get between my mattress and box springs and just lie there for a while. Sounds crazy I know. But my point is, I wash my face, drink some tea, and get some pressure. I sometimes take Xanax just to calm the nervous feeling in my stomach I get when I get lonely, even though it doesn't solve the problem in its entirety.

Then I take care of the mental health. Call someone I have predetermined at some other time, so that I don't have to go through some list of people in my head, trying to convince myself they care. I already have someone to call. I watch seasons of TV shows so I can get absorbed in someone else's drama instead of my own. I go on a power walk. I take a long drive, with the windows open and the music up out in the country.

These may not work for you, but it's my remedy and it works for me most of the time. Sometimes.