Occasionally I Worry That My Comments Could Make Some People Feel Worse

I like commenting about mental health issues to online forums, such as HealingWell.com, in part, because I like to try to help others who have mental illness like I do.

However, I occasionally worry that my comments, which are intended to be helpful to others, will actually make some people reading my comments feel worse, especially if they're having a bad day.

For example, if I talk about how I found talking about my past traumatic experiences to a therapist as something that helped me, it may get someone who is reading my comments who has also been through trauma in their past to think about the trauma they've been through, and maybe feel worse as a result.

Therapists run into the same basic problem. Psychotherapy can be upsetting at times for some clients. However, that doesn't mean they should stop performing therapy.

But still, I sometimes worry about making comments about mental illness to forums such as this one.

What do you think about this? Also, do you worry about this sort of thing as well?

Been there! When I was having frequent panic attacks and high anxiety two years ago, that concept ( I mentioned something about my own medical experiences to someone with anxiety and it triggered their panic attack) triggered a major series of rolling panic attacks for me. That fear of inadvertently hurting others continued to be one of the main triggers for me. Now that I’ve tamed the anxiety some I realize that rationally you are coming from a good place when you share your experiences, you cannot control another person’s reaction nor protect them from everything, it may highlight something they need to continue to work on. just be as supportive as possible That’s all you can do!

Thank you everyone.

I mean yeah, if nobody commented to online forums about mental illness, and if online forums about mental illness didn't exist because of it, lots of people, including me, would miss out. Many people, including me, find it helpful to comment to forums like HealingWell.com. I like to try to help people going through a difficult time. Also, many find it therapeutic to read threads and responses created by others, such as myself.

Therefore, I believe that more good than bad comes from forums about mental illness.