Mark250

I recognise a lot of this. I certainly agree that there are fake apologies which are used to placate the victim rather than a genuine plea for forgiveness. And I've noticed when it comes to forgiveness, more often than not, there's an entitlement to it. Most people don't ask for it, they demand it.

When shops don't sufficiently refrigerate their soft drinks, so you either have to buy a warm one or nothing.

Vanilla Coke

Co-workers who insist I sign their birthday cards when nobody even remembers my birthday.

I hate it when I have to resort to scissors. Makes the laughter in my head become very loud.

Lucozade.

A lot of people seem to think the film (Clockwork Orange) was random and gratuitous. I think the film was addressing the anxieties and fears about how violent real world society was becoming at the time. Capitalising on those fears and anxieties, you might say.

Hi Rattler, It sounds like I suffer with the same thing you described. Anger is so powerful and it's designed to shut down higher brain function like communication, listening and reasoning. It's such a primal emotion that has no place in 21st century society with all of its laws, rules, regulations and procedures. It's always unwelcome, whatever the situation.Not much helps it. Like you said, focus on breathing and leave the room if you're able. Have you tried keeping a journal?

Eye contact is very overrated. I don't have a very positive history with it. I'm okay with eye contact now, but there was a time when I found it to be too intense and would prefer to avoid it. Sometimes eye contact is interpreted as aggression, usually with insecure reactionary types. I don't know about any body else, but I find I can listen to another person talking just as well if not better while not looking at them. When my depression was its worst, I would chronically avoid eye contact as I always thought the person I was talking to would 'discover' that I was depressed just through my eyes.

Tomatoes. Hob Nob biscuits. They taste like they're made from straw.

The Office is endlessly quotable, isn't it? Here's a couple of my faves; "I'm very flattered that I was his second choice after "pass"." -- Ryan the Temp "I got them a toaster. They called off the wedding and gave the toaster back to me. I tried to return the toaster to the store, and they said they no longer sold that kind of toaster. So now my house has two toasters." -- Stanley (the Manly)

My local libraries being quiet places of enforced silence is something I remember and miss. These days, because all the local councils thought it would be progressive to turn all the libraries into all singing all dancing 'community hubs' designed to cater to a broad range of 'needs', now they're full of noisy idiots who think I want to hear their mundane chatter.

Don't get me wrong, though. More time and effort should be invested into this area. But the thing with the media is that, at its highest levels, it's predominatly run by psychopaths and narcissists. The kinds of people least qualified to tackle many of the conditions suffered here on DF.

I think the reason why we don't get very authentic portrayals of mental illness in the media is that it's something that doesn't lend itself very well to the format. Too many compatibility issues. TV and films are predominately about entertainment and there's nothing entertaining about depression. There's also the escapism aspect to these things. People mostly go to the cinema to escape the drudgery and banality of their lives, not to be reminded of them. The more frail aspects of the human condition are much better portrayed and explored in literature.

First visit to a cinema (Addams Family, but wish it had been Batman) Having a completely clean bill of health.