I have been really good at covering up the fact that I had a mental health issue/crisis last year. Only three people in "real life" know, and that was not by choice. Two are family. One reacted surprisingly well, and was a lot better about it than I thought. The other one literally exploded on me and told me she never wanted to see me again - it was very ugly for a while, finally she came around to some extent, but we no longer talk about anything very deep. Had to tell my boss obviously, he was a lot better about it than I thought, he had dealt with MH issues in his immediate family and understood.

Honestly, I was terrified when this happened, and still uneasy. I feel like my life would be over if people found out I spent time going to a psychiatric program, even if it was "day hospital" as they call it. It 's been almost a year now, and I still worry about this a lot. I worry that reactions might range from people avoiding me/ending relationships to calling me out as a liar to kicking me out of the family.