Hello,

I'm not exactly sure this is the right forum but i saw my ex-girlfriend yesterday and i believe she may suffer from some kind of psychological condition. She tends to see and look for the negatives in certain crucial areas of her life which hold her back from enjoying all of what life can give.

For example, she originally wanted to study psychology but decided not to, why? Because she was scared she would give somebody the wrong advice and they would kill themselves because of this. She argued that 'what if i told a woman to stand up to her husband? And her husband went crazy and stabbed her to death. How could i live with myself and that guilt?' - Rather than realising that she can't control everything and it would not be her advice that would have been the reason for this hypothetical woman's death, she firmly believes that she would be responsible. She also doesn't not account for the 1000's of people over her career that she would have saved or helped.

Another example is she does not want children. She loves other peoples children and is a wonderful Aunt to her nieces. However she doesn't want children of her own because she is worried that they may grow up depressed or unhappy and she doesn't want that responsibility or worry. She even worries that her children may be born mentally or physically ill.

Another element of her personality is that she hates dishonesty even if it's for a good reason. One day somebody on a train tannoy spoke "Good morning you beautiful people, i hope you have a wonderful day"... she disliked it. She felt the 'beautiful' comment was untrue because the person was not able to see everybody clearly, and she felt he didn't really mean for people to have a wonderful day - it was fake.

I imagine maybe something from her childhood/teenage years may be the cause of this. I know her parents divorced when she was 5, she had boyfriend issues in her teenage years and felt very depressed and angry at that age. She is also Ecuadorean and lived in a neighbourhood where robbery and crime is very, very common. She's 28 and studying in Leicester but i don't think she really acknowledges the affect her mindset is having on her life.

I don't know enough about what conditions there are out there so i was wondering if anybody had any idea and whether they would suggest for her to maybe see someone? I'm aware it would need to be her decision, i just care for her and wish she could live her life without seeing the worst case scenario in 70% of what she sees.