contricio via incrementum.

Just like what we were talking about last night, MzFluff. Your own perception of an event or an ordeal becomes your definition of "normal". Many people, myself included, when told even a little bit of your story, recognize it as not belonging to our own normal reality, and so are shocked. You, yourself, however, have built this into the sort of thing that occurs ordinarily, like mckell and Kiya have said (beautifully, I might add).

I find it helpful to ponder what an outside observer would think of my situation, or what I might think of someone else's, just to remind myself that we're not alone on this pale blue dot, and try to get some perspective. It's often not good news, what this outside imaginary individual is telling me, but it's not really the point. The point is if you're DOING the exercise in the first place, trying to attain that much-needed perspective, then you've already crossed that first nearly-impossible hurdle and can admit that you've got yourself a pickle.

Also like we talked about, we're all very cautious around here how we label ourselves, not just because we don't want to add more issues to our mental pantheon, but because of the stigma associated. As you say, you timidly explored the possibility that this is what the quiz suggested it might be the same way I tell people I'm depressed, with an alarming lack of confidence. But remember how sure *I* was nearly instantly upon hearing your story (or a little part of it)? We may hesitate to brand ourselves, but only total strangers can look at us with complete impartiality.

In other words, blah blah blah.

*hug*