I’ve faced mental illness for as long as I can remember. Depression, social anxiety/phobia disorder, auditory hallucinations, etc. And on top of everything, I’m a bisexual male who was raised Mormon.
I had a hard time coming out to my family because they’re Mormon, and I knew the kind of response I’d receive, but after a lot of professional help for my other issues and plenty of persuasion from my therapist, I decided I could tell them. And yea, they were mad, as well as a little disturbed, but all things considered, they took it pretty well. Jump less that a week later and my bishop asks me to his office, where he tells me “I feel it necessary to tell you, it would be better for you to be dead than bisexual, so I urge you to repent of your deviant ways, lest you drag your family to hell with you.”
I was completely devastated. 15 years old, I already hate myself due to all my other issues, and here is a man I’m supposed to trust, essentially telling me to kill myself. Que 3 back to back suicide attempts, with periods of hospitalization being the only thing in between.
After telling my therapist what happened, almost 3 months later, she called in my parents and told them, which lead to a whole lot of disbelief on their part and punishment on my part for telling such a blatant “lie.”
To this day I have issues trusting anyone except my therapist, especially those who are supposed to be trustworthy, because in my experience it rarely goes well.