Before I realized I was gay, I was extremely depressed most of the time. It made me turn to a life of hard drugs, because I just didn't care about my well being. After I realized I was gay, I did a complete 180. I am now constantly happy and I never use drugs anymore. Did anyone else have an experience similar to this?
Hi, First, congratulations on turning your life around. That isn't easy to do, and shows a lot of commitment and determination. Your experience is very, very common. The incidence of drug abuse in the gay community is phenomenally high, and a large part of it comes, as your did, from the shame and depression that comes of being in denial or closeted. And actually, one of the more common issues that comes out for people in rehab is that they are in denial of, or closeted about, their sexual orientation. So you're far from alone. Your experiences could be extremely useful and inspiring to others here who may be struggling with simliar issues. If you feel comfortable doing so, it would be great if you were willing to start a thread in which you detail your story, what you went through, how you worked through the issues of being gay, and how that affected you and the process you went through to let go of the drugs.
