Board Thread:Social/@comment-4720436-20121202205009/@comment-5384369-20130303020441

Well, it's good that your parents are doing okay. I didn't add this before, but I'm telling you now never doubt the love your parents have for each other and for you. (I actually got this from a fanfiction, but it really spoke to me:) Your parents love you and they care about you. You're not a burden. You are the biggest thing keeping your family together. Every day you are a constant reminder of they love they once shared. No family is perfect. Your parents love each other too. If they didn't, they wouldn't even bother trying. They wouldn't even bother arguing. When they are argue, they fight for each other. If they didn't love each other, they would have given up a long time ago. Don't doubt that for even a second. Family isn't just a specific arrangement of chromosomes. Family means something.

Onto your friends. Your friends need to realize that what they are doing isn't funny, it's crazy and dangerous. If that ever happens again, just have your friend tell how they feel. Hopefully that will make your feelings what they're doing is wrong. If they still don't, ask them if they enjoy seeing other peoples pain. I really don't like to make assumptions about your friends, but if they still don't see what's wrong, they do have a chance of being psychopaths. I know that today, we consider psychopaths as pedophiles, rapists, stalkers, serial killers, and what not. But that's not completely true. Really, a psychopath is someone who enjoys other peoples pain. Study has shown that psychopaths have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for sentiments such as empathy and guilt, and the amygdala, which mediates fear and anxiety. Either way, you just really need to get the point across that what they're doing isn't good.

About staring at the ceiling. If it was me, I would probably answer with "Well, so and so finds choking people and making others cry funny." I wouldn't say it to mock them, but just to get the point of reality across. You could just tell them to lay off, too. Also, to avoid that, try staring straight ahead instead of up at the ceiling. It just makes you look like you're spacing out, which seems more natural that tilting your head back.