Would you date someone with a bad history/emotional background?

It really depends on how their past affect them still. Well to be honest it's quite hard to deal with people who went nuts and had to take pills of some sort. But if it's people who had been through difficult times and had been hurt and had indulged themselves into something bad, it would be better to acquaint yourself with them and know their story. There would be instances where you would actually be the one to cure them. ^O^ this is probably where you can say "what does this person's past got to do with his present if he's deliberately trying to change and detach himself from the bad memories he once had".

Depends on if they were actually clinically nuts or just had difficult times and where they were in life at the time. We all have a past but if if it lives in the present, troubles are on the horizon.

Guess it would depend on the severity. Granted, it shouldn't really discount them in most cases but if they are literally crazy or violent because of it, then no.

That's only just about every person I've ever tried to get together with, minus about 3 people. I'm pretty emotionally messed up myself from lack of self esteem, weight issues and way too much solitude since my teenage years, so I guess I always find myself being drawn to the type of people who have drug problems, family issues, a bad childhood, been abused by partners and the list goes on. I always feel I can help them through their problems since I'm a very understanding and loving guy, but they either disappear, find someone else or decide they aren't interested anymore. I ended up meeting someone over the Thanksgiving holiday that I have been dating since the 27th and I just recently walked in on her shooting up dope after she told me a week prior that she had been off drugs ever since being prescribed to Suboxone. It's shit like this that makes me think that there are some of us that just can't be with anyone who isn't fucked up, especially on drugs like dope or heroin. The woman took off to visit her kids from what she told me and I haven't heard from her at all in 5 days, and I'm starting to wonder if I will.

Well O.o If we have chemistry, then we have chemistry. I have agoraphobia and other mental health problems myself and I pretty much isolated myself from everyone throughout elementary and high school so I am not fit to judge by any means BUT as mean as this may sound If they take things out on other people and use a bad upbringing or mental illness etc as an excuse for everything without taking ANY accountability for their attitude/actions, then I don't really want to deal with that.

I mean this is a loaded topic. The general rule is take care of yourself first. If someone is going to run you into the ground the I'd take a pass. Relationships are give n take. So if someones just gonna take, take, take and use PDs and stuff as an exuse then I'd stay away. Mental illness explains actions but doesn't justify them. -Yuugo

Sure, everybody has some emotional scar, it just depends on how it affects them. I like to focus on the girl, not their problem. If she is a keeper, then I wouldn't care about it, I would care about her.