Becoming numb

[MihirP]

Hello everyone,

I just joined this support group. I have been prisoner of my negative thoughts for over a year now. Sometimes I feel very rejected, abandoned and unloved. I have self diagnosed depression and anxiety; haven’t consulted a doctor and not taking any medications. I am in graduate studies about to write my thesis. However, the times when I get the attack of anxiety and depression I waste many days and lose motivation to go on with my life. I feel very helpless as I don’t have anybody, anymore, in whom I can find support and solace. Please help me and save me from this dreadful state of mind.

Thanks!

[es1111]

Hi. I feel the same way. It’s hindering a lot of my life. Have you tried any other avenues of getting help, or is this it so far?

[MihirP in reply to es1111]

Hello. I tried counseling and it did nothing for me. I am seeing another counselor now who is a trauma specialist. My fingers are crossed.

[Jeff1943]

It sounds very much like anxiety, es1111, followed by depletion/depression caused by the nervous exhaustion of coping with your anxiety and the prospect of more to come.

Have you decided what caused your anxiety in the first place? If you can resolve that cause it would relieve you of the stress that contributes to your anxiety.

You say you have negative thoughts that trouble you. It is a feature of anxiety that things always seem ten times worse than they are. We always jump to the worst case scenario, the most disasterous outcome. Small concerns and worries become exaggerated ten fold.

But the power of anxiety to harm us is limited: it is not life threatening or able to disable you or make you lose your mind. You see, anxiety is only a set of 'feelings' caused when our nerves become over sensitised by too much stress. If we can rid our nervous system of sensitivity everything returns to normal and the symptoms we've been experiencing will yield.

How do we achieve this recovery? First I'll tell you how you won"t achieve it. You won't recover by fighting your symptoms, fighting causes more tension and stress: things you need less of not more.

You will recover if you accept for the time being all your symptoms of anxiety, agree to co-exist with them for the time being. But acceptance must be 100%, no expecting instant results.

When we replace fear, obsession and stressing with true acceptance we stop flooding our nervous system with fear hormones which is what has been keeping nerves over sensitised. Left in peace our nerves recover and we regain our quiet mind.

Who says so? Doctor Claire Weekes said so many years ago. She wrote a book 'Self help for your nerves' in which she explained in simple terms how her Acceptance method worked and how to practice it. That book is still sold new or used on Amazon and EBay for a few pounds.

A Boston psychiatrist recently said that acceptance had helped tens of millions of people across the world to recover from anxiety disorder, panic attacks and depletion/depression.

You may think her book is well worth the small investment. Either way, I hope you soon find respite from the negative thoughts and other symptoms.

[MihirP in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you very much for the informative reply. The way you described the condition makes total sense and that’s exactly what I am going through - anxiety followed by depletion/depression.

I am going to read the book by Dr Claire Weekes, as you suggested.

Thank you again!

[meraki]

Your post title caught my attention. I can appreciate that feeling and feel very similar. I don't have a lot to share other than you are not alone.

[kevinloveslen]

Hello MihirP ,

Welcome to the Group Forum! I hope that it meet your needs as you move forward. The people on here are wonderful and it is really meaningful to me. That written, I have suffered for several years from several lower back pain due to a spinal fusions. Ultimately, this has resulted in me being unable to work since 2012 and thus severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation.

The physical pain got so bad in 2015 that I just wanted to end it all. Thankfully, my wife caught it and convinced me to lean on Christ and trust in Him fully. Since I had nothing to lose, I did it. I decided to become as active as I could in the local church, read and meditate on His Word, fast and pray. The results were nothing short of AMAZING! For the first time in a long time, I began to regain hope.

Please know that I am praying for you!

Kevin