Debilitating anxiety

[Juliejules2456]

Hi I have been suffering from extreme anxiety for a long time. I feel that I have thoughts that come into my mind (all negative) and I start worrying to the point of depression. I feel that I have to fix the things that I’m worried about right away or I can become stuck, and paralyzed with overwhelming fear. I dread these feelings and worst case scenarios take place in my mind. I’m on medication for anxiety but it seems that there is not anything out there that can really help. Therapy is good but these anxious thoughts come back pretty quickly and I’m really anxious about a lot of things. I’m coming here for help and support.

[Shan86]

Hello im sorry your having a rough time. I have bad anxiety as well i joined today hoping talking to others helps. Have you tried reading a really good book sometimes that helps me takes my mind off life for awhile. I'm here to talk if you too.

[Juliejules2456 in reply to Shan86]

Yes, I love to read! They take my mind off things for a little while. Right now I’m reading The Vanishing Half for black history month. A lot of the anxiety comes when I’m driving for some reason, I guess it’s because my mind is idle. It’s hard for others to deal with it, and I understand. My mother had anxiety and even I get upset when she’s so worried about things. I really hate that I have severe anxiety, it makes it so hard to do anything, and I just want to sleep it off all the time.

[Shan86 in reply to Juliejules2456]

When driving to deal with anxiety I put on upbeat music and sing as loud as I can lol. I get my anxiety and panic attacks when I'm drifting off to sleep it has gotten awful lately I don't sleep much these days been trying to get sleep study done for a year but drs just keep upping my meds 🙄 I just want to make sure I dont have health issues causes it. An I get others don't know how to deal my husband tells me to knock it off I know he is playing but after the 100th time of him saying it, it gets old or when it's really bad and I wasn't to go to er he tells me I can drive myself .

[Agora1]

Hi Juliejules, did you know that it's our negative thoughts that get us in troublewhen we focus on their negativity. Before long, fear builds in our brain and we

have just given Anxiety the permission to alter our lives.

Things that need to be fixed in our lives can be done one step at a time. Medication

only bridges the gap until we are able to find ways/methods to help ourselves.

My "go to" has always been YouTube. Oh yes, I was on medication as well as tons

of therapy over the years, but it's when I took responsibility for my life that I started

to get better.

Meds only numb us for a while as we stay in this cycle of fear begets fear. Only when

we take that first step forward do we start to heal. I'm happy to Welcome you to this

amazing forum. Together we help each other, together we no longer feel alone. xx

[Juliejules2456]

Thanks for the reply. I don’t understand the part about taking responsibility. These thoughts come into my mind, and it could be about anything. For instance, I work at a department store and I really love my job because it keeps me very busy. They put us in different departments all the time and I’m fine with that, but yesterday I was put into a very slow department, and my thoughts were starting to bother me, the next thing you know I’m crying in my car (i have depression too) yesterday I was worried that they are going to keep me in this department and my thoughts just started to drive me crazy. The anxiety about being there were making me so anxious, paralyzing anxiety because I don’t want to hate my job or have to leave. I’m trying not to think about it. I don’t know what to do about these thoughts.

[mvillarreal]

What kind of thoughts come into your head that you feel you have to fix?

[designguy]

Hi Julie, one of things that helped me with anxiety was learning that my previous therapy was approaching it all wrong and the way to recover was by learning to accept the anxious thoughts and feelings and not fight them or engage with them. Getting mad at myself for having it also was not productive. Once I understood that the role of anxiety was a misguided way of trying to protect me I started to accept it and have compassion for myself about it. I also started realizing how much I was trying to control things that were not controllable and started surrendering to what I could control. Also knowing that setbacks are a normal part of the recovery process helped.

I recommend reading the DARE Anxiety book or the books by Dr. Claire Weeks to learn about accepting the anxious thoughts and feelings and what is really going on. They both have good youtube videos available. You might also check out info about OCD thinking on youtube.

Another thing that has really helped me is learning and practicing simple mindfulness to learn to let the thoughts flow in and out without attachment and also to be more present in life.

[Shan86 in reply to designguy]

I'm gonna check the dare books out