Chronic crippling anxiety and when I look in the mirror, its not me....

Hi

Ive been suffering with crippling anxiety for years now. Im going through a bad patch at the moment with many symptoms.

A new scary one is that when I look in the mirror, I dont recognise myself. It's not me staring back.

Is this "just anxiety"?

I really hate the way my GP seemed to deem all my symptoms down to anxiety. I dont bother seeing him any longer.

He thinks a course of 6 sessions of 30 minutes of CBT will cure 9 years of anxiety.

Thank you for reading this xx

[Agora1]

Hi lizzie72, I know what you mean regarding the GP, eventually everything boils down to anxiety. If they think that's helping us, it's not. And you are right, 6 (30min) sessions of CBT will not cure 9 years of anxiety. It barely touches the tip of the iceberg. It is meant to be an incentive as well as informative therapy to get you going in the right direction. Each one of us needs to find the right therapy that works for us. The problem is while searching for the answer we tend to get more confused and frightened that it may never go away. I believe that's why when we look in the mirror, we may not recognize the person looking back. It's because we don't know who we are anymore. Once you find your way, you will start to feel better in your own skin and that feeling will go away. I hope you find a technique that eventually works for you Lizzie. For me after all my trials and errors with medications and therapy methods, I feel in control and comfortable with meditation and deep breathing. I just wish I believed my therapist years ago when she suggested that but I wasn't ready. You have to believe that it's going to work whatever you decide on. My best xx

[Hidden in reply to Agora1]

Wow, thank you.

You've hit the nail on the head!

Thank you x

[Dylon19 in reply to Agora1]

Nice :)!

[RyRywifey]

Yes, that is called Depersonalization. Look on YouTube for others who have gone thru it and recovered 100%. It's an anxiety symptom. I personally suffered from Derealization, which is a little different for DP but they are in the same category. You're going to be just fine but trust me I know exactly how scary that symptom is

[smjtty]

IM A MESS MY SELF I CAN NOT TAKE ANY MORE

IT IS GETTING TO HARD

[shoppaholicsue Star]

I had a course of hypnotherapy which worked at the time but hasn't done so much in the longterm. I have had CBT now, and although i didn't think it was much good at the time, i have taken some useful tips.

The NHS has given me a couple of websites. these give access to an online CBT course apparently and self help. I am going to post these on here in the hope the may help others too.

moodgym.anu.edu.au - Mood Gym

ecouch.anu.edu.au - E-Couch

llttf.com - Living Life to the Full

Sue

[Twill]

Hi Lizzie I haven't posted on here for a while but still follow all the posts. I am sorry you are suffering with terrible anxiety u haven't said what the initial cause of it was and I know going over it doesn't always help. I have had this for years, I know what first brought it on and it is now triggered by upset and stress. I always think I can control it and try to carry on a normal life but it rears it's ugly head far too often at the moment.

I was diagnosed in 2015 with PBC and cannot get a grip on how tired I always feel and I have so much pain in my joints. My husband is lovely and keeps asking me to take a holiday with him but I feel it's a waste of money because I suffer with panic attacks when I am out of my comfort zone. I struggle with the fact that because there is no visible evidence that I have this illness and I always try to act normal.. people just think I should b just taking more exercise and mix more, that's when the anxiety kicks in so i am in a vicious circle of alway cancelling Everything I am invited to to avoid panic.

I have also tried hypnotherapy but it doesn't work for me I just cannot free my mind from negative thoughts when something or someone has upset me. But what I do is watch the television or go on my iPad to distract me until it passes.

I really really hope your anxiety improves but I think once u have suffered with it it is always in the background so learning your own way of dealing with it is crucial.

Love Twill x