Anxiety destroying my life

[phil06]

I feel the anxiety is destroying my life at present. So much social anxiety + negative thoughts + OCD I just can't think normal anymore. Working my socks off to make changes in work/relationship and nothings working.

I feel there's little hope left in the year for me now.

[PanicOver!!]

Hi Phill

Hang on in there buddy it may take time but you can get through this
maybe working at it so hard is making you worse.. how about just accepting things the way they are ajd just go with it... got to beasier than constantly trying to change

good luck

[phil06]

Hi Phill

Hang on in there buddy it may take time but you can get through this
maybe working at it so hard is making you worse.. how about just accepting things the way they are ajd just go with it... got to beasier than constantly trying to change

good luck

Thanks I know i could but I've been doing that for two years and I'm utterly miserable and feel hopeless. So unhappy with the way my life is going.

[Maj]

Phil, there's always hope. You just don't know what's round the corner. I know it sounds corny but you just don't. Yes, I can understand you feel hopeless at the moment when nothing seems to be going right for you. I feel for anyone looking for a job at the moment. Does the doctor know how bad you are feeling? Meds aren't a miracle cure but the right one can take the edge off things until you steer into calmer waters. I really hope you can get a job soon. EVen if it's not one you really want at least you have something to think about each day and are in the company of other people who will have their problems as well. Take care. Sorry I can't help you.
Myra

[MrBOOMBASTIC]

Please don't despair, I was in the exact same situation as you and was like that for a few years, but fear not it is curable. I never took any meds although I was an absolute mess but I was scared of taking them. I finally got to see a doctor (I saw alot i was a REAL mess) who specialised in these issues and I statred partaking in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). Its extremely simple and just lets you see the ridiculousness in the things you think (youd be suprised how many people suffer exactly what your having a large % of population at some point in their lives) and puts you back to exactly how you where before anxiety some how gradually took over your daily thoughts (and in some cases makes people better than they ever where). I am 100% completely fine and feeling great to be my normal self normal now and have been for years and will continue to be, if I ever notice me having an anxious thought i realise what it is and laugh at it cause i am aware now how ridiculous some of them are.
Please go get some CBT, in the meantime recognise you negative/anxious thoughts and shrugg them off because you know what your like and you know your prone to having these kind of thoughts that are irrational/magnified etc etc. Try writing down the the thought thats making/made you anxious give a % of how anxious you are/where then go through how you may be getting carried away with something / magnifying something / being plain irrational and write that thinking error down then give yourself a new score of how anxious you feel. Trust me you'll see that some of your thoughts are totally irrational and overexaggerated there really funny. Be patient with the process and hopefully later down the line the odd occasional thought you may have will last a split second and you'll shrug it off and laugh and continue feeling positive.

[MrBOOMBASTIC]

Phil, there's always hope. You just don't know what's round the corner. I know it sounds corny but you just don't. Yes, I can understand you feel hopeless at the moment when nothing seems to be going right for you. I feel for anyone looking for a job at the moment. Does the doctor know how bad you are feeling? Meds aren't a miracle cure but the right one can take the edge off things until you steer into calmer waters. I really hope you can get a job soon. EVen if it's not one you really want at least you have something to think about each day and are in the company of other people who will have their problems as well. Take care. Sorry I can't help you.
Myra

Also good advice.

[phil06]

Please don't despair, I was in the exact same situation as you and was like that for a few years, but fear not it is curable. I never took any meds although I was an absolute mess but I was scared of taking them. I finally got to see a doctor (I saw alot i was a REAL mess) who specialised in these issues and I statred partaking in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). Its extremely simple and just lets you see the ridiculousness in the things you think (youd be suprised how many people suffer exactly what your having a large % of population at some point in their lives) and puts you back to exactly how you where before anxiety some how gradually took over your daily thoughts (and in some cases makes people better than they ever where). I am 100% completely fine and feeling great to be my normal self normal now and have been for years and will continue to be, if I ever notice me having an anxious thought i realise what it is and laugh at it cause i am aware now how ridiculous some of them are.
Please go get some CBT, in the meantime recognise you negative/anxious thoughts and shrugg them off because you know what your like and you know your prone to having these kind of thoughts that are irrational/magnified etc etc. Try writing down the the thought thats making/made you anxious give a % of how anxious you are/where then go through how you may be getting carried away with something / magnifying something / being plain irrational and write that thinking error down then give yourself a new score of how anxious you feel. Trust me you'll see that some of your thoughts are totally irrational and overexaggerated there really funny. Be patient with the process and hopefully later down the line the odd occasional thought you may have will last a split second and you'll shrug it off and laugh and continue feeling positive.

Thanks that's helpful. I've been suffering for two or three years with the negative thoughts. It's like a cloud over my head I keep saying I'm going to deal with it. I am convinced once I get a new job that might reduce some of the anxiety. But I feel I need to be bold and leave that job since it's casing me stress and just need a break. Interviews have gone grim for me. I wake up and think what's "anxiety" will it be today? It can just have such a grip over my life, moods.

[MrBOOMBASTIC]

Glad to help, ive been meaning to post here for a while as a couple of years ago I was trawling this site in a desperate attempt to try find some explanation or relief for what I was going through. Next time you wake up in the morning and you think what's "anxiety" will it be today? think to yourself "I'M AT IT AGIAN!!". I used to do the EXACT same thing when i woke up in morning. Its an obsessive thought and once you can break the cycle you should slowly get better, you just need to shrug that thought off recognise it as just one of your OCD obssesive thoughts and it means nothing. Let it come into your mind (dont try to stop it) and just let it pass thorugh, dont pay it any notice you know what it is it's just and obsessive negative thought and it means nothing.

[MrBOOMBASTIC]

Once you get to grips with this you should notice alot more of these thoughts and you'll realise that its just and obsessive (OCD perhaps) thought pattern thats creating this cloud and once you realise the unimportance and nonsense of these thoughts you will slowly get better, but be patient with it.

[dante]

morning is always the worst time for people with anxiety, thats when all the thoughts rush in,but the biggest problem is looking for the anxiety, we tend to do it all the time, analyse diffrent symptoms, and the thing we shouldnt do is look for a cure, or for things that we think will ease the anxiety.because we are telling ourselves if we do this it will ease the anxiety,and then if it doesnt we look for something else.
phill the thing we should do is just accept we have it, try and work normal but with the anxiety, not look for reasons why we have it but just try work with it, try reading the book by claire weekes, it helped me, i have been fine for weeks feeling a bit like my old self, but had a relapse today but have to realise thats all it is and move on and keep just accepting it. hope that helps