why does anxiety and depression make you feel like your going mad.....

[likklegemmy]

hi i am new to this forum was searching on google as normal and thought i would find piece of mind talking to others with anxiety and depression, i am 21 and suffered with anxiety for nearly 3 years, i worry constantly about my health used to go doctors every week to ask about a new health issue which would normally be a cold or simply a headache... at onepoint in 2008 i had a really manic episode convincing myself that i had a brain tumour but really it was just symptoms of anxiety, i fell pregnant soon after and everythin was fine after having my gorgous daughter i was diagnoised with post natal depression, i had overwheling feelings that was awlful, dread, sinking gutting feelings through my body didnt want to be on my own panic attacks everythin it was horrible, after starting on anti depressants and the help of a local crisis team i got better however them feelings have returned as have the anxiety symtoms so instead of worrying about my health i feel as though my minds gone blank and im going mad... its a horrible feeling, does anyone simular get like this or feel the same, i dread these feelings coming back so i get more worried... please help...

[gypsywomen]

yes when i am under sress i feel like my mind cant handle it and that i am going mad

[likklegemmy]

yep its awlful, terrible feelings of being out of control.... its good to know i wont end up in a mental home though thats where my anxiety is coming from now and cant take my mind of it... thank you for replying

[hallam11]

Hello,

I saw your post and thought I would offer some insight. I have been following this step by step depression learning path on http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/

It clearly describes how we think when we are depressed and how it turns into a cycle. I thought this may help a little with the depression side and even a little of the health anxiety. I think it is very common for those of us who suffer from depression and anxiety to worry about the state of our mental health. I have seen it written so many times on this forum and have never thought for one minute that any one of them is actually going mad! Its sadly just another part of the anxiety, I think its partly because we are so worried and scared all the time that we worry that it must be something to do with our brains breaking down when in actual fact it our brains are not. Usually if the brain is defaulting or in actual fact we were going mad then we would not even know about it.

Please try and take some solice in the fact its something we're all worried about.

Laura xxxxx

[likklegemmy]

thank you so much for your comment its really helped,,, i will visit that link, the naxiety just makes me convince myself im going mad but like you say people dont know when they are and im sure depression cant give you a bad form of mental health... at the time you think its the only possible reason for feeling like it... and then i think aboutg it constantly convincing myself that i am when infact deep down i know i am not
Gemma x

[hallam11]

It is amazing what we can convince ourselves of when our anxiety is high! But yes the bottom line is if you are still thinking logically, even sometimes then you are not going mad. Depression and anxiety has so much to answer for because the feeling of going mad is such a common form, I have thought in the the past that I may have been psychopath,schizophrenic,memory loss and anything else! It was awful but I know now that it isn't that. It just a form of anxiety,like health anxiety really but of the mind.

Keep the peace, xx

[likklegemmy]

thats really helped alot thanks, yep ive read up on all mental disorders and im diagnosing myself with the fear of having to go in a mental home cause i dont feel myself and cant shift the anxiety about it worse of all the anxiety is convincing me making me ill but deep down i know im not mad ... how did you get over it if you dont mind me asking as i feel like ill think that way forever.. xx

[hallam11]

To be honest it still crosses my mind but I always end up thinking that if I were going mad then I wouldn't know about it. You don't just wake up one day and you've turned schizophrenic. To be honest it just went away when I was no longer worried about it, its the anxiety that keeps it at the fore front of your mind. I would stop looking things up because that make it worse, with whatever type of anxiety. Like right now I could look up an illness and could convince myself that the symptoms were real and I had them when I don't. Just looking up stuff makes it worse because you are looking for signs. If you are actively looking for signs and are worried then your brain is still working right!
You wont feel like this forever, its just another phase of anxiety. You need to tackle the route cause not the symptom, the symptom is the feeling of going mad. Try distraction. Brain lock by jefferey swartz is good for that, the main purpose of the book is ocd and how to tackle that but the four step method they speak about can be used for anything. xxx

[likklegemmy]

your absolutly right if i was then i wouldnt know my mind is very active all the time and doesnt rest, i keep thinking im getting the anxiety because im mad... stupid as it sounds its just fear and need distraction from thinking it... thank you for your help if theres anythin u think could help please reply xx

[hallam11]

Well I think that is true of any anxiety sufferer, our minds race a stupid amount and get us into all kinds of distress. Well yes it is just another of the fears we have but don't punish yourself too much for it.We all fall into that pitfall. I have several things to help distract myself, like going on here, tv, writing, I find I need distraction alot at the minute because I am not working so there's too much time and space to worry. Its hard sometimes but we have to push through, there no miracle cure its just alot of hard work! I know, awful, I am in the middle/back end of a horrible few months but I am trying now to get better but there are alot of setbacks and blips! You will get there.
xx