Not for the sensitive! Can these thoughts make me go crazy?

[Nela555]

Hello, I need help please.
I have anxiety.
I also suffer from existential questioning about universe,human existence,whether the life is real or not etc.
On one forum I read how one man had fear about how all his life and familly is illusion and he is actually in mental hospital, and that thought made him panic.

After I read that, I freaked out, and now I'm afraid that I started to think the same! Can I go crazy of that? I get constant fear and hot waves in my head when I think about it. I regret I read that post,now I will obsess over it without my will,it's like intrusive thoughts!
First I struggled with existential crisis and now I get this fear too. Can these thoguths make people go crazy? How can I overcome them? Does anybody of you has existential thoughts ?
I read somewhere they are part of psychosis and schizophrenia and now I'm afraid that I'm crazy and my life is illusion :weep:

[AuntieMoosie]

Hi there :)

Well firstly, I wouldn't have thought that our thoughts could send us insane on their own. I would imagine that you would have to have some sort of psychosis if that were to be a possibility, though I'm no psychiatrist so I'm only giving you my own opinion :)

I think that we all get some weird and wonderful thoughts at times, I know that I've sometimes questioned about my existence and what is real and what is not but I've never been psychotic in my life, I think a lot of these thoughts can also come with depression and anxiety as they can both make you feel unreal at times :)

I think what you may have now, is in fact, intrusive thoughts, they seem to spring up from a fear that we may have.

It would really surprise me if you were psychotic, people who have episodes of psychosis do not know that they are unwell, it's others around them that will realize that.

Also being as you appear to have a very good insight into your own worries, also would tell me that it's highly unlikely that you're psychotic in any way :)

But as I've said, I'm no doctor, nor trained in any way in the psychiatric field, I'm only advising you on my very limited knowledge of mental illness.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to go and have a chat with your doctor about your worries as they are the ones that will be able to put your mind at rest :)

[Nela555]

Auntie, thank you so much for your post, I feel much better now.
But many people say how psychotic people don't know they are psychotic etc... so then I think "maybe I'am crazy but I don't know it, maybe my daily life is illusion and I'm actually in mental hospital and dreaming all this ? " and then I FREAK out!

How can I prove myself that my life is 100% real and I'm not in mental hospital? lol,sound funny but it's really weird and make me anxious, I can't sleep because of that fear. I mean I know it's stupid thought but at the same time I want proof that I'm living my life :-(
I was stupid to read other people's experiences,it only make me more uppset.
Sorry for my terrible English.

[AuntieMoosie]

You're more than welcome :)

I really don't think that you can be crazy at all. You just wouldn't be able to try and reason with your thoughts if you were crazy. Please be reassured that you wouldn't be able to know if you had gone crazy :)

What you have is a fear of going crazy which is a totally different thing altogether :)

Okay, let's try some grounding work here, as I feel it may help you.

Whenever you feel that you're not where you are, so whenever you feel like you're in a psychiatric unit or hospital, just STOP!.......look around you.......what do you see?? are you in your own home??......look around and notice all the things in your room, your curtains, your floor, your pictures......do you recognize them? Have a look at yourself, are you standing, sitting, laying?? What can you smell......does it smell like home?? what can you hear??

Doing this is called grounding and it helps us to keep ourselves in the here and now, I have found it most helpful when I have been trying to deal with depression and anxiety. It reassures us that we're where we should be.

I agree that it's not a good thing to do in regards to reading other peoples experiences if you are reading about the very thing that terrifies you, it wont help you, it will just feed your fear.

I would guess that what you read was indeed written by someone who has had an episode of psychosis, you are NOT psychotic so reading that stuff will serve no purpose other than to frighten you.

Your English is really good :)

I think you should try and wind down now and relax. Do anything that helps you relax and keeps you well grounded and then allow yourself to get some good sleep. :)

[Frazzle88]

The mere fact you think these thoughts are unusual and damaging is evidence you do NOT have psycosis. Obsessive thought patterns are fairly common in cases of anxiety and I'm many of us here have had that feeling of 'If I carry on thinking this way, will I go insane?'

I've known people will servere psycotic issues and you certainly don't sound like tgats the case here.. I know its been said several times but insane people do not realise what is happening to them, as far as they are concerned they are acting completely rationally and normal. Hope this helps

[PanchoGoz]

Put in "existential" into the search box, there are some very interesting threads, one or two by me. They will all reassure you. Don't avoid anything, that gives fear power.