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LFC12
24-09-14, 11:34
Hi guys

Anyone ever get fed up of feeling like on one shoulder you have the angel who is telling you things will be ok, then on the other shoulder you have the devil who is trying to take over making your anxiety worse ? Well i am a major case for this situation. Currently i have a situation of someone who is trying to ruin my life more or less. The person is going around saying various things to people via mouth and social media. I suffer from anxiety anyway but now this situation has arisen its just made it 10 times worse. Now i fully understand that there are things i could possibly do to try and stop this ( contacting police or reporting to the social media HQ) problem is this person is not one to give up and if feeling like he is being attacked will just try and make my life worse than it is. So i feel like i cannot go and tell anyone. For the last couple of days i have been the worst i have ever been in terms of anxiety and depression. And this is where i feel like the angel on 1 shoulder and devil on the other comes into play, the amount of times throughout the day the angel is telling me that things will be ok and the angel is trying to tell me ways to cope with this situation which even if its for a couple of moments calms me down and makes me think eventually this will stop. But then the devil has his say. He is on the other shoulder reminding me all of the possible outcomes of whats going on and basically letting me know that things could get a lot worse and making my anxiety get to a point where i feel i cant cope. Now i am pretty sure that a lot of people in the world may suffer from this same situation but the question is how do we get rid of this devil ? im not sure i can answer that just yet because he is currently overpowering the angel. I really dont mean for this to sound like some kind of story book with an angel and a devil but when it comes down to it thats kinda what is happening, one minute you can be ok, thinking positive and feeling like you can overcome this, then the next minute quicker than you can flick a light switch your reminded of the awful things that have happened or the awful things that could potentially happen. I would love any advice you guys might have as any coping techniques would be more than welcome !

Brunette
24-09-14, 13:17
Try separating them in your mind by thinking of it this way: the "devil" is your anxiety. The "angel" is you.

Also, treat the devil the same way as you would a meddlesome acquantance who doesn't have your best interests as heart. Would you listen to someone like that or would you trust your own instincts (the angel) and listen to them instead?

Oosh
24-09-14, 18:36
It's a common theme.

Read " the chimp paradox".
As a Liverpool fan (?) you could well have already heard of it :winks:

Devil = the chimp
Angel =the frontal lobe/the human voice calming you

It's a battle that goes on in everybodies head because we have that ancient emotional part of the brain and the rational human part that has developed later.

That's a tricky situation though with that bloke. Spread a counter rumour about him. Something like "if blah blah gossips about me saying blah blah, it's all rubbish. The real reason he's doing it is this ... (he's got a small willy, slept with an entire rugby team, etc etc and I joked I'd tell everyone so he is trying to spread rubbish about me )

Just do it back as well as telling whoever he tells, whilst being amused, that it's all embarrassing rubbish. "You don't believe that do you ! We fell out. Now he's spreading these embarrassing rumours like a school boy"

People will see the rumours and counter rumours and start to no longer care.

LFC12
24-09-14, 19:02
Thank you both for your replies ! I will take both on board :) and i have just read the review on the chimp paradox and i will be purchasing ! And yes liverpool fan and proud ;) ive found this site really useful as i do suffer with anxiety really bad and are learning new ways to deal with this so i appreciate the feedback !

MrAndy
24-09-14, 19:47
This is exactly where cbt can help out,it will bash that devil back down every time he opens his gob