Terrified of something bad happening to loved ones

[teaandtoast]

First thread here...

Ok... I'll try to keep this short and sweet but there's a wee bit of a backstory. I'm 21. I live with a relative and her husband and have done for a year now after being discharged from my second stint in a psych ward. I don't have a great relationship with my parents, I am in touch with them however. My relative, let's call her A. A is great, she's basically taken on the role of a mother and her and her husband have welcomed me into their lives.

I am constantly terrified that something bad is going to happen to them (it's sometimes other people too). The main issue is when they go somewhere in the car without me. We live rurally so to go anywhere it's quite a long drive, and the 'big city' is a couple hours drive away. I am convinced that they are going to get in a car accident and I will never see them again. It gets to the point where I obsessively check travel news to make sure there haven't been any reported accidents on the roads they would be travelling on. I even cried when their car came up the drive last time because I was just so relieved that they were home safe.

It can involve other things too. They are going on holiday soon and I'm so scared that they're going to be caught up in a terrorist attack. I'm also scared about health issues; even silly things like having back pain or a headache freak me out.

I hate it so much :weep: posting this in the hope that maybe someone can relate and I won't feel so crazy.

[shakey1961]

Hi. I can relate a bit as I was always worried about my parents becoming ill.

However, you need to look at the bigger picture here. By its nature, News will always tell you about unusual and bad things that have happened. You're not going to hear "And in the news today millions of people drove to work and went shopping and returned safely and no harm came to them"

Sadly, I can't put your mind totally at ease, because whatever we do as humans there is always a risk attached to it, but you need to try and put it into perspective. There will always be a risk, but that risk is, on the whole, very small.

Have you spoken to A about this? Would it help if they had a mobile phone and called you when they are om their way and when they've arrived? If they did you could always call them to see if they're ok.

I hope you can get some peace with your thoughts.

[Constant worry]

I can totally relate to this. Last month my parents went to japan without us and i obsesivly tracked their flight on flight aware when it suddenly disappeared, i chacked other websides like flightradar and it wasn't there either. So I had a panic attack and after i just cried for 3 hours because i was sure they were dead. Generally i am not afraid of flying, i know planes don't just crash and i absolutelly know that a stupid app is not reliable and there are thousands of small stupid reasons why the flight didn't show up!!!! But at that moment i just couldnt see anything alse. Crazy how anxiety can make you not able to think at all.
So my point is that you are not crazy i think a lot of people worry about things like that and in great great majority nothing happens. Sorry can't really help a lot, but for me it is always easier when i see other people have simmilar worries.