reading other peoples posts is just me?

[tricia56]

just want to ask as I don't know if its just me or the anxiety that makes me think this way as sometimes when I read other peoples posts on here it sort of plays on my mind and I start to think wat if I end up going like that and end up in hospital, so I just thought id ask if any one else thinks this way sometimes.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, I think a lot of people will agree with you here, Tricia. I know I get it sometimes where I will feel like a symptom may be starting for me but I try to brush it aside and it tends to go away. It's part of being sensitised really, think of it a bit like your ummune system being low so you are a bit more susceptible, just in this case it's more suggestion than a bug.

Some forms of OCD even have this included e.g. Emotional Contamination. With this one you can make strong associations to people or events that will make you feel like you could contract elements from them e.g. a bad person you know could make you feel like you will take on one of their less desirable personality traits. Part of it is Magical Thiinking too.

If you see the HA guys talking you will see how they find NMP very triggering for them because it exposes them to symptoms and physical disorder/diseases that they didn't know even existed. It reminds me of how Davit used to say you couldn't fear you had cancer until scientists discovered it. I suspect people with HA are very susceptible to suggestion.

[jimsmrs]

I agree, Some of the the posts are really, really heartbreaking but sometimes I think to myself, this may sound hard, 'omg I'm not that bad'.
I think it depends on how more vunerable anxiety makes you feel.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I agree, Some of the the posts are really, really heartbreaking but sometimes I think to myself, this may sound hard, 'omg I'm not that bad'.
I think it depends on how more vunerable anxiety makes you feel.

Yes, I agree with you. Some of the posts on here really do make you feel it emotionally. Some people have life so hard and we anxiety people are perhaps a bit more empathic because of what we have been through and you can find yourself really feeling for someone. Isn't that why we spend our time helping each other on here?

It's not hard, I consider that just part of the analytical side of the brain assessing things and presenting you with an option. At the end of the day, whilst you accept it, you still don't let it take away from your compassion and thats what counts the most.

[tricia56]

thank you terry, i feel a lot better now knowing its not just me, can i ask terry you mentioned about the emotional contamination thing where it can make you feel a strong association to people can that include something like a persons metal state ? the reason i ask is because one of my big fears is about my mental state for instance like i read another members post and how bad they have got and gone in to hospital, and i end up thinking what if that happens to me.

[Fishmanpa]

Tricia,

The forum, while there's a certain comfort in knowing you're not alone and others have similar feelings and while it can be cathartic to write out your fears and feelings, can also act as a trigger, especially when it's a subject that as serious as the one you describe.

I know who/what you're describing, the member who is hospitalized, and I also knew it would be a trigger for some. You see it a lot on the HA boards. Someone posts about lymph nodes for instance, and then there's half a dozen lymph node posts.

Positive thoughts

[pulisa]

For me at the moment the forum is a huge trigger and I am doing all the things that I advise others not to do..mainly regarding HA.

I'm not going to look at any more HA or "symptoms" posts and will challenge this huge compulsion of mine to immerse myself in worse case scenario setups. No one else's fault but mine.

[MrAndy]

Reading about people struggling on meds upsets me

[debs71]

I know what you mean, Tricia.

I often feel upset or disturbed by some posts here. I am not often on the forum too much these days. I always find I return when my depression/GAD/panic symptoms have come back badly again, and I firstly am looking for support and reassurance, but also to try to distract my mind by trying to help/post for other members.

When I feel better in myself, I tend to back away again from NMP, as reading others struggles/anxieties I do find stir mine up again, so I need breathing space. It is an odd thing, and sort of ironic in a way.

Just wanted you to know you are not alone with that thought. x

[MyNameIsTerry]

thank you terry, i feel a lot better now knowing its not just me, can i ask terry you mentioned about the emotional contamination thing where it can make you feel a strong association to people can that include something like a persons metal state ? the reason i ask is because one of my big fears is about my mental state for instance like i read another members post and how bad they have got and gone in to hospital, and i end up thinking what if that happens to me.

Yes, it can include that. With EC you fear the person who you believe you could contract issues from. For instance, if you lived with someone who is a narcissist, you could find you believe that being around them will turn you into the same but not because you decide to change, more that you "catch" it off them. Within there you get Magical Thinking so you may associate an item they use e.g. a towel and begin to believe that will infect you with the issue you fear e.g. using a narcissist's towel would allow it to "rub off" on you.

If you fear that by reading all of these things you could deteriorate, then thats a pretty common fear. Fearing you literally contract them by reading them can be OCD, but it can also just be the process of anxiety, I think it depends on severity and whether you already have OCD. I do know another member on here who has something that could be this form of OCD and he fears that by sitting with an agoraphobic, he can catch agoraphobia. This causes him to avoid threads and situations that could mean he is exposed. Whilst there is an argument for abstaining from places like these forums, there is also an argument for avoidance too. If you avoid out of fear, you only create new associations with fear in the subconscious and thats what therapists tell us. However, there are times where you need to do it to sort yourself out and then come back to these things but if you can't come back to them, you have built new irrational fears.

Remember, I was never a member here or at my local charity when I went through all my worst times. They still happened. Whilst I believe immersion to these places certainly is triggering I think it's perhaps based on what your issues are. I could sit in a room all day and never see or hear anything from the world and I would still have been anxious.

I'm not sure which person you are talking about but if you mean elik, I think this is a bit different. She has already been an outpatient there and that particular clinic takes people in outside of the section process to my knowledge (celebrities go in for all sorts of things) and elik has briefly mentioned a personality disorder which is more complex to treat than an anxiety disorder and carries other personality trait issues with it that have to be changed. Getting into a NHS facility is a matter of protection for the person (and others) so it's a bit different.

[jimsmrs]

I'm like Debs71, I tend dip in and out when I'm having a blip. But sometimes on here can be worse than Googling, again I think it goes back to vulnerability and how much pressure we put on ourselves, especially if we tend to overthink things.

Then there is the flip side. If you haven't been on here for a while you see how people have made progress, either with their meds or the anxiety/depression they're suffering from.