GlassPinata
22-01-17, 16:42
Can anxiety disorder actually lead to a more generalized, all-encompassing paranoia, or are the two conditions separate and distinct?
I ask because all my life I've been plagued by anxiety, but it usually has a very specific focus, such as an enlarged lymph node.
The focus frequently changes. I get over one fear, and another pops up (for example, my lymph node obsession ended abruptly, only to be immediately replaced with a fear that I'd consumed undercooked hamburger meat and would get e coli).
My fears are often health related, but not always. I also have anxiety surrounding work, finances, my children, and social situations. Feeling like my friends and coworkers don't actually like me and that they talk about me behind my back. Fears that my boss doesn't actually like me, and is just biding her time until she can replace me. That sort of thing. These fears do not cause the sharp panic that the health-related anxieties do, but they do create a constant background tension so that I feel like I can never really relax or enjoy myself, even when nothing specific seems to be wrong.
Anyway, lately these "background" fears seem to be getting worse, and I am beginning to feel that the world is a hostile place and just about everyone is out to get me somehow.
I've never felt quite like this before; I've always felt that bad things will happen, but now I feel that other people actively dislike me and will be glad if bad things happen to me.
I don't know, is this paranoia? It is different from my usual anxiety pattern.
Is it just my anxiety taking another form, or have I driven myself into a whole new disorder?
Any thoughts welcome.
I ask because all my life I've been plagued by anxiety, but it usually has a very specific focus, such as an enlarged lymph node.
The focus frequently changes. I get over one fear, and another pops up (for example, my lymph node obsession ended abruptly, only to be immediately replaced with a fear that I'd consumed undercooked hamburger meat and would get e coli).
My fears are often health related, but not always. I also have anxiety surrounding work, finances, my children, and social situations. Feeling like my friends and coworkers don't actually like me and that they talk about me behind my back. Fears that my boss doesn't actually like me, and is just biding her time until she can replace me. That sort of thing. These fears do not cause the sharp panic that the health-related anxieties do, but they do create a constant background tension so that I feel like I can never really relax or enjoy myself, even when nothing specific seems to be wrong.
Anyway, lately these "background" fears seem to be getting worse, and I am beginning to feel that the world is a hostile place and just about everyone is out to get me somehow.
I've never felt quite like this before; I've always felt that bad things will happen, but now I feel that other people actively dislike me and will be glad if bad things happen to me.
I don't know, is this paranoia? It is different from my usual anxiety pattern.
Is it just my anxiety taking another form, or have I driven myself into a whole new disorder?
Any thoughts welcome.