Overwhelming Thoughts

[beakyboo87]

Hey guys, this is my first post here... I am sure that I am suffering with anxiety and I don't really know what to do about it. I have many of the symptoms that come up whenever I google "anxiety", but the most alarming at the moment is recurring negative thoughts, especially regarding world news.

I find myself in a constant state of fear about the future of the world, to the point where I am crying or can't sleep well because I feel so worried. I am constantly scrolling through negative articles on Twitter and literally can't stop myself reading hysterical posts about political events, even though logically I know a lot of them are just people's opinions rather than solid fact. I'll put my phone down and distract myself with something else, but then I'm compelled to look again to "put my mind at rest", only it usually makes me feel worse.

I always feel a huge sense of foreboding and like something terrible is about to happen any moment. And frustratingly, this is meant to be a very happy year for me. I am planning my wedding which I am very excited about, and I have also been getting a lot of success recently with my creative work. But even though it is all "good stress", I think maybe these events are contributing to my overwhelming feelings of anxiousness.

I have always been quite an anxious person since I was a child, but the obsession with negative thoughts only happened many years ago when my Mum was diagnosed with cancer. There was a period of a year or so around that time when thoughts about death/war etc. absolutely overtook everything to the point where I could not enjoy life anymore. She has since made a full recovery and I eventually got better too. But now it feels like I am taking a step back to that time again.

I have never gone to the Doctors with any of this, it feels really extreme. A friend advised a local place that deals with anxiety but it is where severely mentally ill people go and I just feel like I don't belong somewhere so extreme. I guess I feel in that mindset of "I don't want to make a fuss"... But it does feel like a problem that won't go away so I thought a step forward may be posting on this forum.

I would really appreciate anyone's advice or thoughts on my situation. Hope to hear from some of you, thank you!

[Benjammin69]

Hey guys, this is my first post here... I am sure that I am suffering with anxiety and I don't really know what to do about it. I have many of the symptoms that come up whenever I google "anxiety", but the most alarming at the moment is recurring negative thoughts, especially regarding world news.

I find myself in a constant state of fear about the future of the world, to the point where I am crying or can't sleep well because I feel so worried. I am constantly scrolling through negative articles on Twitter and literally can't stop myself reading hysterical posts about political events, even though logically I know a lot of them are just people's opinions rather than solid fact. I'll put my phone down and distract myself with something else, but then I'm compelled to look again to "put my mind at rest", only it usually makes me feel worse.

I always feel a huge sense of foreboding and like something terrible is about to happen any moment. And frustratingly, this is meant to be a very happy year for me. I am planning my wedding which I am very excited about, and I have also been getting a lot of success recently with my creative work. But even though it is all "good stress", I think maybe these events are contributing to my overwhelming feelings of anxiousness.

I have always been quite an anxious person since I was a child, but the obsession with negative thoughts only happened many years ago when my Mum was diagnosed with cancer. There was a period of a year or so around that time when thoughts about death/war etc. absolutely overtook everything to the point where I could not enjoy life anymore. She has since made a full recovery and I eventually got better too. But now it feels like I am taking a step back to that time again.

I have never gone to the Doctors with any of this, it feels really extreme. A friend advised a local place that deals with anxiety but it is where severely mentally ill people go and I just feel like I don't belong somewhere so extreme. I guess I feel in that mindset of "I don't want to make a fuss"... But it does feel like a problem that won't go away so I thought a step forward may be posting on this forum.

I would really appreciate anyone's advice or thoughts on my situation. Hope to hear from some of you, thank you!



Hi beakyboo :welcome: to NMP!

Firstly I have been and still sometimes am in your situation where your thoughts overwhelm you. Regardless of what the thought is whether it's about war, health, death - I understand how troublesome they can be and also how debilitating it can be. I have spent literally days on dr google I also have spent days in my head where the only escape is sleep!

There is 2 ways you can deal with this and ultimately it is down to you... you can either go to your GP where they will probably place you on an antidepressant then help calm your mind -

2ndly, you could seek out therapy - in therapy you learn about the cognitive thinking cycle around thoughts = feelings = actions, but also learning that thoughts are just that.... thoughts. You don't need to act upon them and the less you pay them attention the less intense and repitiive they will be... another example is with people who suffer anxiety and depression they normally wake up and ask them selves "how do I feel" , by asking that question your body will scan itself for a negative feeling and that's how these thoughts continue in their negative ways..

Sometimes a therapist is all it needs to brain train your thoughts...

Hope this somewhat helps - let me know how you get on

[beakyboo87]

Hi Benjammin,

Thanks so much for your reply - it really helps to know I'm not alone with this and that there are options out there. Perhaps I need to start seriously thinking about going down one of those routes.

It has definitely helped just to write down about the problem in the first place and have someone listen so thank you for your advice! I will definitely think on looking into therapy.