Peters friend
29-04-08, 17:32
Hi, my name is Antoinette. I am a close friend of Peter who suffers from GAD. Until recently, Peter has thought he had changed as a person to something sinister and evil. He has entrenched himself in his symptoms and has mostly believed he cannot change back to the nice sensitive guy he used to be. Peter has suffered from anxiety all his life and suffered some panic attacks in his past. He is a bright individual who worked as a solicitor for some years before he 'broke down'. He has tried every course for anxiety and even been in hospital, where he was treated with ECT. Peter has been house bound and dependent on his father for two years, unemployed, loss of confidence and denial that he has GAD. Peter, has not had an understanding of panic nor anxiety and I believe he has a negative stigma attached to the diagnosis, hence the growing belief that something more monstrous is wrong with him. Peter displays symptoms which have progressed over the years to that of racing thoughts many of which are violent and full of rage and sexual of nature involving all people but especially those closest to him. DP/DR most of the time but worse on days that he has experienced bad dreams or situations of stress, some days of being off balance and constantly fearful of everything in our world. Peter is now on lorazapam during the day and an anti dep at night to help aid sleep. He has recently began opening up to the realization that he does have anxiety but believes it is a result of his nightmares and daymares that he experiences. He is still very unsure that he may act upon the thoughts full of rage and sexual content. I am sure he will not as he beats himself up for the state and experiences he feels physically and mentally all of the time. He is a lovely wonderful man and I am hoping that someone out there who has been this low and far into their GAD can or will be able to respond to my friend who deserves to get back to a normal bearable state. I am trying to help him use the method from Panic away as i believe this will aid him. Peter has made some progress recently, showing some glimpses of light toward recovery, but each day and night and each mili second, is such a challenge to him, he easily slips back to the old habits of believing he has something else more sinister and will never recover. I hope to find some one out there looking to join or has joined this forum that will be able to make a positive and encouraging contribution to my plea for help to Peter.