Fear of psychosis e.t.c

[superjonboy]

Not sure if this is the right place but here goes.

I'm 28 and seem to have suffered with anxiety/depression since 2001.

Back in 1999/2000 when I was at college I experimented with recreational drus. Mostly cannabis but also tried LSD and Ecstacy a cople of times each. I had the worst experience ever on LSD. It was horrible. I felt like I was losing my mind it was awful. Looking back i'm scared it might have been a pyschotic experience rather than just a bad trip?

Since then I got pretty bad anxiety and had a huge fear of coming into contact with drugs incase the same thing happened again.

I guess it's not possible to have a psychotic experience and jst snap out of it? My friends would have noticed something other than the fact I was freaking out a bit?

Most recently I have a massive fear of going mad or developing bi polar or schizophrenia. Basically a really severe mental illness. I have been told it's health anxiety.

I'm just looking for reassurance I guess that my fears are unrealistic.

I have a happy marriage and good family. All these people would know if something more was wrong?

John.

[NoPoet]

Hi, I think it's possible to experience temporary psychosis in extreme circumstances. However as far as I know people are born with bipolar or schizophrenia, so it's extremely rare for these conditions to simply appear in an otherwise healthy person.

I do not do drugs so I've never had a bad trip but they are described as being hellish. Recreational use of drugs can cause mental health problems in the long term, even if you don't use them often, so it is never in anyone's best interest to use recreational drugs.

That said, fear of going mad ("mental dissolution") is quite a common health anxiety experience. It's likely that if you were psychotic people may have noticed, and you would not be likely to worry about it yourself; if you were psychotic, such thoughts and behaviour would seem normal to you.

[Panic33]

It just sounds like a bad trip to me, it is possible to have bad panic attacks from drugs and due to how bad you feel you feel scared of the thought of them. I took an e when I was 17 (Im 34 now) and was convinced Id gone mad for a few weeks later - I told my GP and he sent me to a psychologist, he basically told me there was nothing wrong with me and it was anxiety about it. After that I was absolutely fine, but even the mention of e's made me feel panicky. It sounds like health anxiety you are suffering from.

Remember, if you were mad you wouldn't know you were - the fact your thinking it is a def sign your not.

[superjonboy]

Thanks for your responses.

The fact im noticing all this stuff is a sure sign im not going mad.

I need to stop focusing on it and et back out fishing and playing my guitar.

Thanks very much it means a lot to have reassurance like that.

John.

[Maj]

Hi,

The very fact that you're worried about this shows in no way that you will suffer from it. It would have "just happened" and you'd have been oblivious. I think it's just what we all feel when anxious - are we going to lose the plot?!! I think it's anxiety you're suffering from. Please don't worry about what happened in the past, you've come through it and you can recover.
Myra:yesyes::hugs: