Constant sense of foreboding/ on edge?

[crunchylump]

Hi there

I am female and in my mid twenties.

I am a bit of a regular over at DP Selfhelp but what is really bugging me these days is a sense of foreboding, a free-floating approximation of dread unrelated to things around me that accompanies me everywhere I go most the time.

I also get episodes of Depersonalization but I have had them all my life and they don't really rattle me nowadays. The constant dread, being on edge all the time is far more distracting and annoying in my day to day life.

As I say usually when I get the fear there is no relation to events around me or surroundings, no trigger I can discern. However, if faced with a simple question such as "Tea or coffee?" while in such a state I am a deer caught in headlights. Tea? Coffee? Tea? Coffee? The question spins around and around in my head and I am frozen, unable to take this vital :wacko: decison. I am well aware I really want tea but I cast around for all sorts of other considerations that have to be made in order to solve the coffee/tea conundrum. Freaked as I am by this point my memory goes blank and I forget the question. Tiring to say the least.

The whole thing appears to be somewhat seasonal, often I forget all about it throughout the summer months but between September and May things aren't so hot and right now I am waiting for the magician to pull me out of the top hat. After all it is April already and I am still feeling as if it were December. Yargh.

In any case. This sound familiar at all? And if it does can you recommend some coping mechanisms/distractions/etc. ?
I am not interested in medication at the moment but other than that anything would be much appreciated.

Thanks :)

[NotResponding]

Hi crunchylump welcome to nmp :)
It does sound very familiar, and i dont know what to say cept, many people here know it! Well i dont know if/what youve been diagnosed with but the sense of background tension and being on edge - if it's for no apparent reason - sounds a bit like generalized anxiety.
As for coping mechanisms, i dont know...i guess thatswhy im here, but others will have a good idea they often do :)


I cast around for all sorts of other considerations that have to be made in order to solve the coffee/tea conundrum.
Lol :D

[Reptile]

Yes, I have this too! It's really embarrassing :blush:. I don't know what to suggest really, except sometimes being mindful helps me a lot. It's a sort of meditation- In recent years I believe it's gained ground and become popular in self help circles but simply, it's focusing on being 'in the now'. Things like breathing exercises and focusing on a pattern. I'm not very good at explaining it but I'm sure Google can help you if you ask :winks:

EDIT: This explains it well

1. Non-Judging: taking the role of an impartial observer to whatever your current experience is. This means not making a positive or negative evaluation of what is happening, just simply observing it.

2. Patience: cultivating the understanding that things must develop in their own time.

3. Beginner’s Mind: having the willingness to observe the world as if it was your first time doing so. This creates an openness that is essential to being mindful.

4. Trust: having trust in yourself, your intuition, and your abilities.

5. Non-Striving: the state of not doing anything, just simply accepting that things are happing in the moment just as they are supposed to. For people from Western countries like the United States, this tends to be one of the more difficult components.

6. Acceptance: completely accepting the thoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs that you have, and understanding that they are simply those things only.

7. Non-Attachment: avoidance of attaching meaning to thoughts and feelings, or connecting a given thought to a feeling. Instead, let a thought or feeling come in and pass without connecting it to anything, observing them exactly as they are.