View Full Version : Is this REALLY anxiety? Surely not?
Phil06 I think I'm suffering the exact same as you!
The thing that makes me feel like it's not anxiety is because some days the fear just isn't there. The thoughts are there but I don't attach the fear to them. Yet the next day I'll have some odd thought and the fear will come back.
The thoughts I have are always related to life. Like I feel trapped in my body, I feel like people are animals or haven't really evolved properly and I'm different to everyone else. Just weird thoughts that I don't want but am starting to believe which is scary...
Now I'm not worried about my overall health, my life or anything. The only worry I have is that I'll never feel "normal" again. As in I look at people like they're a different species and I have a totally different thought pattern. This in turn "sometimes" worries me. Then I think how can that be anxiety?
Some days I can attach myself properly, I'll forget I have whatever I have and just get on with my day. Then I'll realise I had a good moment where I didn't think about stuff and I get a sense of happiness. Then I worry because I know the thoughts are back again?
How the hell do I break this cycle? Is this anxiety? What is going on?
16 views so far and no replies?
The thing with me is I'll look into something very deeply to make sure it's what I have and if I can't find a resolution or certainty I'll start worrying again.
I don't have cloudy vision or feel like I'm living in a dream. I don't even fear reality. I just question all life and don't feel connected like we're all so strange.
Is this dp?
Hi David,
I think the problem with anxiety is that it can manifest itself in lots of different ways. For me, some days I feel extremely panicky and anxious then other days I don't feel particularly panicky but the anxiety is there in the background, niggling at me.
I have the same as you in that I realise sometimes that I've had a day or two without feeling anxious at all, then I tell myself that's the case and the anxiety comes back again.
I'm afraid that anxiety and over-analysing go hand in hand, hence nasty cycle of thoughts, worries etc. When I'm in full anxiety mode, I too feel that I'm very different to other people and I often wonder when I'll feel "normal" again.
Phil06 I think I'm suffering the exact same as you!
The thoughts I have are always related to life. Like I feel trapped in my body, I feel like people are animals or haven't really evolved properly and I'm different to everyone else. Just weird thoughts that I don't want but am starting to believe which is scary...
Now I'm not worried about my overall health, my life or anything. The only worry I have is that I'll never feel "normal" again. As in I look at people like they're a different species and I have a totally different thought pattern. This in turn "sometimes" worries me. Then I think how can that be anxiety?
Some days I can attach myself properly, I'll forget I have whatever I have and just get on with my day. Then I'll realise I had a good moment where I didn't think about stuff and I get a sense of happiness. Then I worry because I know the thoughts are back again?
How the hell do I break this cycle? Is this anxiety? What is going on?
I'm not sure if this helps - and you have to realise that most of what you have said is actually TRUE ....
Unless you have learnt some form of transcendence with meditation - you ARE trapped in your body ... !! Though you must realise that we are all in that position and it is a good thing.
Similarly - you are different to everyone else. We are all different - even identical twins have differing personality traits. Again this is a good thing. It would be very boring if we were all the same - so celebrate the differences and learn to appreciate them.
In regard to your thought patterns - everyone has a different model of the world and differing ways of doing things. No 2 people are ever totally alike. i guess it comes down to which specifics of your thought patterns are causing you concern - and how best to address them.
Anxiety is an emotion that is 'a fear of the future' - and it is only ever in evidence when we are imagining the future NOT going in the way we want it to. I mean - imagine, if you will - the future going 100% perfectly the way you want ...... and in that scenario you cannot be anxious.
When there is an event coming about which you thought you were anxious ..... take yourself out to 15 minutes after the successful completion of the event and turn around and look back on it - and ask yourself 'NOW - where is the anxiety?'.
That's right - it's gone!
The only thing preventing this working - is if you have a belief that limits your ability to imagine something working out in the way that you want.
If that's the case - then there is help at hand to help you release those old limiting beliefs, so you can move on with life and experience that happiness as your usual waking state!
Nig
Phil06 I think I'm suffering the exact same as you!
The thing that makes me feel like it's not anxiety is because some days the fear just isn't there. The thoughts are there but I don't attach the fear to them. Yet the next day I'll have some odd thought and the fear will come back.
The thoughts I have are always related to life. Like I feel trapped in my body, I feel like people are animals or haven't really evolved properly and I'm different to everyone else. Just weird thoughts that I don't want but am starting to believe which is scary...
Now I'm not worried about my overall health, my life or anything. The only worry I have is that I'll never feel "normal" again. As in I look at people like they're a different species and I have a totally different thought pattern. This in turn "sometimes" worries me. Then I think how can that be anxiety?
Some days I can attach myself properly, I'll forget I have whatever I have and just get on with my day. Then I'll realise I had a good moment where I didn't think about stuff and I get a sense of happiness. Then I worry because I know the thoughts are back again?
How the hell do I break this cycle? Is this anxiety? What is going on?
Yes it's a dark place Depersonalization there's a few here who suffer it on extreme levels. There's actually a forum for it but sometimes reading too much makes it worse.
I'm quite bad at the moment worrying about my health..few weeks ago this feeling made me feel I was crazy.
As for breaking the cycle all you can do is tell yourself the basics of anxiety, distraction, relaxation and so on. Break it down you have the symptom of DP and the worry which is how you react. Once you stop looking at symptoms then you will worry less.
What I have learned is no matter how you word it the symptoms of DP are shared with everybody but everybody has there own angle on it. But yes when it gets to a stage of chronic worrying you feel desperate, you feel you need help urgent I've been there posting, needing the chat room, doctors ect.. I hope to see a way out soon.
Maybe tell yourself What's the worst that can happen? sometimes you have to joke about anxiety a little. :D
Hey David, your post made me smile.
Don't worry, you are normal. What you are experiencing are intrusive thoughts, what makes them intrusive is the fact that they invoke an emotional response in you which is...you guessed it...fear.
Break down your thought patterns and you will see that thoughts are there to invoke and emotional response, here is a small hint from your post
"The only worry I have is that I'll never feel "normal" again"
This is a very simple thought, but VERY powerful, do not underestimate the powerful responses you get from these thoughts, in fact, a thought like that would invoke a panic attack in me and has. Remember as long as you are worried the thought's will stick around and may even get stranger and stronger, just to get an emotional response out of you.
Now you must recognize your thought patters and identify the ones that invoke fear in you, sometimes you may have to retrace your thoughts back to the originating thought...etc. You will find a pattern that most of these thoughts originate from one core belief that kind of scares you. Now the thing to remember is that your beliefs are not necessarily true and your intrusive repetitive thoughts never define you as a human, meaning you are not responsible for believing in your own thoughts you are only responsible for reacting to them and in this instance you should not have a reaction to them. Let these thoughts flow without invoking any reaction of fear, let them pass you by like a river, don't try to block them or push them out, but just allow them to float around, remembering that your thought's do not define you.
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