Worry about not being all there/crazy after long term anxiety?

[phil06]

I know some people worry about "going mad" but I have a new fear lately that ..anxiety has slowed me down, made me "not all there" "not right in the head" or some how changed me? Like in the same way drugs can make people a bit crazy? meds wise I am only on beta blockers and Diazepam last May got another box but never used them.

But can long term anxiety like slow your brain down or make you like not quite with it without having a mental health problem you hear of people just being slow...not with it maybe for other reasons?

I suffer depersonalization so I can go long spells feeling in a cloud + crazy thoughts make me worry more. Sometimes I don't feel my usual self.

A trigger for this worry is when I see a person who is like a bit not with it maybe without anxiety I worry I am..lately if somebody is ill..I feel i'll so I'm suffering this kind of worry at the moment.
Is it possible then that anxiety can change a person or make them a bit crazy or not with it? (what also makes me worry is I've suffered it bad for months anxiety and the advice does not sink in sometimes I keep worrying..so does that mean part of my brain is not working?) :huh:

[KK77]

I feel a bit zogged-out in the mornings and it takes a few cigs and a coffee before I can function but that's not the same as "crazy", is it?

Depersonalisation/derealisation is distinctly different to psychosis

I'm sure you're very much sane Phil.

[Rhys1879SAFC]

Yeah, I've been having worries that I've got some kind of mental condition like bi-polar disorder or something.

I'm constantly worrying I'm imagining things that are happening, its really scary and annoying, I think its just the dp though.

[harasgenster]

Hi Phil, anxiety can make you feel that you are "not all there" and it can make you a bit spacey but it's not actually having any physical effect on your brain. Your brain is still fine and will function normally again once you have tackled the anxiety.

Like Rhys, I often worry that I am hallucinating the things around me (is this what you meant Rhys?) and that maybe I'm just talking to myself when I think I'm talking to a person and everybody is looking at me. In reality, if this were true, I wouldn't be aware of it!

A lot of people worry they will slow down or lose their mind or there will be permanent damage, but it is definitely not the case. I'm not sure what you meant about advice not sinking in. Are you saying you're finding it difficult to engage with the advice people give you on combatting your anxiety? Finding it hard to concentrate maybe, or perhaps you're doing things to help yourself but these aren't working?

This does not mean there's anything wrong with your brain. Bad anxiety makes it very difficult to concentrate, so following advice just might not be an easy task (keep trying, though!)

[phil06]

I'm less worried about mental health illnesses. I worry about them but only for a day.

Past month I've worried about "the anxiety" making me slow/backward not with it in some way making me "not all there"..e.g the effect a person using drugs could make them really slow?

I'm worried anxiety could have that effect?

[harasgenster]

Ok, what is it about the idea of being slower that worries you?

Anxiety can make you a bit distracted. You've got so many things rushing around your head that it's difficult to focus on the real world. This really gets to me, too! Often I look back on the day and it's as if I dreamed it! I suddenly realise that I wasn't really with it when I had so and so conversation, or that I can't actually remember what I did at work, even if I was working hard all day!

This is completely normal, though. Your mind is taken up with so many things that you won't be totally "with it" - but only to the extent that anyone having a stressful day (even if they do not suffer from anxiety) wouldn't be totally "with it" for the period in which they are stressed. You always hear about people doing silly things under stress, like forgetting something that they've been doing everyday for years or losing their keys etc. - your mind is elsewhere.

So, anxiety does make you a bit scatty, but it's not having a permanent effect. I sometimes feel like I'm on some kind of sedative and I'm walking around "half there" like some kind of zombie, so I know what you mean about drugs.

I'm not sure I'm totally grasping what you're worried about, though? Have you had experiences that have frightened you? Like forgetting something or doing something silly absentmindedly, or doing something out of character?

You might have to describe what your concern is again! :D

[phil06]

Ok, what is it about the idea of being slower that worries you?

It's not the fear of being slow as a temporary thing from anxiety or meds or just depersonalization..

I fear long term anxiety has slowed my performance down, made me slow, backward, crazy and I fear not being able to work again or have a relationship or do normal tasks. Like I fear any brains or common sense I have had could be wiped.

In general my anxiety has made me feel 90 though..basically I seen a few slow people and then I've worried that I could end up that way...not understand things ect..like a learning problem? I know it's quite a strange worry. I also worry about being a "crazy" person and not know it I know some say others would notice but I could be mildly crazy that nobody would notice not even me? :shrug:

[harasgenster]

Oh, I see! You mean slow as in less intelligent!

No. Absolutely not. Anxiety will not make you less intelligent, make it more difficult for you to understand things or wipe any knowledge or IQ you already have.

You may have more difficulty taking things on board when you are feeling bad, I find my work difficult on bad days because I am constantly learning and having to understand stats, gov policy and stuff that I might not have seen before. I do find it difficult when I'm stressed and, actually, I've had exactly the same worries as you! That I would have problems with my intelligence if the anxiety was a long term thing.

It's not true, though. Not possible :)

As for being mildly crazy - what's mildly crazy? Can you even define that? Is there a line that separate sanity and insanity? I'm not saying you could be "mildly crazy", I'd be surprised if you were! But you should try and define what you even mean in your fears, because I think you may be worried about becoming something that doesn't exist!

[phil06]

This is completely normal, though. Your mind is taken up with so many things that you won't be totally "with it" - but only to the extent that anyone having a stressful day (even if they do not suffer from anxiety) wouldn't be totally "with it" for the period in which they are stressed. You always hear about people doing silly things under stress, like forgetting something that they've been doing everyday for years or losing their keys etc. - your mind is elsewhere.


Yes that's exactly how I've felt for months it worries me my head feels distant, stressed, far away as i go through every day. I get spells I feel me and sometimes I feel I can only think about one thing or do very little in a day. I feel not all there or my mind has been damaged or I'm drunk. That kind of feeling.

The past year I've felt this regularly on and off. I just dint feel relaxed feel there's so much I want to change in it and when I get the chance for jobs ect.. I get anxious.

I feel no escape will my mind ever feel like normal again? :huh:

[looking4answers]

Phil, one of the common symptoms of anxiety is worry about going crazy . No you are going crazy because crazy people have no worries about being crazy they think everyone else is crazy. Take cars,you will be fine.