Ever since Tuesday, I’ve been feeling a lot better. I hardly ever feel the underlying anxiety any more. I’ve also felt a lot happier over the last few days, and I’ve had hardly any intrusive thoughts at all.

My CBT Stress Control course is now complete. The last class was on Tuesday. The 5th class was about panic attacks, what causes them, how to prevent them, and what to do if a panic attack happens. The 6th and final class was about sleep problems and how to overcome them.

At the end of the last class, we discussed the next steps – some people will go on to 1:1 CBT and others will join a group therapy course (there were several of these for different subjects). I don’t feel I need 1:1 CBT, as I learnt a lot of good techniques in the Stress Control course so I think I can manage by myself, for now at least. Most of the group therapy courses were during the daytime, and I don’t think my problems are serious enough anymore to require them. There was also an art therapy group for women which sounded interesting, but it was during the daytime and I got the impression that it was aimed at people who are too ill to work due to their anxiety/depression, so I didn’t put myself forward for it. However, there was one evening course, which was on the subject of mindfulness, so I put my name down for that. I have tried mindfulness MP3s over the past few weeks and I’ve found them helpful, so I thought it would be good to do a course on the subject. It’s an 8 week course, but I don’t know when the next one is – it might not be until the New Year, but I can live with that.

On Wednesday evening I went out for a carvery with my family, which was nice. Last night I went to a Japanese restaurant with my social club. Some people in our group chose from the barbecue menu, which meant that they cooked their own meat and vegetables at the table. I did consider that, but I would’ve been a bit worried about making sure my meat was cooked properly, so I decided to order something from the standard menu instead. I had peri peri chicken with rice, which was really nice, followed by vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was a good night out.

On Tuesday morning I’ve got an appointment with my doctor – it’s my 3 month medication review. I’ll just say how I’ve improved over the weeks, and then I’ll see what the doctor suggests.