Mental Health Thread

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

yes, they are what I call "invisible" illnesses. I guess I am the same with that as i might seem "ok" to most people, even though on the inside I am struggling to stop myself from having an anxiety attack 99% of the time.

[CoffeeGrunt]

One day I might go see a psychiatrist, or even a therapist to talk stuff through, if the NHS is even still around when I get round to it. I've been...coasting, for the last year now. That's probably the best word to describe it, just going through each day using the inertia of the last, but with no real drive to change my course or improve my situation. It's not really a hopelessness or sadness, just a sort of empty feeling.

I know I want to work on the college course I'm doing alongside my job, because it'll give me some cool opportunities, but I just don't have the drive. I wake up in the morning, get myself to work, and go through the day doing as little as possible, because nothing feels like it's worth doing. Nothing I do really feels worthwhile, like it'll matter or that anyone will care. I hang out with friends and feel great, then go home and start to disassemble the notion that they even like me. I sit at home certain they just deal with me because of habit and that they're probably embarrassed to have me around, which leads to me going out and talking to them less because I start to think that they don't like me. In person, with people, I can laugh and joke, take 'banter' and give it out, but in private I find myself picking over every, little thing and overthinking it. Did they really mean what they said, and just hid it with humour? Am I the sad loser they pity, and so they just let me tag along?

It really, really makes it hard to get help when you feel that no-one would care if you did lay your problems before them. I really don't know what this all is, but it f*cking sucks, and the whole mindset is draining my life away as I feel less and less motivated to even get up in the morning, but I have to because it'll all be so much worse if I don't work and go paycheck-to-paycheck buying crap I don't need for the temporary joy of simply owning something.

[Erik Setzer]

I'm not even remotely a doctor, so I'll qualify my comments with that, and that I'm only going from personal experience...

Sounds like your brain is caught "over-analyzing" stuff, CG. It's got free time and it wants to think about stuff because it can't be turned off, so it goes to sorting through what was said during the day, and trying to guess at hidden meanings, stuff like that. My brain does a lot of that kind of stuff, and throws in predicting future scenarios and their worst-case situations just for good measure.

I'm not sure it'd work for you, but I'd suggest trying to find multiple hobbies that can "absorb" all your thinking. Watching TV and movies doesn't work so well, you're not having to think. Books, games, art (including assembling and painting models), stuff like that, those are good things to have around when you're alone. And a good selection of websites with stuff to read.

For example, every day at lunch I go down to the cafeteria to get some food, and with all those people around, I might start wondering what they're thinking about me, or what something said earlier in the day meant... so instead of letting my mind wander through those thoughts, I pull up Cracked.com and check out an article or two. Gets my mind thinking about what I'm reading and not the people around me. In the morning I'll skim some sports sites, gaming sites, listen to the local news. On the way to work I listen to sports talk (only talk radio I can deal with... maybe podcasts would be good?) and have a book or maybe comics to read.

It's not really getting rid of those thoughts, but it can make them a lot more manageable, and without them invading your head all the time, they might not prove such a drain on you. You might even find yourself thinking about all the stuff you're reading, writing, playing, etc., with your brain spending more time on that than picking apart the words of others.

It might not help, granted. Everyone is different. But hey, it's free advice. Worst that could happen is I just wasted a few minutes of your time reading this.

[Haighus]

I'm not sure if you looking for/want any advice, so don't read any further if your not.

How you have described how your feeling and how your thinking are depressive symptoms, and seeing your GP about them is likely to be helpful. If you don't want to go down that route now or ever, you can still access the same kind of therapy without waiting for a course of CBT.

[url]https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome[/url] This one is a pretty good free example of cCBT (they have changed the web design since I last visited). The process behind it is sound, but it can be damn hard to motivate yourself to keep up a cCBT course, but if you want to give it a go, it could help. There are other cCBT courses available, but this is the best free one, and the subscription ones are not statistically any more effective anyway ([url]http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h5627[/url]).

What Erik has suggested is also helpful, but is more management of the symptoms, CBT is something that can stop them altogether for at least awhile, so always worth considering.

[Just Tony]

So after my combat experience I have episodes where I have flashbacks that are full on hallucinations, moments of hyper alertness brought on by outside stimuli, and get combative while in deep sleep or under anesthesia. I was told by the VA that because I don't have anger/suicide issues nor have I lost interest in things that brought me joy that this is classified as Anxiety.

[Haighus]

So after my combat experience I have episodes where I have flashbacks that are full on hallucinations, moments of hyper alertness brought on by outside stimuli, and get combative while in deep sleep or under anesthesia. I was told by the VA that because I don't have anger/suicide issues nor have I lost interest in things that brought me joy that this is classified as Anxiety.

That sounds similar to PTSD, which is a subset of anxiety in a way I suppose, but it seems odd for a veterans' organisation to classify it as such.
[url]http://patient.info/health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd[/url]

[Deadlift]

Evening all.

My name is Mr Mystery, and I suffer from anxiety.

And I've finally decided I need to do something about it. At present this involves signing up to a GP (I'm in otherwise excellent health), getting an appropriate referral, and then rinsing my work based Bupa membership to go get my head fixed.

I don't really know when it started, but I know the triggers, so I guess that's something for the professionals to work with.

As I'm sure you're all aware, mental health remains a completely pointless taboo in our society, particularly for men, so I thought a Carey-Sharey thread might help us to dispel that in our own little neck of the cyber-woods.

In my case, my anxiety holds me back in relationships. I got royally messed up about 12 years ago, and no relationship has worked out since as I'm constantly haunted and even somewhat paranoid as a result of that particular head-wrecking.

But hey, the pros are out there and as ever I count myself fortunate that I won't need to worry about the cost (usually because NHS, but this time top level private care cover)

So, anyone else?

Yep, all was fine until the beginning of last year. The stress of moving abroad and all the hoops we had to go though to make it happen. Living with my in laws for 8 months. Finding work and loosing it after 8 weeks. Finally getting a very good job in an industry I know nothing about and having to adapt very quickly all took its toll.
I didn't even realize I was suffering mentally. Finally wife said enough was enough and I took a trip to my Dr who luckily is another expat. I've been on Prozac now for 6 weeks. Started on 10mg a day and went up to 20 a couple weeks ago. All I can say is that it seems to be working. I feel like myself again. No longer a shadow just struggling everyday.
Good luck Mystery, many of us it seems are in the same boat at some point in our lives.

We did make the decision to get ourselves a dog. I've always found pets and children very calming and I love having a furry friend around. However we could not decide between two from a litter of Bernese mountain dogs.....so we got both. Both are now 4 months old and combined weigh over 80 lbs. Angus and Mac.

[URL=http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/7183A1F3-11FA-4A89-996E-54AD827AB63E.jpg.html][/URL]

[Just Tony]

That sounds similar to PTSD, which is a subset of anxiety in a way I suppose, but it seems odd for a veterans' organisation to classify it as such.
[url]http://patient.info/health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd[/url]

It sounds EXACTLY like that, but suicidal thoughts/anger/lethargy are all signs of PTSD, and I don't have them, so I got diagnosed with anxiety.

[Haighus]

It sounds EXACTLY like that, but suicidal thoughts/anger/lethargy are all signs of PTSD, and I don't have them, so I got diagnosed with anxiety.

I feel like you should probably get a second opinion there. The care pathways here in the UK have depression as a common condition to have alongside PTSD, not a diagnostic criteria, and the anger and lethargy as secondary symptoms not the primary symptoms. Hyper alertness and severe flash backs are primary symptoms though.

[Cudgel]

It sounds like they want to keep the reported numbers of PTSD down, common for militaries.


I also have PTSD as well, I have it from my childhood though. I suffered some really crappy abuse, the kind no one wants to hear about, from about 4 or 5 until I was 15. I can't enjoy anything any more and just keeps getting worse.

I had to go on medically leave a few months ago because I just lost it at work, I thought people were all laughing at me and saying things under their breath. I threw **** around and then ran outside and headbutted a wall so hard I couldn't see for a few seconds. Now I think people at work are scared of me and don't want me to go back, I am scared of myself.

I hate sex, I can't have a real conversation. I feel like my whole life has been stolen. Can't stop crying


thank you i know its a bit much but thank you