newbie looking for support

I have recently started working on dealing with anxiety problems. I think I've had anxiety problems since my teens really as I have a few phobias and have always been seen as a shy person. I've been seeing a councellor for a while now but only fairly recently finally accepting how much anxiety has affected my life. I was diagnosed about 6 years ago but the doctor said depression with some anxiety and I think at that time I only heard the depression part and didn't really understand that anxiety was a sort of illness in itself. Only due to recent events have I returned to the doctor and been refered to the councellor who has had a tough job getting me to accept it! So now that I finally have accepted it and begun to discuss ways of overcoming it, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by it all. So I guess i'm just looking for other peoples experiences as I haven't told any friends and family about it yet so I'm feeling quite alone in it. 

Having a bad day today so I just wanted to get it out I guess.

Anyway, that's my story, Thanks for reading.

Post Edited (Brit teacher) : 8/31/2012 12:55:15 PM (GMT-6)

Hi BT and welcome!

I am sorry to hear of your anxiety troubles, but so glad to see that you are moving in the right direction and getting the help that you need!

I too was somewhat suprised to receive a dx of anxiety! I thought, 'Who me?' I mean I knew I was prone to worry, but I always thought of anxiety and panic as something that happened to 'somebody else'. Through therapy however, I was helped tremendously in my recovery, and now know that it is so much more common than we tend to think.

I see that you are dealing with the duel burden of anxiety/depression and Fibro. As you probably know, this is not at all uncommon. Chronic illness can often include A/D symptoms. Many members here are in the same situation, so you are not alone in that!

I hope that you will check our our Resource Guide for great tips, and continue to post with us.

We are a caring and supportive board always here to listen.:)

Talk to you soon,

S.C.

Hi BT,
I'm brand new at this group, but have been working on serious anxiety issues for almost 30 years. Cognitive behaviour therapy took me from being unable to leave the house to getting on airplanes and taking cruises by myself. I wish improvement worked in a straight line, but for a lot of us it's a process of going forward and then having set backs. I've never been pushed back to the worst phases of my problems, though, and I'm usually able to go in a positive direction faster each time. Don't get discouraged if things don't work instantly or perfectly. As long as you're making progress in the way you feel and think, you're doing well.
I'm also a huge skeptic, but hypnotherapy does help me. I've never actually felt hypnotized. It's more like being in a very relaxed state where I'm more open to positive thinking. Some of the positive thoughts make it through even my thick head, and I find myself drawing on them when things are difficult. The same is true of visualization techniques. I wish I could tell you about some kind of miracle fix, or a story about how I was completely cured in three easy months, but it's just not the way these things happen. You will have to go through the process of exposing yourself to everything you've avoided. It isn't easy, but it's immensely rewarding. It sounds to me like your counselor has you on a good track, and I hope you can embrace the knowlede, skills and techniques you're getting...even if they seem too airy-fairy to be entirely believable.
It's also enormously helpful to have your family and friends as a support group instead of the added stress of trying to hide everything you're dealing with. I think of it as the anxiety equivalent to "coming out", so you have to be your own judge of who to tell and when. I did it very foolishly. I told my family, and was amazed at how supportive they were. But I was too ashamed to tell any of my friends, and just blew off their invitations until they stopped calling. If I could go back in time and change that, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
I wish you much luck in getting through this difficult time. Just know that there are a lot of us out there, and hope in vast improvement is firmly grounded in the well proven methods of your current treatment.

I have to admit to being a 'Negative-Nelly'/skeptic as well!

Wow, what a party we are hugh?;p

However, the positive mantas/self talk, visualization and other tools of this nature really do work...even if we don't consciously believe them. The words that we say to ourselves have power!

Given enough time and practice, these techniques actually aid in changing the brain's chemistry. Stress hormones decrease, and healthy neurotransmitters such as Seratonin, increase.:)

So what might seem like 'psycho-babble' at first, actually is science!

Keep up the good work everybody:)

S.C.

Yeah anything new, or a change can be a little scary at first. Even if it is a positive thing, it is still uncharted territory...and sometimes we are reluctant to try, because in the back of our mind, maybe we are wondering 'What if it doesn't work?'

...but what if it does? There is a much bigger chance of that happening!:)

So great job on getting the process started. We are here to cheer you on, along the way!

S.C.

I have been very much in the 'what if it doesn't?' frame of mind untill reading your replies. I seem to start thinking more positively about the different methods for overcoming this but then I can pretty quickly turn things around again. I also find that I have all good intentions for going with things and just seeing how it goes and then I get to my councelling session I loose the plot.

I teach little kids so I find it strange that I can do that but not so many other things. I have realised though, that I'm ok when I can paint on the mask of the teacher and pretend I'm ok but when I have to be more myself (in other words not 'Miss' or playing the role) I loose it. I've noticed that I'm finding the councelling sessions difficult for the same reason... I was ok when I spoke to him about work but as soon as it got more personal and I had to let him in to how I think, I couldn't cope with it. I have all good intentions between sessions and then it all goes out the window when I get there. Not sure why I'm writing this to you... I guess I just need to write it down so that I stop thinking about it.

Any advice on that?

Post Edited (Brit teacher) : 9/3/2012 3:05:03 PM (GMT-6)

I'm not sure if we're a good match, he has made me feel better about some things but not so great about others but then I think that's more down to how I take things than not being a good match. The idea of starting again with someone else seems impossible as I've been so used to hiding things that I think it is probably more about my difficulties in opening up to people. I get quite self conscious so I think it'd be the same with anyone.

I've tried writing things down, that has helped. It's more about when we come to work on visualisation that I loose it. I don't know why I can't just let go and go with it. It's getting frustrating because my councelor things that I don't want to do this, but I really do it's just difficult. I'm feeling very confused by the conflicting emotions and thoughts. One minute I'm absolutely ready to do this and keen to give things a go and the next I just want to run and hide!! It just depends on which of those two moods I'm in when I go to a session. (more often than not the run and hide one as simply being at the session is terrifying!)

Why is everything so difficult.

Great point LL!!

I have a very performance oriented job that I have absolutely no problem with what so ever...but if my anxiety is at a high point...then I would rather not socialize and let anybody into my personal space...it just feels to 'revealing' as you guys put it.  It is so weird how I have a very extroverted vocation, yet can often feel so introverted!

It is a risk, and quite honestly exhausting to bare your soul at therapy. I used to come home and literally 'crash'. I would let my family know that I needed some down time, and they would respect that. I found it easier once I recoginized this about myself and allowed for it.:)

S.C.

This is a public forum, but you're still anonymous. I only know you as Brit teacher, though you can call me Judy.

The site's chat seems fairly easy. I think we just have to click on the chat tab at the top, and log in at the same time to the same room, then we can talk one on one, still only showing each other our user names. I'm writing this at 5:57 pm my time. Just let me know when you want to "meet up" and we'll give it a go. :)

The time zones are really confusing me. How sad is that? :)
You posted at 1:05 pm my time that's it's 6:05 your time, but I don't know if that was morning or evening.
Can we try this...reply to this post, and tell me exactly how many hours from then you'd like to try to meet. I'll check back every couple of hours to see if you've set up the time. I have no problem with setting an alarm clock to talk to you, so it doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night for me. Just please don't be upset if I end up not being here when you expect me. It won't mean that I don't want to do it, just that I screwed up on the time zone.
If I don't end up talking to you before you see your therapist...good luck!!!
Judy

No need to be sorry! But I am looking forward to hearing how today's session goes, so please keep us posted. Good luck!!! :)

Hi,

The session went much better today. Mainly because I had worked on some specific issues my councelor had suggested to improve my work situation... so we got talking about more positive things. I think as I thought it was more depression than anxiety I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out the cause of things when really anxiety was the cause. So now that I'm beginning to understand anxiety better I've been doing a better job of taking on board suggestions to improve certain things. That coupled with things people have said on here have ment I went into todays session with some examples of ways I'd taken positive steps to improve things so we just talked about those and didn't get round to doing any other methods this time. We're going to try more next week though so we'll see.

I feel like today was a huge step forward in beginning to think more positively and taking steps to make things better rather than looking for problems or focusing on the negative. Beginning to feel a bit more hopeful now . 

  Yeah!!! Doing a celebration/happy dance with you

Keep up the good work!

S.C.