Fear of going Crazy

Hello PUSH
I can tell you that there have been studies and it is well documented that anxiety will not cause you to go crazy or loose your mind. It is also not a mental illness, but considered a disorder

For my own experience I used to panic daily and was pretty much a wreck. I don't have panic anymore, but I do have some anxiety....but it is usually really short lived and far from what it once was. Tolerable for sure. Hope that helps and please read other post replies for more information.
Best wishes.......Benny

I just wanted to add something to this thread. I hope I can be succinct.

Anxiety is the body's defense mechanism, which is a good thing. If there is an actual threat, the body reacts appropriately to protect itself using the fight or flight response. That system is the one responsible for you jumping out of the way of a car if you step into the street and some idiot runs a red light. You jump back on the curb, scream something at the idiot, then take a deep breath, a sigh of relief if you will. What happens with anxiety is that the body is constantly on alert, the fight or flight system is running all the time, but there is no 'real' danger present. So, what happens then is that the mind tries to find some kind of threat to justify all these crazy sensations ( the racing heart, the sweating, the hot flashes, the numbness in the hands, whatever the symptoms may be ).

In the absence of real danger the mind will latch onto whatever is available. People without anxiety have strange or disturbing thoughts running through their minds from time to time as well, but, they are able to just dismiss them. With anxiety, we immediately attach urgency and meaning to the thought because our minds connect the sensations of panic and anxiety with the disturbing thought. Does that make sense? In other words, if you weren't anxious and you had the same thought about being crazy, you might think hmmm... but you wouldn't react with such panic. Anxiety makes us attach importance to things that otherwise would be benign because we want so desperately to have a reason for feeling so panicky!

The bottom line is try to think of your disturbing thoughts as just that, thoughts.

Kindly,
Kitt

I also have this constant dizzy feeling......

For. Little lulu...the symptoms that you described are pretty common. Derealization/depersonalization are a feeling of losing touch with the present reality, or sense of self. It is part of the flight or fight response, but I have had this symptom outside of panic, as a general anxiety symptom.

Dizziness is also a common complaint, and just awful! For me, doing my breathing exercises reverses this problem just about evertime. I think that when we are stressed, we tend to shallow-breathe (hyperventilate) and that can cause dizziness. Try some of the breathing exercises in our Resouce guide:)

I hope you are feeling better soon!
S.C.

Hi and welcome anxietymama,

I am sorry that you are dealing with these fears and conerns for your mental health.

I can tell you with much assurance that anxiety does not over time become schizophrenia...even if left untreated...it just becomes worsening anxiety!

So yes, your anxiety may get stonger and have more symptoms that bother you, but it does not mean that you are developing any other, more serious disorders, other than anxiety.

What if any treatment have you sought for helping yourself?

Let us know if you can so that we can make some recommendations if you would like some.;)

S.C.