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Avatar universal

New to this please help

I have recently started to see a psychologist to try and cope with life a little better. Unfortunately this has stirred up a lot of anxiety, mainly due to the fact I have been very independent my whole life and am now having to cope with almost depending on her. This has made me very anxious to the extent where I considered self harming last week to ease the feelings. She has been brilliant and thinks it is something I need to work through and for the first time in my life to try and trust someone else, but it is not easy. I feel anxious the whole time and wondered if anyone had any rational ideas for feeling better. Has anyone had similar thoughts? Can't quite work out what I am anxious about which doesn't help. I am a single parent so have no support at home.
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Avatar universal
The whole purpose of therapy is to make us upset and anxious, to bring it out in the open where it can be dealt with instead of avoided.  I say good going, you're doing very well.  Don't expect instant success, but it sounds to me like this is going somewhere good.
Helpful - 0
480448 tn?1426948538
If you EVER have a doubt about the seriousness of the intention of harming yourself...don't take any chances, get yourself help immediately.  Go to the nearest ER, or call 911 if you have to.  Your children need their Mom and like I said, you won't always feel like this.  Harming yourself isn't going to solve anything...only make your kids devastated and forever traumatized.  Seriously, don't hesitate to get help if you are unsure about your intentions.

Hang in there....please talk with us.  This site is a great resource. Kind of like an online support group!  :0)
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Avatar universal
Thanks so much, just having others saying they know the feeling helps so much. I really scared myself when I wanted to self harm. This is not anything I have ever done or even considered in the past so am really keen to reduce these feelings before I do anything silly I know I would regret
Helpful - 0
480448 tn?1426948538
Hello and welcome to the forum! If I understand your post correctly, you feel dependent on your therapist?  If so, that's pretty normal.  They make us feel safe so it's only natural to have the need to "lean" on them more than we thought we would.  Also, they are not directly involved in our lives, so to have a third party unbiased person to "vent" to and tell us that everything will be alright...well, that's comforting to us!  Plus, you feel as you have no support in your family, so that would make the feeling of need for your therapist even stronger.  You CAN trust your therapist..it's one person who won't judge you no matter what you tell her,and there isn't much she's probably heard already....so try to let yourself go and open yourself up to her when you're in a session.  I can remember how good I always felt after a therapy session...as if I could conquer the world. Just having someone validate our feelings is a huge thing.

The good thing is...you've taken that all important first step in getting help.  Keep an open mind and be patient with yourself.  Recovery from anxiety takes time and work.  You won't always feel the way you do now.  

As for not being able to nail down "what" your anxious about?  Another very common problem with anxiety.  It comes out of the blue when we are feeling pretty much normal...and what makes it so scary sometimes is there IS no obvious trigger.  It would be a lot easier to swallow being anxious if we could relate to a reason for it. No one would question a person being anxious after being in a bank robbery or car accident, but for a person who has never had anxiety...they just can't understand how a seemingly normal and happy person could be anxious for no reason.  Heck, WE don't even understand it most of the time, so of course, getting others to is no easy task.

Hang in there and please use us for support.  We understand what you're going through and will help you navigate through this. You are not alone!

Good luck and please keep us posted!
Helpful - 0
1238554 tn?1339420116
I feel anxious almost all the time, even if all I'm doing is watching TV. I've had lots of strange, weird thoughts since I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder, and I can't work out what it is I'm so anxious about all the time. I've had strange thoughts of harming myself,  a lot, and even harming others, but as weird as it is it's all just a symptom of anxiety. It can do strange things to us physically, emotionally, and mentally.

What has worked for me so far, and I'm not 100% better by any means, I'm still working on it, but it's been a combination of meds and cognitive behavior therapy which is trying to teach me how to change my thinking patterns. I've also started exercising more, eating better, stopped drinking coffe or anything with caffeine, and I've learned some breathing and relaxation techniques that help when things start to get out of control. This forum has actually helped quite a bit too, just being able to talk about what's going on with me and to read others stories is very reassuring. I felt really alone when all this anxiety stuff started, but now I realize that I'm just one of many, many people who have to deal with this.

I hope you're doing well, take care!!
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