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Anxiety: Obsessive thoughts and "what if's"
Hi,
Okay, I have been going through anxiety on and off for the past couple of years. Only twice has it been really bad where I thought I was going to go crazy and lose my mind. The first time was just a big scare and the second time was horrible and took me a while to get back on track. I have come to accept anxiety and how to control it myself with positive thoughts and relaxation techniques. But sometimes I come across something or something gets triggered where I have obsessive negative thoughts. I tend to believe things very easily and think they will happen to me. For example, if somebody tells me a story about a person who is who has anxiety really bad, they have to take medication, and have depression and bipolar disorder, then I start to think OMG what if that happens to me. Or another example, if somebody tells me a story about a person who has schizophrenia and they had committed suicide, then I start to obsessively think what if or can that happen to me. My thoughts about it become so obsessive and I get really scared, then I research about it which can either make it better or worse. My latest is (and you may think I'm crazy) that I watched a movie a couple of nights ago where this couple became killers, thery were psycho. Then I started for some reason to think what if that happens to me- a perfectly normal girl who can't hurt a fly, can I actually snap or become schizophrenic and become a psychopathic killer? Then I started to have anxiety about it because I'm scared that it could happen. The thing is I feel like anything can happen to me if my mind thinks it. I feel like I can't trust my mind, because sometimes I have no control over it, especially when I have negative or anxious thoughts. Can I cause this just by thinking it could happen? Does this happen to anybody else? What is this?? Am I just a worry freak with anxiety and nervousness, is it normal?
Please let me know, I need some kind of comfort
Thank you,
Lauren
Okay, I have been going through anxiety on and off for the past couple of years. Only twice has it been really bad where I thought I was going to go crazy and lose my mind. The first time was just a big scare and the second time was horrible and took me a while to get back on track. I have come to accept anxiety and how to control it myself with positive thoughts and relaxation techniques. But sometimes I come across something or something gets triggered where I have obsessive negative thoughts. I tend to believe things very easily and think they will happen to me. For example, if somebody tells me a story about a person who is who has anxiety really bad, they have to take medication, and have depression and bipolar disorder, then I start to think OMG what if that happens to me. Or another example, if somebody tells me a story about a person who has schizophrenia and they had committed suicide, then I start to obsessively think what if or can that happen to me. My thoughts about it become so obsessive and I get really scared, then I research about it which can either make it better or worse. My latest is (and you may think I'm crazy) that I watched a movie a couple of nights ago where this couple became killers, thery were psycho. Then I started for some reason to think what if that happens to me- a perfectly normal girl who can't hurt a fly, can I actually snap or become schizophrenic and become a psychopathic killer? Then I started to have anxiety about it because I'm scared that it could happen. The thing is I feel like anything can happen to me if my mind thinks it. I feel like I can't trust my mind, because sometimes I have no control over it, especially when I have negative or anxious thoughts. Can I cause this just by thinking it could happen? Does this happen to anybody else? What is this?? Am I just a worry freak with anxiety and nervousness, is it normal?
Please let me know, I need some kind of comfort
Thank you,
Lauren
I can't talk crap cause i have been like this all day today too...i read the book and it really helped..i just have a lot of emotions that si am having a hard time dealing with especially losing my Dad....i have not accepted it and i think that is what is making me so sick..i just want my Mommy...im 34 years old and all i want it my mom...she is coming soon..i just want her to hold me and lay with me and rock me...i have five kids to care for and i am not is a good mind frame right now...i have never "broke" like this....it really hurts...i twitch, have a lump in my throat, shake, cant deal with any scary things or someone scaring , i am a wreck and i have been trying to go though everyday alongside this craziness...they say that the more we fight it,,the worse it get...we are supposed to accept that it is part of us for a while and push through the day...hard as it is
That could have been me writing that, except for me it is almost daily, i get so lost in my mind and every little thing becomes something huge. Just today this morning when i was excercising, i felt dizzy and the thoughts came flooding in. I'm gonna pass out, if i don't finish i will gain a new avoidance of excercising, thats it my day is ruined I am dizzy so better not do anything, etc etc. I finished (barely) argued with myself the whole time, looked at my journal for the last episode and it was so very similar. That actually helped, decided i needed to find the hot thoughts when i begin to feel that way and look for a pattern. I did go (with my safe person) and do things i needed to do but have been on shaky legs all day but did my best to keep my mind out of it (let the thoughts be and not fight) and did more than i expected i would remembering thoughts can't hurt me and i choose where to focus my awareness. I too will look up that book.
You sound so much more positive tonight. I'm glad you found your will to fight! Keep it up girl! You can do it!
Anxiety is really just caused by adrenalin that needs an outlet, a release if you like, and this includes manifesting itself into scary, strange thoughts. They are not important and should be seen for what they are - anxiety just playing its tricks.
Below are just some of the irrational thoughts caused by anxiety that I have come across. I call them the „what ifs‟!
What if no one can cure me?
What if it‟s not anxiety, but a different mental problem? What if my old self is lost forever?
What if there is something else wrong with me - brain tumour etc?
What if I lose control?
What if I can't breathe?
What if I have to live like this for the rest of my life?
What if this feeling never goes away?
What if it‟s just me that feels like this? What if I'll never be able to enjoy the things I used to? What if I have an attack and pass out? What if I cannot be the person I used to be?
You may have asked some of the above questions or recognise a fear you have. Well, I did too. It was always „yes, but what if?‟ Well, all of these „what ifs‟ usually amount to nothing. They prove to be just an overactive mind playing its tricks on you. Thoughts seem to come uninvited and always hold such power when we are anxious. Also a lack of understanding of anxiety can bring these fears. Like me, you may have suffered for a long time without anyone
explaining to you why you feel like you do and you may not even have been told that it is anxiety. Can you see why these fears can build up in people? A lack of understanding of their condition, coupled with the habit of always thinking the worst, compounds their fears. Add this to a tired mind that has lost a lot of its resilience and you have a whole host of „what ifs?‟
Some people worry to the extent that they believe everything they feel is life threatening. A headache becomes a brain tumour; a stomach ache can become cancer and so on. No matter how many times their doctor tells them there is nothing wrong with them, they are never quite convinced. If this is you, then realise these thoughts of illness are just figments of your imagination, mainly created by your anxious state. Everything becomes magnified when we are anxious. Let these thoughts go. Don‟t react to them and see them for what they are - thoughts that carry no weight whatsoever, no matter how loud they shout.
This is something i took from the book for you guys....Please read it...he truly is amazing...im gunna fight this
Below are just some of the irrational thoughts caused by anxiety that I have come across. I call them the „what ifs‟!
What if no one can cure me?
What if it‟s not anxiety, but a different mental problem? What if my old self is lost forever?
What if there is something else wrong with me - brain tumour etc?
What if I lose control?
What if I can't breathe?
What if I have to live like this for the rest of my life?
What if this feeling never goes away?
What if it‟s just me that feels like this? What if I'll never be able to enjoy the things I used to? What if I have an attack and pass out? What if I cannot be the person I used to be?
You may have asked some of the above questions or recognise a fear you have. Well, I did too. It was always „yes, but what if?‟ Well, all of these „what ifs‟ usually amount to nothing. They prove to be just an overactive mind playing its tricks on you. Thoughts seem to come uninvited and always hold such power when we are anxious. Also a lack of understanding of anxiety can bring these fears. Like me, you may have suffered for a long time without anyone
explaining to you why you feel like you do and you may not even have been told that it is anxiety. Can you see why these fears can build up in people? A lack of understanding of their condition, coupled with the habit of always thinking the worst, compounds their fears. Add this to a tired mind that has lost a lot of its resilience and you have a whole host of „what ifs?‟
Some people worry to the extent that they believe everything they feel is life threatening. A headache becomes a brain tumour; a stomach ache can become cancer and so on. No matter how many times their doctor tells them there is nothing wrong with them, they are never quite convinced. If this is you, then realise these thoughts of illness are just figments of your imagination, mainly created by your anxious state. Everything becomes magnified when we are anxious. Let these thoughts go. Don‟t react to them and see them for what they are - thoughts that carry no weight whatsoever, no matter how loud they shout.
This is something i took from the book for you guys....Please read it...he truly is amazing...im gunna fight this
Read this book....i'm so serious...this anxiety just started for me after my Dad died last month...i have been an anxiety machine for weeks...i am so sick...i also just stopped taking pain killers after six years.,...just decided to quit...well my anxiety is ridiculous...i bought this ebook cause i cant get the book from the UK and i cannot stop reading it....its called AT LAST, A LIFE by Paul David...please read it...it makes so much sense..i was in a full blow panic attack about two hours ago when i started reading it and i am beginning to understand....its unreal everything he talks about...it truly is me ..the way i feel right now and he is so enlightening to read....please stay off meds as i am and READ THIS BOOK
FEAR-FACE EVERYTHING AND RECOVER
FEAR-FACE EVERYTHING AND RECOVER
Hi there! I felt compelled to answer you. I got a little teary reading your post. I am a 28 yr old female who had a perfectly wonderful life until my first panic attack at age 20. My world turned upside. Ive been dealing with anxiety issues on and off since. We share the exact same fears and I want you to be comforted that I have went to a psychiatrist and he told me...You have anxiety. The difference between anxiety and being "crazy" can be summed up this way. You KNOW your fears are irrational. When you have psychosis your thoughts make sense to you. Crazy people dont worry about being crazy. Also.. do these fears scare you. Another sign of anxiety. I f they did not scare you that would be different. People like us " live in our minds" alot and usually means your highly intelligent and imaginative. Jesus knows how you suffer. Matthew 11:28. Hope this helps...God Bless.
I understand perferctly that is exactly my case.
I was watching the eye and her mom was insane and I panicked at the thought of that happening to me.
That's my biggest Panic trigger is fear of insanity because my mom has many mental health issues like bi-polar depression anxiety etc.
and when you said you cant trust your mind I understand too, there's points where if i think about my mind i feel like I don't know about half of whats going on. Like there's a hidden part or something, I don't feel like I have control over my thoughts in anyway when it comes to these situations.
I was watching the eye and her mom was insane and I panicked at the thought of that happening to me.
That's my biggest Panic trigger is fear of insanity because my mom has many mental health issues like bi-polar depression anxiety etc.
and when you said you cant trust your mind I understand too, there's points where if i think about my mind i feel like I don't know about half of whats going on. Like there's a hidden part or something, I don't feel like I have control over my thoughts in anyway when it comes to these situations.
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