mental health thread
 

lately i feel as though im starting to lose my mind a little bit

i can't shake this feeling that something very bad is looming

google is only making it worse, i guess constant self-analyzing is a symptom.

I'm just curious if anyone else can empathize with this? Does anybody else question their own sanity ever?

Always. I've always been mentally messed up. Horrible ADHD, anxiety (could be part of the ADHD) and depression. I've also just done some weird things. I remember one time in middle school, I was using a calligraphy set I bought from Waldenbooks. I showed the pen to my teacher, saying, "Look what I found!" I don't know why I said that. I bought it. It was mine. I guess I was trying to be funny in a weird way. She then responded, "Oh! That looks like the pen that Mr. Kotula (not sure how I still remember his name) lost. He's next door." I go next door. Why? "So, I heard you lost a pen. Is this it?" "Yeah, that does look like it. Thank you." Then I gave it to him. I wasn't being nice, I honestly put what she was saying above what I KNEW. It was MINE goddamn it.

I have experienced that sense of impending doom before. It is quite awful. It causes anxiety, sleeplessness, dread, fearfulness. Not fun my friend :(

Dude, I've been living with a sense of impending doom for the past twenty six years. Makes it hard to really be part of life when you're too busy "bracing for the hit" to let your guard down.

December is coming soon....

Never trust a self-diagnosis/internet diagnosis in the slightest. Humans are pretty much naturally inclined to think the worst of their symptoms and you can't categorise something like mental health into a quiz.

As for your problems, I would see a professional. If you are developing a problem they can help you moderate and control it. If you feel you are losing your mind (and I am sorry if you are) then you shouldn't lose your ability to function in society as well.

i am already insane

i'm diagnosed paranoid schizo and am on meds

feel free to ask me anything

do you have paranoidal thoughts? delusions? feel people are talking about? insomnia? thought interception? thought broadcasting? hear vocies?

I will:

Why do you still live with your parents when you're 40+? Is that a cultural thing or a schizo thing?

Why don't you understand basic psychiatric drug classifications? Correct me if I'm wrong but I vaguely remember you talking about benzos and clonazepam as if they're different drugs.

Why do you publicly lie about your personal life? Is that schizo behavior or just your own insecurity?

That's all for now.

It sounds like intuition mixed in with a bit of paranoia. Most people go through it at some stage. It's a safety mechanism so I don't think there is anything to worry about.

I'm bipolar so mentally I find myself all over the place. Quite delusional actually, stuck my head a lot with imagination. Really hard to work with reality. I cope, but borderline. Been diagnosed schizoaffective, PTSD, ADHD and DID as side to bipolar. So really have heavy weights on my mental shoulders. I research heaps of knowledge psychologically, so I'm aware of how it works.

i live with leprechauns

LSD is a kind of heroin

the only friends I have are in my head

Now that you've mentioned it, I find the song Lithium very easy to relate to.

You're a liar...

I believe that your parents are very short but.. no you don't. Answer the question.

No it's not. Answer my question.

This I believe.

i really have no answers

i just live with them?

i dunno about drugs?

I find your answers evasive (you're not dumb) but satisfactory (not really my business). If they're true, you should do some independent research on the drugs prescribed to you.

is that really necessary?

besides the fact that i know what to take for what

my psychiatrist never discusses the meds with me

my GP does, but he's gone bust and knows **** all about psyche

This has nothing to do personally. But you do know delusions, troubles discerning the truth, deceptions and lying are part of the symptoms of schizophrenia?

yep

i have a pretty frail grasp of "reality"

That's what your comment reminded me of.

I have had depression after being physically assaulted and finally got off the antidepressants 3 months ago. I had PTSD after nearly dying in the Christchurch earthquakes and have found it difficult to keep myself going. In saying that, last week was the best I'd had in months. I'm praying for strength to get the job I want.

the "secret police" have been quite disturbing in the last few weeks, to be honest

i feel you on this seriously.

I've been looking at the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, and have occasionally had auditory hallucination but i think everyone gets those occasionally.

I don't want to get into the specific instances which have made me question myself, but something i find curious about the diagnosis is this:

See, there isn't incontrovertible evidence that what im believing is false though family has told me they think i have it.

Have any of you successfully diagnosed yourself?

my symptoms are pretty much "textbook"

television talking about me, hearing people's dreams, thought broadcasting to other people, thought insertion, everybody on the streets is against me

all of it has no "empirical" basis

might I also add self-psychoanalysis is pretty pointless and will get your into more serious trouble?

your own fabric of reality starts disintegrating

brace yourselves

Although honestly I have for the past four months been obsessed with the concept of death. Not that I'm suicidal or want to die, I just cannot comprehend my own mortality and often it makes me numb for days on end and I just flip out about it. I think I may be having a manic episode or one is starting, but I honestly don't care as it will mean I'm free of that bull****. It's ****ing horrifying. I can't live everyday thinking about death, everything reminds me of death and it's horrid

When he mentioned December (for me) it was this song that came to mind. That's Courtney Cox being all down and out in the video.


Sorry to hear that, you have my sympathies.

Doesn't everyone think about that? I think about death everyday but I'm no longer afraid of it anymore. I just hope it's not a slow, terrible death.

Does anyone have any pointers to shake off anxiety? I can't seem to get passed mine.

Of course its not necessary but I would never take anything that I didn't understand any better than "my doctor told me to take it"
I like to know what I'm putting in my body, not just why.

Yes, but I still like pointing out when crazy people are being crazy.

Don't listen to your family. They may not be wrong but there's a huge likelihood that they are. Same goes for self diagnosis. You can do it and you may be right but at least go to a doctor for a "second opinion" - anyway, even if people can self-diagnose successfully, what then? Do you go to a doctor and say "I need some schizo meds because I've determined that I am paranoid schizophrenic"?

Benzodiazepines work. Of course, talk to a doctor before you go to the black market.
If you can't or won't do that then exercise vigorously and meditate and eat healthy foods and such.

We fear the unknown, stuff we don't have control over. So, try and take control of the things that scare you. If you were scared of swimming, I'd say go take a swim. Stop playing the victim of your anxiety. If your anxiety would keep you from doing something, tell yourself **** that **** and do it anyways. Do it even if you know it will scare you. That way, you'll learn that anxiety is just a feeling. It can't keep you from doing stuff if you choose to do it. Ultimately, you're the one in control of your life, not your fears. You need to fight it in your head. Exactly how to do that, what works for you, I don't know but you'll feel it when you find out. If you can't just go and take a swim, consider writing an anxiety journal. Explore the aspects of your fears. Familiarize yourself with it so that you may better battle it. Getting to know your fears and figuring them out will make them more familiar which means less unknown, less uncontrollable and less scary.

And fear thrives on irrational thought. If you notice yourself having a negative sort of dialogue in your head where you are talking yourself into fear, you need to stop your train of thought, think "wait a minute" and then force yourself to think otherwise. Force yourself to think positive and rationally. Learn to mentally talk yourself out of fear.

I think by far most people can deal with anxiety just fine without medication if they just figure out how to do so in their own heads.

If you don't feel like you're quite ready to mentally fight it, then just talking with someone else will help. First family and friends, but also consider seeing a psychologist. They can give you more advice to help you fight this thing. Many people have struggled with anxiety at some point in their life and many if not most get past it.

Yea I do exercise and eat healthy, haven't tried meditating though. Doctor won't prescribe benzos.

Oh I know I'm the cause and take responsibility. I don't blame anything I'm doing on anxiety. It doesn't really stop me from doing anything. Telling yourself "there is nothing to fear" helps me act, I guess I don't seem to believe in it much to really change the feeling.

Yea it is just a feeling, I've gone through learning about that with my psych. Most dominating part of my anxiety is social. Pretty much why I threw myself into bar work to challenge it, and am still sticking to it now since before it only seems to make it worse. I know there are issues behind, and I'm pretty sure it started as a child with family... But it's more of a mess thing than a situation. I over think to get to the bottom of it. Figured a lot of it out, and I can sort of sense a change in direction of my anxiety. I think for now it's something I need to let be at least to get some idea of what to do next. You're right though, I've spent a lot of time denying it because "I thought it was pathetic" when I should of taken a
look at it seriously.

Oh I've been fighting it a long time, and well aware that it's yet another illusion of the mind. I guess there is something missing, and if it comes across it'll probably all fit and not be such a problem. Hard and sad to admit but maybe the victim thing may be behind all these thoughts. Also I need to stop calling all these issues "stupid".

Thanks for the advice dude really appreciate it.

Yeah I think about death a lot. I think I may always have. It used to freak me out, but not anymore. My thoughts about suicide have changed as well. I don't know if it's good or bad, but back in the day when I was more depressed, I saw suicide as a big deal. If I did it, people would be mortified and sad and upset, etc. Nowadays I'm weirdly comforted by the thought of it.

weed bro

of course i was gonna say that

you gotta smoke the right kind and in moderation tho, or it may make it waaaay worse.

Excercising helped me a little bit, but if it isn't something your naturally inclined to do it probably won't help that much.

Constant escapism is the best-consuming movies, music, games, books constantly.

Having people you can talk to is probably the single most important.

Pets are nice too

All these are good, though i think weed made me way more anxious regardless of how much I smoked. Exercise really helped me when i did it on a regular basis, but then i got lazy cause I was getting high all the time and stopped :/

I think if you can get into a solid routine, exercise is most definitely the best remedy though. And pets, cause they love you no matter what.

whatever you stopped smoking before you stopped exercising so dont knock my vice

if your anxious like me, you'll over exercise when you do exercise in hopes of getting some type of natural high out of doing it, which caused more stress and strain on my body.

I'd compulsively do pushups/pullups for hours at a time and then not do anything for the next 3 weeks.

Drinking lots of water has had a noticeable effect.

xanax or percoset?

Found this quote by Nietzsche:

Quite fitting! I don't know why I feel like this now, but I know I would never do it. I just like that I have the option.

Usually suicide is equated as stress > coping mechanisms. I totally understand that. I think searching and developing new ways of coping through therapy (and meds help but temporarily). You just have to keep it in mind, and understand that when it's not working, get help. Do not leave or ignore it, that never works.

I admit I struggle with it too.

there is really no schizophrenia

i think i am actually secret police

Just curious here but if the impending doom some of you say you feel never happens. Wouldnt you finally realize its all just in your head?

When I have it, I fully realize it's all in my head. Knowing that it is really doesn't help. It has no source, and so there's no real way to quell it. It's just... there.

My doctor started me on Cymbalta recently to help relieve migraine headaches and moderate depression (which I think is coming from the migraines, generally). The Cymbalta is really disrupting my ability to sleep, even though I'm taking it in the morning now. I took another antidepressant a couple of years ago and didn't have the sleep problem with that one. However, my doctor feels the Cymbalta has better pain-reducing properties (hasn't worked yet, though). Just wondering if anyone has taken Cymbalta and had the sleep problem? Thanks.