Anxiety and trust

[John_E_S]

Hi all,

I have been posting in the depression thread for a little while but not here. I wanted to get some advice about anxiety and trust. This is not to do with relationships but rather with work. My anxiety stem from many family health issues but largely manifests in worries about my work

to give context i work in science and I am moving into more of a leadership position. I am finding that I get regular doubts about some of the work I have done to the point where I don't sleep well and feel like I constantly panicking and assuming the worst will happen. Luckily I have colleagues I can reach out to and they re-assure me that what I have done is fine. However, I keep finding my mind going back to these concerns or looking for different concerns with this work. I find I ruminate about this a lot and it is what primarily preoccupies my mind.

My question is, should I trust my colleagues over my anxious mind? (I think answer is yes). Secondly, why do I put so much faith in my mind over them and is there an effective way to deal with this. At the moment I am not and it seems to be getting worse

[quirkywords]

John

Thanks for your your post.

our minds can deceive us at times into believing there are are problems when there are not.

The more we ruminate the more anxious we become.

Your colleagues believe in you and trust you.

I think second doubting ourselves leads to more problems.

Have you spoken to a GP about your concerns .

can you try a new thought to replace the thoughts that feel you are making you doubt yourself. Trust yourself and your colleagues.

You are learning and growing in your new role and are doing well.

[John_E_S]

Thank you

I have spoken to a GP and psychologist. I have been given depression medication and approaches to deal with anxiety but they are challenging. None the less I am trying. I find it so hard to not ruminate about this and imagine the worst. It makes me feel horrible and scared of the future. I do have patches where I feel ok but these are not all that common sadly

[John_E_S]

Anxiety is bad today. I just can't see a light at the end of the tunnel and feel this will never pass. I haven't felt truly happy in a long time and just feel like a complete failure with all aspects of life. Luckily have a psych appt this morning but I need to get better. This is so hard to get through and is emotionally draining for me and my family

[John_E_S]

Ok so with the support of my boss I am taking time away from work for indefinite period.

My anxiety comes in peaks and troughs but even with people reassuring me that what I have done is fine I continue to worry. I am trying to avoid constant reassurance but is hard.

Any advice?

[Petal22]

Hi John E S,

Sorry you are feeling this way.

I understand anxiety, I had severe anxiety OCD it was very distressing and debilitating...

I have now recovered from this condition thanks to the help I received from professionals...

when I had OCD I was locked into a vicious OCD cycle.....I would worry about an intrusive thought that I’d have then I’d ruminate and analyse over the thought and then I’d seek reassurance as a compulsion to bring my anxiety down...

I did an 8 week therapy for my condition it was an intervention into the OCD...this is were I learned to master my OCD.... I did meta cognitive therapy....

Can I ask if you only have this anxiety around work?

have you tried any type of therapy for your anxiety?

here to chat to you

[Petal22]

Sorry to hear your anxiety was bad on the day you posted this post.....

please believe me when I say

there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I’m living proof of this.... I went through severe anxiety and have come out the other side.... please never loose hope you will get better....

I totally understand how emotionally draining anxiety can be it s exhausting .. hang in there

[John_E_S]

Thank you for the reply.

The anxiety is focused on work related things only although I think I use this as a coping mechanism to avoid worrying about significant family health issues that have been occurring over past 3 years. I can control work but cannot control the health of.family

I keep revisiting some work we have done and think I have done inappropriately. I have spoken to 6 colleagues who all assure me it is fine and there is nothing to worry about but I find my mind keeps going back to worry. I don't have panic attacks per se but I find I worry excessively about it to the point where I get emotional and am unable to work well. Interestingly, if i start to feel fine about a particular piece of work then it seems my mind scans until it finds another thing to worry about and I have 3 or 4 things that I jump between.

I do feel I am slowly improving and have started to take new medication to assist, so hopefully that will help

[Petal22]

Hi John E S,

Thats wonderful your improving, I hope your new medication also helps you.

Have you tried any therapy for your anxiety? You can be given many tools to help you to manage your anxiety...

here to chat to you

[John_E_S]

I have... I don't think it has been super effective to this point but I do think I have begun to understand much better what triggers me and why it is happening.... which I imagine is part of the learning process.

we are planning to try cognitive behavioural therapy which I also think will help