Excessive Worrying

[361525]

Hello all,

I haven't posted anything before, but lately I have been extremely worried about a lot of things in life, even more so than usual.

Overall I have always been a worried person. This has progressed from being worried about meeting/talking to people I don't really know or being in an uncomfortable/unpredictable situation, into continuous worry.

For example, I am always worried about my family members safety - I feel that if I don't continuously tell them to be careful something bad will happen to them. The same goes if I'm not with them, I feel like I have a responsibility to protect them, and if I'm not there, something bad will happen to them - for example travelling in a car, I want to be there so I may be able to prevent any accidents (even if I may not be able to do anything, somehow I believe I can keep them safe). This has also come to me constantly checking doors, switches and the oven repetitively, as I don't want a fire to start or someone to get into the house etc.

At times, I feel as my actions can lead to the death of somebody, or the occurrence of something bad. For example, If I choose where to go for dinner, and somebody I'm with gets hurt travelling to or from the place (or even at the restaurant) that is my fault and I don't want that to happen. I don't like making decisions as my input could result in somebody getting hurt.

Even my thoughts I feel have the same impact. My thoughts also happen to make me believe I am being watched, or people can read my mind - which I know isn't true but I'm still worried about it. I often cover the cameras on my phone/computer as a result, or immediately change my thoughts if I think something even slightly inappropriate

I feel as if I'm going crazy with all these thoughts and others I can't be bothered to write, and even though I know they are irrational I can't stop just in case something does happen. I want these worries to go away and stop interfering with my life, does anyone have any advice/experience the same thing? Or believe these are symptoms of something?

Thank you to any one reading this, and sorry this was a rant about my problems. I just really want for these thoughts to stop and to be able to get on with my life.

[geoff]

Hello, and I'm deeply sorry that you have to try and cope with all of this, because once this becomes excessive, it can lead to feelings of high anxiety and even cause you to be physically ill, and I say this because it's also happened to me.

I can't diagnose you but I know from myself that my psychologist has called them 'intrusive thoughts' as I have OCD, so it would be an idea to visit your GP and get them to diagnose you and may decide to prescribe some medication and refer you onto a psychologist, as there is help out there for you.

Ask them about the 'mental health plan', which entitles you to 10 Medicare paid sessions.

If you can copy and paste 'intrusive thoughts' into your search browser an enormous amount of different comments by people will appear.

Would really like to hear back from you.

Geoff.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi 361525,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for having the courage to post here. Reading this didn't feel at all like a rant, and I can imagine how difficult it must be to be struggling with this day in and day out.

Please know you are absolutely not going crazy. I think Geoff is right - they sound like intrusive thoughts. Everyone can have intrusive thoughts sometimes, but how much they vary and impact people differs a fair bit. In a sense they can sometimes be helpful, like the thought about starting a fire makes us sure that we'll double check that the stove is off, or the thought that we might have an accident makes us a cautious and safe driver - but then at the other end it can feel like those thoughts dominate our lives.

You said in your post that you can't stop in case something does happen, but unfortunately something could happen right now or it could happen when you stop. As much as they can feel very powerful, your thoughts don't really have that much power. They are only thoughts. Would you be open to having a chat with your GP or a therapist? They can give you lots of tools to manage them.

RT

[Wazowski]

Hi 361525,

Thank you for sharing what’s been happening for you. I agree with RT, reading that definitely didn’t feel like a rant, but rather an expression of some really difficult things you have been going through. These forums can be a great place to get things off your chest and I’m glad you felt safe enough to do that here.

As you mentioned, you have always been a worrier, but recently these feelings of worries have escalated to a point where they have become overwhelming. You have the responsibility of everyone’s safety on your shoulders, which is such a huge burden to carry. Feeling like your actions may lead to your family member’s death would be terrifying and very debilitating. I’m so sorry that you are going through this. I wanted to know if something happened to provide evidence for this? Or if there was a certain event which prompted these feelings to arise?

I agree with both Geoff and RT, that these are intrusive thoughts that everyone gets to a varying degree. However since they are having such a negative impact on your life, visiting a GP or psychologist may be helpful to get more insight into what is causing them, and how you can make them more manageable.

Take care,
Wazowski