Has anyone with anxiety experienced paranoia?

[Bluey_moon]

Hi guys, 

So for those of you that have read my previous posts would know Ive had GAD and more recently obsessive thoughts.

And at the moment my obsessive thoughts centre in me being scizophrenic (even though I've been told by my GP, a psychiatrist and my pyscologist that I'm not,well that they'd put a millin dollars on me not being scizophrenic). 

My question is: previously when I'd read a lot about it, I read the symptoms. One of them being paranoia. So now sometimes I convince myself someone is watching me ect, even though I know it's not true! 

Has anyone else experienced something similar? 

Bluey

[Dwwmills]

Hello Bluey moon.

I find GAD amazing in the way that it surfaces. When I’m not
doing well and my anxiety is up I find that I worry about all sorts of
different things. They seem very important at the time and I can waste a lot of
time trying to solve the problem. It’s hard to step back and see them as
symptoms of the underlying anxiety that needs to be treated.

With my anxiety I find that at times I am just anxious and
on edge and I can’t really put my finger on exactly what it is. I find
something that I think is causing the anxiety and I solve that problem (After
much wasted time and worry). The anxiety doesn’t go away. So I just find
another thing to focus on and so on and so on. To use an analogy it’s like
sticking a running garden hose in the ground and trying to stop the waterspouts
coming up in different places. You stick something on one fountain and the
water finds somewhere else to pop up. What really needs to happen is someone
needs to turn the hose off. And I liken this to anxiety. It surfaces all over
the place but what we really need to do is tackle the underlying anxiety.

I found cognitive-based therapy in combination with
medication to help dampen the racing thoughts worked well for me. Cognitive-based
therapy takes a while to learn and takes a while to see results from. The thing
I liked about CBT is it does give you some insights into your thinking and also
gives you the ability to tackle the problem long-term. This gives you power and
control over the anxiety. It’s not to say that I don’t have bad days because I
do. I just have more tools now for dealing with them.

[Bluey_moon]

Thank you Dwwmills,

You described GAD to a T. That is exactly what happens to me. As soon as I stop stressing about one thing another pops up! 

My psycologist has suggested a combination of CBT and acceptance therapy. I'm going to work really hard on both of these. 

Mi thank you so much for your insight! 

Skye

[Bluey_moon]

Simona I just had an aha moment, rereading your reply to me, when you said you either are or you aren't paranoid, there is no thinking. I think you were saying if I'm thinking I am, then I'm not. This has been such a help to me. 

I was just laying in bed with my herbal tea, and it finally clicked! Thank you xo

[Bluey_moon]

So tired today, my bubba is sick! So my mind is running circles. Am I paranoid, am I just convincing myself I am? Wished I'd never read the Internet, my paranoia directly relate to stories I've read mostly 😞