Will it ever go away?

[Lara1]

Ive suffered from anxiety and depression intensely for the past 3 years. Ive been struggling with horrifying inner thoughts, feeling like I'm never good enough and numerous panic attacks. Ive been seeing psychologists and psychiatrists and I've been doing everything they tell me but my anxiety still doesn't seem to go away. My mind blows events out of proportion dramatically which increases my anxiety. Does anyone else feel the same as me? You try so hard, you do everything the doctors/psychologists/everyone tells you to do yet no results have come... and its been years now. I definitely have improved but the feelings haven't gone. I'm so exhausted from feeling this way and i just want it to stop. Id do anything to make myself more happy - any advice? 

[white knight]

Hi Lara, welcome

Well, it took me 25 years to eliminate my anxiety so sometimes you need to be ready for the long haul.

First diagnosed with anxiety in 1987 I was prescribed meds with relaxation classes thrown in. The latter I initially thought was a waste of time soon became a nightly ritual that was extremely helpful towards my recovery.

As time flowed on I implemented some self help ideas like (for me) a move to the country, a more relaxed lifestyle, ridding my life of toxic people and finding an occupation and workplace that was relaxing and filled with happy people.

Finally, along this journey I attended positive motivation lectures that altered my thinking from negative overall to positive.

I ended my meds in 1998 then monitored my anxiety. In 2012 I realised my anxiety had gone. It might not be that long for you but like a lot of mental issues its more of a management thing rather than a full recovery expectation.

Managing your illness and accepting this long haul approach you'll soon "go with the flow" as it being part of your daily challenges.

Worry is non productive.

Tony WK

[Bluey_moon]

Hi Lara, 

I'm new on here, so bare with me! 

Anxiety isn't easy! I haven't suffered it long term but on and off for the last 5ish years! 

These are the things I have found helpful! An awesome Gp, I good psycologist and a good support network, including a wonderful husband (who struggles to understand, but is supportive nether the less) and wonderful friends. 

For me I have had to go back on a low dose antidepressant, I am also reading a book called the happiness trap! 

Hang in there, you are not alone! with support it will get better, concentrate on the good days. 

Take care

[Dwwmills]

Hello Lara1.

Yes I do know how you feel. Having negative thoughts racing
away in your head can be very unpleasant.

I think as White Knight says it is a bit of a long haul. Just
keep at it as it will get better.

If the exercises your psychologist gives you don’t seem to
work go back and ask for different ones and discussed it with them. I agree
strongly with what White Knight was saying about thinking some think would be a
waste of time but later finding out that it has been really useful. It’s
difficult to know to start with which one may work for you.

I found a combination of medication and cognitive-based
therapy worked best for me. I found a very good app for my phone that worked
with cognitive-based therapy. The app was produced by psychologist and follows
CBT methods. Having this on my phone made it easy to track my thoughts and to
challenge them using cognitive-based therapy.

I read something that sort of made sense to me. Different
things in life course anxiety. If you used a scale from 1 to 10 you could give
them a rating. E.g. moving house may be a 3, changing your job may be a 4 and
working out where to go for holiday may be 1. You get a total score of what
your anxiety is by adding them altogether and if your total score is 6 or over
it’s a little uncomfortable. Most people in their everyday life will run around
1,2 or 3 as a total. Someone with an anxiety disorder starts off at around 5. It
doesn’t take much extra stress to push you into a high level of anxiety.
Stresses that people without anxiety can handle, push someone with anxiety into
a high level of stress. This helped me understand why I would get stressed by
things that other people didn’t seem to have a problem in handling.

One thing I found helpful is that if I made any progress was
to acknowledge the progress. Don’t minimise it. Even if it is a very small
step. The small steps are easily drowned out by negative thinking and it can
appear that you’re not making any progress at all when you actually are.

Be kind to yourself. Just keep at it and it will get better.