Hi SilverLight and welcome to our community forums
It's good to see you can share your story here. Well done. I'm not a health professional, but someone who's experience PTSD, anxiety and depression for a very long time.
Being hit by a colleague is completely unacceptable and I’m so pleased you won a fair work case. Can totally see why you’d find it hard to want to return to the work force.
Work often set off my anxiety, not just worsened it. In hindsight, after many years of self care, counselling and medication, though, it was the way I looked at situations that helped to feed my fears. I was very good at telling stories in my head that weren't true. There were obvious work place bullying that did occur which were a trigger for me, which were true and very destructive for people, including myself. These situations were indefensible. It took many complaints and many years before complaints were acted upon. But they were and the bully was removed.
When triggered, I found I would spend days in bed, calling in 'sick with a virus' until I was able to face work and the outside world again.
What has helped me over the years? A number of different strategies helped me cope -
- seeing a good doctor and health professional (e.g. psychologist)
- talking to friends and colleagues about my work anxieties. In many ways to challenging the fears I thought there were
- getting regular exercise, hobbies, sport
- learning to live a healthier lifestyle
- getting plenty of sleep
I’ve worked all my life from age of 15, retiring last year at 64, except for one or two years for studying at uni and travelling overseas. Not sure how I did it, but I faced my anxieties head on, no matter how painful they were. During my earlier life, my anxiety was never diagnosed. The doctor just said - go for a run to work off my excess adrenaline. Yeh….
Do you see anyone? For example a health professional or doctor for your anxiety?
I see you have a little boy. What else do you do with time for yourself (if you have any), e.g. hobbies, sport, shopping, reading?
Have you had a look through the anxiety forum for work anxiety? There are a number of very good posts. You’ll see that you’re not alone out there. Feel free to join in any of the discussions that you find interesting or helpful.
Kind regards
PamelaR
