Effort needed to stay well

[Dwwmills]

Hello everyone.

I would like to ask about the amount of effort it takes to
stay well and whether this effort reduces over time.

I have suffered from GAD on and off for the last 35 or 40
years. For the last 15 years I would say the anxiety has been at a level of
 very average to bad but I’ve just put up with it. A couple years ago my family got
together and confronted me with how it was affecting them and made me realise I
had to do something about it. This gave me the willpower to tackle the anxiety
like I have never tried before. CBT and medication. The first 6 to 9 months
were hard but then things rapidly improved to the point where I am now off the
medication and my anxiety levels are back to normal. Friends and family have
noticed a big difference.

I’m becoming aware of the amount of effort it takes and how
vigilant I need to be to stay on top of my thinking. Life is going well and
there is no great stresses, yet I still need work at catching my thoughts. I’m
not lying awake worrying about it at night or stressing too much it’s more of
an observation. In some ways I had expected to be doing this this early after
finishing medication but I’m wondering if this is likely to reduce the longer I
stay well. Hopefully someone with a working crystal ball can give me the answer
to this one.

I’m just wondering what other people have experienced.

[geoff]

dear Dwwmills, 3well done on being where you are, because it takes a great deal of effort and determination.

Trying to 'catch your thoughts' can be good or they could bring on your anxiety, depending on far you go, but with me there were many thoughts or situations that I could not solve, so for me to bring those thoughts back would only make me go back to where I was, but I don't want that, so I don't delve back then and let them pass.

Your attitude towards this is heartbreaking, because you need this to keep going without going back to those times which made you take medication. Geoff.

[Dwwmills]

Hello Geoff.

Thanks for your thoughts mate. Quite insightful and I found
them very helpful.

When I say “catching my thoughts”, I just mean catching the
type of thoughts I am having. More to do with the irrational thinking patterns.
E.g. catastrophizing or blaming other people or being negative to myself. That
type of thing. I’ve been very lucky that I haven’t had anything in my life that
was really traumatic, that I can’t look back at it. My father died after a
couple of years battling cancer when I was in my early teens. I didn’t realise
how much this affected me until I had my own kids but I think I’ve got it
mostly sorted now.

Hello Philip. (Sorry I don’t remember your username)

I’m not sure what happened to your posts but I managed to
read them earlier this morning. I found them very helpful. Your analogy of
comparing the struggle with anxiety to the daily struggle with alcohol
dependency hits own with me. I think you’re right that it is a long-term
struggle to keep both of them under control. I found it very encouraging that
you thought that the struggle would get easier with time. I am fairly
comfortable with the idea of having to constantly monitor this for the rest of
my life but the thought that it may get easier in the future through practice
is reassuring.

Thanks guys.

Dean