I'm new to this

[Trying_to_smile]

I'm 33 and suffering from generalized anxiety, which has resulted in me not leaving the house in over 4 months, I'm feeling depressed and my hope is slowly decreasing, I have 2 children which keep me going and giving my hope and reason. I have a husband which I love with all my heart but is losing hope because this has been an on and off battle for 5 years, I get better and then this happens again, this is number four and is the longest time I have been at home with doing anything in the outside world.

[white knight]

Hi, welcome

You haven't mentioned any medical treatment underway. If there is none, you need it badly.

This comes with my experience with anxiety. It took many years to overcome it. I contribute such success to a number of things...medication, therapy, lifestyle changes (regulating social media etc),and employment change.

All have their benefits.

One idea I had that worked was born out of needing to seek out calmness. So I purchased a two man tent and spent one weekend a month camping. Google. Topic: cheap idea,camping-beyondblue

Great for the kids too. If you cannot manage that I understand. Baby steps eh.

Read one or two threads here every night.

Also google...Topic: maharaji, he's helped me for 25 years- beyondblue. He also has many YouTube vids..

Tony WK

[MarkJT]

Hey Trying to smile, well done for reaching out on the beyondblue forums, that's what they are here for.

Agree with Tony WK above, if you have no sought out medical intervention then you need to do that. Get to the GP and will most likely result in a psych referral. Psychs are the experts in this area so they are well worth a visit.

To counter my anxiety, i use a number of different types of mindfulness meditation. Listening to music, staring at the stars or the clouds, looking at nature etc. Takes some practice but works a treat now. I would well recommend some kind of meditation. There are also some really good smart phone apps out there that can assist with this.

You are certainly not alone in your journey. Over 2 million Aussies are living with anxiety so there are many walking in your exact shoes. As Tony says above, have a look around the forums, there is so much information from people who are suffering anxiety. You may get some good tips to help you.

Again, well done on reaching out. Great work.

Cheers

Mark.

[geoff]

hello, and I have to agree with Tony and Mark because once you start on medication it will hopefully enable you to venture outside, if however you are taking any medication then it needs to be reviewed by your doctor.
There is an old saying 'the longer you leave not being able to go outside the worse it gets', well that maybe true but it's an enormous effort to even try to do it, but could you look up 'desensitization' this is a way that will enable you to slowly be able to go past the front door.
So you start by going past your comfort point and do this as long as you feel OK, then you go past that point until eventually you can go to the letterbox and so on, it's well knowen method of overcoming any phobias, but I would like you to google it and see what you think. Geoff. x

[Trying_to_smile]

Thank you everyone for your responses, I am on medication but it doesn't seem to be helping that much, Im also with a mental health services and they come visit me once a week, we have just started a program, I'm going for small walks to the end of the street and back, they also gave me medication to take each day because I not sleeping very well, I feel like I really need to get better and really quickly or I'm going to lose everything