Young people

Severe anxiety.. need suggestions!

replies: 10

Hi all, For a little over two years now I suffered from GAD, panic disorder, social anxiety, slight agoraphobia, and more recently depression. Meanwhile I have been suffering with glue ear and sinusitis, which both trigger my anxiety and amplify symp... View more

Hi all, For a little over two years now I suffered from GAD, panic disorder, social anxiety, slight agoraphobia, and more recently depression. Meanwhile I have been suffering with glue ear and sinusitis, which both trigger my anxiety and amplify symptoms. Because of this, my life has become very constricted. I cannot handle being home alone because two years ago I suffered 3 panic attacks in 3 days and each time I was home alone so this has caused me to avoid being home on my own for two years, which frustrates me because I used to love being home on my own but I cannot bring myself to attempt to stay at home on my own out of fear of a re-occurrence. I also cannot handle being out in public because of my social anxiety which has worsened in the past two years and because of my glue ear, causes me to constantly feel agitated, uncomfortable, and easily overwhelmed. And now, my anxiety is also affecting my university studies. I've just began seeing a psychologist for CBT, and I have recently been given prescription for benzodiazepenes to take when needed. The reason that I'm writing this thread is because last month while on a two hour car trip I suffered a severe and traumatising panic attack that suffered for around an hour. I now have a wedding to attend next week, which is 10 hours away and will be a 3 day trip. I am very overwhelmed at the thought of the car trip as I cannot handle being in a car, even for short trips to the local shops. I feel claustrophobic/trapped and can't feel car/motion sick. I am also worried about being away from home for 3 days as I suffer from depersonalisation and derealisation, and feel very overwhelmed when experiencing it when in unfamiliar surroundings and increases my anxiety. My other concern is that the wedding will be quite large, and the venue is not very big, and as stated above, I cannot handle public areas, and being around more than a few people, otherwise I become overwhelmed, off balanced, and feel like I'm going crazy/loosing control. I was hoping there would be someone who has a similar issue, or really just anyone, who can offer me some suggestions to help me handle the long car trip and the wedding. Thank you for reading, even if I did ramble on or at times might not make sense x

Uni stress

replies: 1

Hey everyone I've been having doubts about my university course recently. I used to study a 3 year bachelors course at uni doing business (human resource management). At the end of my first year though I decided I would like to get into teaching as w... View more

Hey everyone I've been having doubts about my university course recently. I used to study a 3 year bachelors course at uni doing business (human resource management). At the end of my first year though I decided I would like to get into teaching as well. I still enjoyed HR but wanted to do this too. I didn't want to wait 2 more years to finish and then start my masters so I decided to transfer to another uni and do a double degree in business (HRM) and education. About a week into the course someone called me and told me that I can't major in HRM if I wanted to teach the subjects I put down in education. So I changed my major to business (commercial law). I'm now 3/4 years in and I am enjoying studying education, but I am really not so keen on the commercial law degree. I haven't been going to a lot of the classes throughout the 3 years and that's pretty evident in my grades. I don't want to work in a legal secretary office job one day but I only have about 6 more commercial law subjects to go now, and the rest will be education related. I would stick it out since I've nearly finished it and will have to pay for it all through HECS either way, but I am afraid future employers (including in education) would look at my academic transcript and see I am not doing so well in half of my course. I'm really struggling to decide if I should call it quits on the commercial law degree or not. Thanks for reading and any advice you could give to me! Hkut

spiral down

replies: 1

lately my life has been quite hard, i had a recent, major fight with my dad which has been causing me a lot of stress, saddness and grief, considering we have an extremely limited relationship. Im currently in year 12 and the constant demand to keep ... View more

lately my life has been quite hard, i had a recent, major fight with my dad which has been causing me a lot of stress, saddness and grief, considering we have an extremely limited relationship. Im currently in year 12 and the constant demand to keep your grades high while eating well, staying fit and socialising has all become to much. my work life has suffered so badly, i had to take a month off because i am fighting with a boy who was saying rude and derogatory comments to me and because i have no motivation to do anything, this has also left me with a lot of financial stress. Lately simple mundane tasks like getting out of bed, going to play sports, going outside just to do anything seem unbearable. At night time i fluctuate between oversleeping, to getting around an hour a night. My muscles in the left side of my body are in constant pain and my throat feels like it has a tight ring around it. My mother lives in a different state to me and the separation is extremely hard to deal with, but i am also separated from my sister and step sisters. If i could describe my current feelings, it would be that i have no desire to engage in life anymore. I sometimes barely eat and then the next day i will eat so much i'm sick. Im not sure whether at the moment all i'm experiencing is a build up of emotions or grief but it is becoming unbearable. I don't want to do anything, or see anyone. I have been googling my symptoms and the most relative is atypical depression, which relates to every aspect of how i am feeling, however i don't consider myself depressed. I do not know what to do currently but i do know that my mental state and well being is dropping significantly. Also i have so much stress at the moment because of all of this. To be honest, i have no idea how to handle my current feelings, i don't know whether i'm depressed or being irrational but old issues like my parents divorce, which happened in 2012, have started to upset me again. Lately i have no motivation to do anything but stare and watch the world pass before me, if anyone could give me any advice on what i'm feeling and how to handle it i would greatly appreciate it xx

I have no sense of self.

replies: 1

I'm 16 years old and my whole life I've spent changing between different hobbies, different tastes, different styles to see what I like and cannot settle. When I was younger we moved around alot, infact I've only recently moved into my brother's to l... View more

I'm 16 years old and my whole life I've spent changing between different hobbies, different tastes, different styles to see what I like and cannot settle. When I was younger we moved around alot, infact I've only recently moved into my brother's to live independently. I think all this change and moving around prevents me from having a place to call home, a room to put my own belongings in and feel comfortable. Usually my personality adapts to the people I'm surrounded by. I hate this feeling of not feeling confident because I lack self awareness, it's not fair for me to change who I am just because I'm around different people. It's all I've ever known though because I don't know how to be my own person. How am I meant to build esteem when I have nothing to build off. There's nothing that I am passionate about, nothing that excites me or gives me meaning. I need a good diversion from all this. I want my own unique interest that keeps me going, that I can be passionate about. I feel extremely disconnected from my peers and myself. I can't figure out who I am and I don't know who I want to be. I've been struggling with this issue quite intensely over the past few days, constantly questioning who I am and what I am doing with my life. It's depleting. I feel useless as though I'll never do anything with the little time I have and I'll just sit around staring dull faced and bored. Lately I've been completely wasting my days, sitting around, watching time pass. I am soon yet to study this online course but I fear I may lose motivation because of the mindset I am in. I guess, for me,this is one minor issue among many others. I put the topic out there asking for advice but also for some to relate to.

I can't kick this depression

replies: 2

Hi, I am 22. I have been experiencing depression for about a year, and recently started treatment for bipolar II disorder. I am in touch with a psychologist, and a highly supportive GP. Even with this support however, I am finding it really hard to d... View more

Hi, I am 22. I have been experiencing depression for about a year, and recently started treatment for bipolar II disorder. I am in touch with a psychologist, and a highly supportive GP. Even with this support however, I am finding it really hard to do anything during the day. I feel like I cannot experience happy emotions, and find it very difficult to get motivated to do anything in my day. Sometimes my emotions dip to such a state that I find myself in tears. I find myself sometimes spending the entire day in bed, and wondering where the day has gone. I am concerned about the impact this will have on my semester at university. I get anxious thinking about last year, how assignments were left until the last minute. I really would not like a repeat, but I don't know where to draw my energy from when I am in this state of mind. I often try to keep the full extent of my depression to myself because I don't want to hurt the feelings of my family (even though they know my situation and are supportive). I also sometimes bottle up my emotions around my boyfriend. He is generally supportive, but I don't want my negativity to become something toxic in our relationship. I sometimes wish I could snap out of it, especially around him. I suppose what I would like to hear from you guys is how you can maintain a certain amount of productivity in your day, while you are depressed, because honestly, I am really struggling right now with that. I would like to try get on top of it before I blink, and I have spent too much of this semester in bed.

Dealing with a Break Up and 'Needing Space'

replies: 1

So long story short, I was in a relationship with the most amazing guy for almost two years and it just came to an end recently. I have been dealing with depression anxiety for many years and he has been the greatest help, and I’m really struggling n... View more

So long story short, I was in a relationship with the most amazing guy for almost two years and it just came to an end recently. I have been dealing with depression anxiety for many years and he has been the greatest help, and I’m really struggling now.Short story long:He is my absolute best friend, we were best friends before we started dating and up until the end we had the most harmonious and loving relationship. I feel that I have to also mention that he is my only friend, I only have friendly acquaintances apart from him. I don’t want to go into specifics about why it ended, but I did something bad and we were forced to reconsider our relationship, but we felt that we could probably work through it if it weren’t for his family. He has very strict muslim parents who never approved of us and who I have never met, and when we broke up I finally found out that if he were to ever marry or even just move in with me, his family would disown him. But despite breaking up, we were still seeing each other pretty much every second day, doing everything that we used to except without the “in a relationship” title. While I was so happy to still have him, I’ve been really upset just because I can’t imagine a future without him, I had planned a future together and I guess I was counting on it. So a few nights ago I got really, horrifically drunk at an event and got with someone else. We had sex very briefly, before I pushed the guy off because I realised what I was doing. I know I probably shouldn’t have, but I told my ex what happened because I’ve never been in the business of keeping things from him. He’s very guarded and didn’t show how he felt about it, but it’s fair to assume that he was quite angry and hurt. After I told him, I also spoke to him about how I’ve been feeling in regards to us; how upset I’ve been about the break up etc. I know in retrospect that I shouldn’t have spoken to him about this, but my clinging to him pushed him away and he has told me that he needs space and will talk to me when he’s ready. I don’t know how long that will be, and I’m honestly terrified that we will never speak again. >There's honestly a lot more to this story but I would rather not go into it publicly. >Does anyone have any tips on how to stay away or distract myself? I don’t have a lot going on in my life and I miss him so much it’s driving me completely insane

I'm lost

replies: 6

Hello, this is my first post here and I'm not really sure what to do so I'm just going to talk. I'm 19 years old. Every since I was in year 12 I've begun to pull back. When friends invited me out I would make excuses to stay home. I've always been sh... View more

Hello, this is my first post here and I'm not really sure what to do so I'm just going to talk. I'm 19 years old. Every since I was in year 12 I've begun to pull back. When friends invited me out I would make excuses to stay home. I've always been shy, but it started to develop into something more. At the end of year 12 I went into a rut. I never went out... even if I had to do something like run errands I'd put it off and stay in bed. I was at Uni but decided I didn't enjoy it and tried to join the military like my parents.. I felt like a failure when I was rejected and my parents were supportive but worried about what I would do. At the time my mum was living in Canberra for work and commuting. She suggested I move to Canberra and go to Uni there. I said yes and was accepted. I started mid semester. And just like that I went from a Prefect in Year 12 to never showing up to university. I never wanted to leave home and didn't attend one lecture and hardly went to tutorials. I cried a lot and never made any friends. Then My mum moved back home and so I'm now left in Canberra. I have no friends here. I've made an effort to attend university and spoken to a few people but they all seem to have better things to do then hang out with me after lectures and tutorials. I'm scared to even talk to anyone in my residential building (who are all students of varying ages) and I'm starting to feel like I will never have any friends or any sort of a life at all. I'm afraid that I'll be alone. I have trouble being social and I've tried to talk to my parents but they think I'm being silly (I love my parents so much it's only because they are social people and don't understand what I'm going through) I'm too scared to ask them if I can see a psychologist but I feel like it's my last hope. I came on here to see if anyone could help me be normal because I'm so sick of being alone. All I want to do is go out and have fun and be normal but I feel like I'm locked inside my head and it's convincing me that I can't go out. sorry for the ramble and sorry if this sounds pathetic. that•girl

Recent Breakup/ Lonely

replies: 4

Last night my boyfriend and I split up after 7 years because of emotional issues and others strains in our relationship recently. I can't stop thinking about him. I've talked to friends, but we aren't as close as we used to and can't catch up very ea... View more

Last night my boyfriend and I split up after 7 years because of emotional issues and others strains in our relationship recently. I can't stop thinking about him. I've talked to friends, but we aren't as close as we used to and can't catch up very easy due to distance. I've spoken to family, but it hasn't helped. I've tried doing things, like going outside, reading etc, but almost anything I do makes me think of little things about what we shared or I just think of him anyway. I feel so low, and just want to talk to him again. He's been my rock for such a long time. We spoke of things that we didn't really share with others. I don't know how to cope. I'm wondering if I should go see a doctor.

Depression and my relationship...

replies: 5

Hi everyone, A little bit about myself, I'm a 20 year old male and serve in the Australian Army and have been for 2 years, I have a beautiful loving partner of about a year living on the opposite end of the country to me and my family lives in anothe... View more

Hi everyone, A little bit about myself, I'm a 20 year old male and serve in the Australian Army and have been for 2 years, I have a beautiful loving partner of about a year living on the opposite end of the country to me and my family lives in another state aswell. What brings me to this forum and to all you wonderful and worthwhile folk, is my own experiences and current dealings with depression. My depression although I am not diagnosed, is very episodic. Until recently, I had good months and I had bad ones, mostly on the ratio of 4-6 months good to 1 month bad. I met my girlfriend when on an advance party for training exercise in 2016. Ever since then until recently, I had been feeling absolutely wonderful, everything felt like it just fell perfectly into place when I met her, my depression and anxiety turned off like a light switch and I had found my salvation, or atleast so I had thought. In my line of work you work roughly 300/365 days a year, and the bulk of that time off is over the christmas and new years period. I spent my most recent time off (estimated a month and 5 days) . with my girlfriend and 2 weeks of that time was spent back in NSW girlfriend in arm with my family. I had a wonderful bit of time off but I gained more weight than I have ever in my life over that time. My fitness went downhill hugely and it really effected me emotionally for the last 2 weeks of my time off. This weight gain was the tipping point that hit that light switch of depression and anxiety back on. Upon return to work about 3 weeks ago, a pre existing injury flared up 10 fold worse than it ever has before, to the point where I have been issued restrictions and am unable to conduct the ordinary day to day physical training. Im running out of characters for this thread so ill make this short. A mixture of my injury and a poor self image have pushed me to all time lows. I started drinking, sometimes while in tears in bed. And its beginning to affect my relationship, im less talkative, more moody and i feel like my girlfriend has had enough... please, if anyone can help me, dont let me screw this one up... ive had some bad experiences with girls in the past, and im certain she is the one. To anyone that can help or has any advice, you have my thanks! Its been about 8 years of depression, and until now ive never feared it so badly.. Thanks, TPR Cuddles.

Toughen up ?

replies: 6

Hi I suffer severe gad severe ptsd and depression and people keep telling me to just grow up and get over it and to toughen up. Ive been told this by 5 people in only a matter of 2 months. It took me 2 years to even get help as i was too scared to do... View more

Hi I suffer severe gad severe ptsd and depression and people keep telling me to just grow up and get over it and to toughen up. Ive been told this by 5 people in only a matter of 2 months. It took me 2 years to even get help as i was too scared to do that. Everytime I think that maybe i should tell this person i can trust them they serm to just tell me to toughen up. And three of these people were family members so ive lost most of my trust in anyone at all. Im starting to doubt my diagnises despite knowing they are the right ones and just think i should grow up even though ive had to grow up very fast already and im only 20yrs old Whats everyone thoughts?

Pinned discussions

New to this Forum? Please read this first!

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Severe anxiety.. need suggestions!

replies: 10

Uni stress

replies: 1

spiral down

replies: 1

I have no sense of self.

replies: 1

I can't kick this depression

replies: 2

Dealing with a Break Up and 'Needing Space'

replies: 1

I'm lost

replies: 6

Recent Breakup/ Lonely

replies: 4

Depression and my relationship...

replies: 5

Toughen up ?

replies: 6

Young people

New to this Forum? Please read this first! replies: 0

Severe anxiety.. need suggestions! replies: 10

Uni stress replies: 1

spiral down replies: 1

I have no sense of self. replies: 1

I can't kick this depression replies: 2

Dealing with a Break Up and 'Needing Space' replies: 1

I'm lost replies: 6

Recent Breakup/ Lonely replies: 4

Depression and my relationship... replies: 5

Toughen up ? replies: 6

New to this Forum? Please read this first!

replies: 0

Severe anxiety.. need suggestions!

replies: 10

Uni stress

replies: 1

spiral down

replies: 1

I have no sense of self.

replies: 1

I can't kick this depression

replies: 2

Dealing with a Break Up and 'Needing Space'

replies: 1

I'm lost

replies: 6

Recent Breakup/ Lonely

replies: 4

Depression and my relationship...

replies: 5

Toughen up ?

replies: 6