new here

[frog22]

so ive been looking for a place where I can talk about anxiety and irrational thinking and etc, and I think ive found it :)

I guess ill start off by saying that im a 21 year old college student and that I believe that I have had some kind of anxiety/paranoid disorder for most of my life, it became most apparent during my first semester when I started having panic attacks and a lot of physical symptoms. I ended up seeing a therapist and thankfully those are not a problem for me anymore. However, even though those have been resolved, I still feel that I have a lot of issues with paranoid thinking, worrying, and on rare occasions depersonalization. I will take the most insignificant possibilities of danger and compulsively worry myself sick about them. I am also constantly trying to prove to myself that im not insane or going insane. I am completely aware that this pattern of thinking is not right but it seems to work much more on the subconscious level which is why I guess I still have trouble with it. Even if I cant find anything to worry about I still get the feeling that something bad is about to happen. I know my problems are anxiety related because if I completely immerse myself in an activity and I don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.

any thoughts on what I can do to stop this and feel comfortable in my own skin? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[Enduronman]

Welcome!

and a medicational plan is the next step friend..

E-Man :)

[frog22]

why do you say that? i was kind of hoping to stay away from meds

[Enduronman]

um...because when someone says that they've had an anxiety/paranoid disorder for their entire life at 21 yrs of age do you think you're going to make it go away now by talking and drinking green tea?......

My suggestion was honest, yet not appreciated...so best of luck to you friend!...

[frog22]

um...because when someone says that they've had an anxiety/paranoid disorder for their entire life at 21 yrs of age do you think you're going to make it go away now by talking and drinking green tea?......

My suggestion was honest, yet not appreciated...so best of luck to you friend!...

not at all lol I appreciate your input, I was never given a disorder my therapist just said that i was prone to anxiety and that i over thought things

[jessed03]

Hey frog22, was frog21 taken?? That would have been a great match, given your age!

I'm pretty neutral on the whole meds issue in your case. Unless a person is struggling, I leave recommending meds to themselves or their treatment provider.

Just a thought I'm having though - you say you feel your anxiety and even paranoia is happening on a deeper subconscious level? Well - as we know, the subconscious mind listens to your conscious mind all the time and sees EVERYTHING that happens. Even the stuff you don't pay attention to. If your conscious mind isn't in the best place, the subconscious has no chance right.

If you took a serotonin balancing drug, like an SSRI - you'd have the right amount of the 'feel good chemical'... Right amounts of 'the feel good chemical' - serotonin - would almost certainly lead to a happier Frog22. A happier frog22 would then have happier things to fill their subconscious with, meaning it's almost certainly going to less inclined to pay attention mostly to the unhappy stuff, and keep passing that through back into your conscious mind, and your nervous system.

The system could stop repeating.

Just a thought :) do what feels right for you

[frog22]

Hey frog22, was frog21 taken?? That would have been a great match, given your age!

I'm pretty neutral on the whole meds issue in your case. Unless a person is struggling, I leave recommending meds to themselves or their treatment provider.

Just a thought I'm having though - you say you feel your anxiety and even paranoia is happening on a deeper subconscious level? Well - as we know, the subconscious mind listens to your conscious mind all the time and sees EVERYTHING that happens. Even the stuff you don't pay attention to. If your conscious mind isn't in the best place, the subconscious has no chance right.

If you took a serotonin balancing drug, like an SSRI - you'd have the right amount of the 'feel good chemical'... Right amounts of 'the feel good chemical' - serotonin - would almost certainly lead to a happier Frog22. A happier frog22 would then have happier things to fill their subconscious with, meaning it's almost certainly going to less inclined to pay attention mostly to the unhappy stuff, and keep passing that through back into your conscious mind, and your nervous system.

The system could stop repeating.

Just a thought :) do what feels right for you

lol no 22 is just a number ive always used and i couldnt think of anything so i just used frog cuz theyre my favorite animals haha

I think your right about some kind of antidepressant being helpful. If I perceived things more positively instead of my almost constant negative filter, then that would reflect well on my conscious and finally my unconscious mind. I've actually considered that myself once since when I'm fully engaged in something positive like talking to friends or hobbies I don't experience any negative thoughts, and not just in the moment but for some time afterwards as well. It's when I'm left alone and I don't have other people's input that I will let things spiral out of control, for instance if I notice that I have a small cough I might think myself into believing that I have lung cancer. kinda borderline delusional i guess except I realize how unlikely it is and i will try to prove to myself that I don't. But of course theres no way I can prove to myself that I don't have lung cancer so then i keep worrying that i do until the cough goes away. If I were on an antidepressant I might not think negatively about the cough and never start the cycle to begin with.

I don't believe that medications wont work. However, they do have side effects that imo are probably greater over the course of my life than the side effects of living with anxiety. So I would like to try other options first, I've found meditating helps with past and current events/worries but it doesn't change how i respond to new causes of stress. I always fall for the same pattern of thinking every time and never realize it. That is still a big problem for me and I'm not sure if that can be fixed without some kind of external persuasion

I do like to think of the time that I was having panic attacks/and physical symptoms as the peak of my issues. I was prescribed meds but i chose to see a therapist instead and since then i havn't had a panic attack in over a year. I'm just not sure what the next step is to continue to lower my anxiety to a normal level. I'm not totally closed to medications but is there anything else that i can do to change my perception of the world, which seems to be the cause of a lot of my problems?

thanks for all of your suggestions so far