Anxiety Mood Swings, unsure what to do? Anyone have similar problems with success?

[glacierman]

Age: 20 Gender: Male

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and will try to explain my situation as best as possible.

Most of my life, I would say up until about 3 years ago, I've been fine in every day life. Had some anxiety from time to time if I was nervous but nothing big. However, lately I find my days becoming harder because of the thoughts that go on in my mind. Sometimes I'll think of a situation prior to it happening and think it will end up in a depressing/negative way. I find myself getting depressed at work because of certain things that bother me (my work is physically demanding and tiring, which can make it worse), which puts me in a tense mood where I feel shitty, which eventually leads me to becoming anxious half of the time. The mood can be very awful sometimes. Most of the day I would say I'm in a pretty average or positive mood, but a descent chunk of my day consists of negative thoughts which occasionally leads to anxiety. Usually this anxiety or depression will come from one negative thought. For example, sometimes I think if I eat poor quality food with a lot of preservatives and overall bad ingredients, I may feel tense, which eventually leads me to the feeling of being tense. Usually the one negative thought is pretty strong and I keep feeding off of that one thought and it puts me in a awful mood, making it hard to socialize and remain calm. Im a fairly outgoing person in general and usually get a long with people really well, except when I'm in these moods. I don't believe it's bi-polar because the main cause of this condition or my negative thoughts, that I start to produce. I heard of something called cognitive behavioral therapy, looks interesting, was wondering if anyone is familiar with it.

Any suggestions?? My days are starting to get tough.

Thank You

[Irish Sammie]

Hey Glacier,

Welcome! I'm very much like you. I'll often fixate on something negative and have a hard time letting it go. I'm a classic overthinker and it sounds like you are too! I've been able to see the positives in being an overthinker thankfully as it helps me be better at the job that I do (Graphic Design). Like you, I'm an outgoing person, but I couldn't care less who I'm with when I'm in one of those moods you mentioned, though I'll still put up a fake front in order to seem normal to whoever I'm around.

Do you enjoy your job? Does it stimulate you? I know that the more I keep my mind occupied with things that interest me, the less I think about irrational things, and think more about what's happening in the moment. Lately I've gone through a few days of not giving my anxiety any thought at all as I was just working along, trying to focus on the things I enjoy. CBT is renowned to work very well with those dealing with anxiety as it helps you fish out and deal with negative thinking, replacing them with good positive ones. I'm thinking of getting some done, but given the cost of most Psychologists, I may have to wait a little while longer.

There was a great quote a read the other day, and it went.."Whatever you spend your time procrastinating on, is the very thing you should do for the rest of your life".

Find something that you love and try to focus on that for a while. We all have an element inside us where we almost get some strange satisfaction over dwelling on the negatives, that it gives you something to be passionate about, even though it's contextually negative. I've seen many of the situations I've been in lately as a big wake up call to how my life is going, you know? I'm glad this is happening to me as it's my mind's way of telling me that I need to work on my issues and get more constitutionally strong, emotionally.

Some days are shitty, some days are tough, but the key is to always try to think positive knowing that this is only a phase. Phases are always time restricted, so it won't last forever. It's merely temporary.

:)

[oban]

glacierman, so much like me. I just think of a negative and fear about future events that it puts me in a bad mood. So much that my wife suggested ADD and my Dr put me on ritalin. I stopped taking it because it made me more tense sometimes, and she suggested Cymbalta (an antidepressant) for anxiety. My biggest issue is that my ruminating over things either makes me distant or cranky. A common thing is that my wife tells me I only play with the kids because I have to. I will either hold it in, or argue with my wife about something. I look like an idiot to everyone.

[glacierman]

Nice! Im glad im not the only one with a problem like this. My job is stressful at times if I am in a bad mood. Generally the people are nice though. Today I had a very good day because of the fact that I got to listen to my own music. It may have distracted me from thinking, had almost no negative thoughts. I find that amino acids may have helped me too. Overall I agree with you, things that do interest you will often put you in a better mood, especially work. Thank you for your response. So when you get in these certain moods where one thing bothers you, what do you do to distract yourself? Force yourself to think about positive things?

[glacierman]

Yeah, try not to take medication , at least in my opinion. So many meds have a great amount of side effects that may make conditions ending up even worse. I;ve read around the forum that amino acids supplements make certain people feel better. I tried some the last 2 days and have actually felt better. That must be annoying with the situation of your wife constantly being on your case with your children. She may cause a small amount of anxiety and stress. She should help you with situations that may come up instead of nagging you, I could see that being pretty annoying. ahhaahah