How exactly do you make your family understand?

[bcc001]

I was recently diagnosed with this disorder and a panic disorder and I have no idea how to exactly explain it to my family. Every time I tell my mom about my issues she just tells me to pray about it /which I do but sometimes I need a little more help/. Its hard because once you tell someone your seeing a therapist they automatically think your crazy. I have been seeing one at school but I have yet to tell my parents.

I mean I understand how they might just think I'm just going through a faze, when I'm not panicking or anxious I seem practically normal. And when I do have a anxiety attack its quiet /can't breath or think , but if you were to see me you would think I was just meditating lol!/. I just want to make them understand that I need help with dealing with this without them thinking that I am crazy lol /meaning it might be hard for them to understand the fact that I black out when in a stressful social situation/.....

[blur]

your pretty much on your own on this one.. no one cares in reality so youll have to take care of yourself

[BobaFett49]

I've had GAD for....well, since about I was 12 years old (24 now) but wasn't officially diagnosed I was 18. My family is aware of this to a certain degree, but they by no means understand it. The only person who I can genuinely talk to about it is my mom bc she has it too. But the rest of my family, well they all just tell me the usual bullshit (which I'm sure you've heard as well) like "Just calm down" or "Take a break" etc etc etc like it's actually something I can control. The pathetic thing is that some people in my family think I have a drug problem since I take legal medications that were prescribed by a legal doctor who is licensed to practice medicine in the United States; cannot recall a time when I've been more offended in my life. Basically your family will not understand and you'd probably have better luck teaching theoretical physics to a group of monkeys. I tried the scientific route with my family, about how it's a chemical imbalance in the brain, serotonin, neurotransmitters, etc etc etc but that didn't work. People who haven't been there will never understand it and that's one of things that pisses me off the most, but hey I've tried, what can I do.

[Mister]

Nobody but my therapist knows exactly how bad my issues are, not even my partner who only knows the parts of it which I've been forced (for one reason or another) to tell him about.

I've had some pretty serious states of depression, a couple of which have resulted in my staying in hospital... And a particularly bad time when I ended up staying with my mum for a couple of months... So she knows I've got a serious background in this illness, but I wouldn't want her to know that I'm still suffering with it.

[TerryG]

I understand your position on this. There is another way of course. You can learn and research a lot about this subject. You will find that a lot of suffers have webpages where they describe their symptoms and how they try to manage them.

You can do this. Counselling and knowledge will give you the strategies to manage to some degree the disorder. Talk to your closest friends and let them know how you feel and when an episode comes on let them know you need their help.

I am sure close friends will support you, comfort you and make you feel safe. Parents sometimes don't know how to deal with a problem, mainly because they either really do not know or they have their own problems.

Anyway, learn as much as you can and put into practice what you learn, something will eventually work.

[Fear]

I was recently diagnosed with this disorder and a panic disorder and I have no idea how to exactly explain it to my family. Every time I tell my mom about my issues she just tells me to pray about it /which I do but sometimes I need a little more help/. Its hard because once you tell someone your seeing a therapist they automatically think your crazy. I have been seeing one at school but I have yet to tell my parents.

I mean I understand how they might just think I'm just going through a faze, when I'm not panicking or anxious I seem practically normal. And when I do have a anxiety attack its quiet /can't breath or think , but if you were to see me you would think I was just meditating lol!/. I just want to make them understand that I need help with dealing with this without them thinking that I am crazy lol /meaning it might be hard for them to understand the fact that I black out when in a stressful social situation/.....

I think that the best way to not make them think you are crazy,by the way I think you are right about that,is to take an article from the internet or something and let them read it,simply telling them:"Read this and tell me what you think" and then say to them you got it.I mean give them a "medical" explanation.I don't know,I'm not even clear in my mind! :oops:

[Fear]

I don't say anything to anybody because I already know nobody would understand and this thing drives crazy sometimes.Just seeing what happens everyday with them,talking about it would mean to look even more weak at their eyes.
My father is convinced I am just super shy and stuff,I can do whatever I just need to throw myself through people.This pisses me off a whole lot.He is convinced the world is just separated in strong and weak people.All of my thoughts turn around this things.

[Frazzle]

What ever you tell your family you will be able to live with, believe me i've had some shitty times where someone called someone else just specifically to say i was crazy and how i've bouced back and forth between the "i'm fine" and i'm having troubles route and it's been really horrible but you can keep going.

[carolyndstress]

I have been suffering with social anxiety for most of my life, and recently started having panic attacks. As a child everyone said i was shy so i never thought anything of it. But now that I'm older Iknow that the problem existed then. I have tried talking to my family and close friends about my illness, but they really don't understand. I get tired of them telling me to get over it , or that things will get better, pray on it, it'll pass. Sometimes I think they believe I'm making this up so that I can have an excuse not to hang out with them. And my boyfriends family has lots of gatherings that I don't attend. Out of 5 years I think I've only attended 2 of them. so of course he makes up excuses for my absence. I really don't feel comfortable putting them in my personal business, because I am a very private person. I know by now they probably think I'm wacko! Or terminally ill! But, its only my SA

[Beachgirl]

I don't think my family ever understood as hard as I tried. The best thing I ever did was get help and start feeling better once I learned you can't change other people but you can make changes that help you.

[Myprecious]

I just joined this forum, I think it will do me some good because I finally found some people who I can relate to and understand me. But anyways, I've always been a shy kid, I didn't talk much at school b/c my face turned red all the time. Well, now I'm in college, I am a bit more outgoing but my anxiety seems to be getting worse. I haven't seen the doctor yet, but I really beleive that i need to. Lately I've been having these intense shakes, I get nervous for no reason. I get nervous going to work, even though I have nothing to present or to say. I get nervous for going to class, I get nervous for going to the gas station to get some gas. Everytime I drive my car I think that i'm about to get into a car accident. My stomach is always hurting. I cannot seem to gain weight. Everytime I raise my hand in class and answer the question I feel like i'm going to vommit on somebody. I just feel like i'm going crazy.

So anyways, I talked to my mom about it, and she seemed to understand me. But today I got very angry with her and I lost my temper. And of coarse any person with anxiety would agree that "CALM DOWN!" would be their least favorite phrase, and of coarse that's what my mom said. Then she went on to saying that everything is in my head and that i'm overdramatizing stuff b/c I want people to feel sorry for me. I stormed out of the house crying b/c she did not get what i was trying to tell her at all, it's her bday today too. I guess nobody understands you besides yourself. Just know that you're not alone.

[Beachgirl]

Hi myprecious, cool name. You may want to see if you can join a cbt group at your college to help you with your anxiety. I finished a cbt group this past summer and life's a beach now for me. The book we used in my group by Sam Obitz has an exercise called a TEA that is awesome and if you are disciplined you could do them on your own and you will start to feel better. Living with anxiety sucks and you can get yourself better :D