What is it gonna take for me to believe I'm not going crazy?

[LC286]

Hi everybody. Been having a lot of rough days lately and can really use some support :/.

I really don't know what it is going to take for me to believe I am not going crazy.. I am so overwhelmed with this fear everyday it is really starting to affect me. I try to tell myself the normal "if I was going crazy, I wouldn't know it" and that the fact that I'm worried about it means it's not happening.. but it helps for a little while and then I'm right back to worrying about it.

I have been told by numerous doctors all I have is severe anxiety, but I just can't shake this fear. It got so bad the other day that I had to have my fiance come home from work to calm me down.. I've started getting random thoughts or words in my head as I begin to fall asleep and that makes me feel like I'm going crazy. I've read that it's common, but it still makes me feel like I'm losing my mind. My fiance left for work this morning, and about 10 minutes after I thought he left I got up to use the bathroom and I heard him say "I hope you feel better" (I have a bad cold) outside the door. I thought he had left but he didn't and it threw me right into a panic attack cause I thought I was hallucinating until I realized it really was him. Is this normal for anxiety?.

Like I just can't take this anymore.. I'm almost scared to go to sleep cause I know I'm gonna have those random words pop in my head every so often.. I see my therapist this afternoon but I'm just so scared right now too. I've been started on Lexapro as of Friday.. I don't know, I'm just so lost on how to handle this :/

 

[AMcSwain]

I know how you feel... I have been doing really good lately with the help of meds...but I told my doctor one day that I thought I was going crazy and he said "That's proof right there that you are not crazy because crazy people do not think they are going crazy.". I hope you start feeling better.

 

[sierra9779]

hello. from my experience dealing with GAD for 15 years now, when your mind is in "fight or flight" it goes into overdrive and any number of "crazy" thoughts come up as a result. CBT has helped tremendously for me in this area, along with medication. Medication puts a band-aid on it for me but what helps the "crazy" thoughts subside is almost always CBT.

For those who don't know, that is cognitive behavior therapy which is like re-programing the dialogue in your head. It took years for it to finally work for me because it's a practice your mind has to get used to before it starts actually believeing the "new dialoge" instead of the "crazy" thoughts. It would look like this: Crazy thought: the world around me is coming apart, I can't even tell what is reality, and I'll never survive and I'm going to die, etc. (physical symptoms would be hyperventilating, nervous feeling in stomach, dizziness, tightness in chest, etc.) New dialoge: "this is just anxiety talking and when the anxiety goes away, you'll be grounded in reality, and you will survive this, and you can take care of yourself, and this won't last forever."

This is taken from an article describing CBT: "Old, negative patterns of thinking are often rooted in childhood abuse or trauma. CBT helps create new thought pathways in the brain, which help to expand your horizons and create a better future. CBT can help reprogram the negative thinking patterns associated with depression. Lasting results take a bit of time to achieve, so be prepared to commit for a least six weeks." (or years in my case!)

 

[Rinka]

hello. from my experience dealing with GAD for 15 years now, when your mind is in "fight or flight" it goes into overdrive and any number of "crazy" thoughts come up as a result. CBT has helped tremendously for me in this area, along with medication. Medication puts a band-aid on it for me but what helps the "crazy" thoughts subside is almost always CBT.

For those who don't know, that is cognitive behavior therapy which is like re-programing the dialogue in your head. It took years for it to finally work for me because it's a practice your mind has to get used to before it starts actually believeing the "new dialoge" instead of the "crazy" thoughts. It would look like this: Crazy thought: the world around me is coming apart, I can't even tell what is reality, and I'll never survive and I'm going to die, etc. (physical symptoms would be hyperventilating, nervous feeling in stomach, dizziness, tightness in chest, etc.) New dialoge: "this is just anxiety talking and when the anxiety goes away, you'll be grounded in reality, and you will survive this, and you can take care of yourself, and this won't last forever."

This is taken from an article describing CBT: "Old, negative patterns of thinking are often rooted in childhood abuse or trauma. CBT helps create new thought pathways in the brain, which help to expand your horizons and create a better future. CBT can help reprogram the negative thinking patterns associated with depression. Lasting results take a bit of time to achieve, so be prepared to commit for a least six weeks." (or years in my case!)

CBT helped me too. It reprograms your anxious behaviour and makes you objectively analyse your anxious behaviour and replace it with more healthy behaviour.