Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
hey everyone. i wrote a really long post last time and it was kind of unappealing (although ranting did feel nice) so im gonna keep this one as short as i can.
i touched on this really briefly in my previous post but i've noticed that my family has been treating me differently ever since i told them about my mental health in depth. they just look at me and talk to me cautiously like im crazy now.
it feels like they treat me like some type of special ed kid and i don't like feeling like that. it honestly makes me super uncomfortable and makes my anxiety worse cuz then im just thinking "oh they already see me as a crazy person i guess the easiest thing to do rn is just adapt to the role" so even if im feeling normal and anxiety free at that moment, it kicks back in and i revert back into my fantasy world.
i tried talking to my mom about it today and she literally got mad at me for "coming for her" cuz all she's doing is trying to be nice and have a conversation. but there’s a difference between trying to be nice and completely taking the stage in a conversation and not giving space for the other person’s thoughts. she just talks fast and assumes i can’t reply bc im not ok. i just feel so talked over and disrespected and treated like someone way younger than my age. and the worst part is that it’s not just her it’s my whole family who’s this way.
like id understand all this if it was happening before. like if they formed some kind of prenotion because of all these months of me acting different. but that’s not even what happened. they only started acting this way AFTER i talked to them about my mental health in depth. like now im a “confirmed” crazy person. like first they basically force me to tell them what’s going on in my mind and then this is what i get as a result.
so i assume you can tell how much I regret opening up about my mental health.
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I haven't written in my diary on my computer since May because I thought that my computer was dying. I got away from writing but my computer is hanging in there. I think that I will start writing in it again. It's so therapeutic.
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First, I hope everyone is doing well, and continuing to fight that good fight! Keep up the great work on yourselves; I'm rooting for all of you!So, I started doing therapy at the beginning of the year, when I was in my most depressed state, but with my therapist, I made big changes and steps in the right direction. But, over a month ago, she couldn't take my insurance anymore, and I had to stop...
People with anxiety, myself included, we try to make our world safer by also trying to control others (knowingly or unknowingly). We also try to "predict" their behaviors and reactions, which leaves us in a constant state of hypervigilance.
I think that's what is happening to you.
First off, be proud that you have enough confidence and self acceptance to talk about your mental health issues and be open about it. You should not be ashamed of that. You opened up, and you can't control how others receive the information. But never feel you have to tell everyone everything you are going thru with your mental health.
One thing I learned is only those that I truly trusted, fell non judged by, were the ones that I felt safe enough to open up to about these issues in my life. As you get older you will get a better sense of who those people are. But you shouldn't beat yourself up, when they disappoint you. It's their issue then.
So what can you do? You have to let go of what they think about you. Perhaps this is giving them an opportunity to learn about mental health issues, and grow in their compassion thru you.
You have to stop being hypervigilant. It will make everything worst. Accept that you are speaking your truth, and there is no shame in that.
It will take some practice, reconditioning of behaviors and natural instinct of thinking the worst, to come to a place of acceptance of yourself, and not letting what others think have a place in your head.
You absolutely can do this. Sending you light and love!
That very principle applies on the patient side of the help desk, too. Friends and family make notoriously lousy therapists. They can be priceless supporters AS friends and families, but they are not to be mistaken for therapists or even therapy peer supporters. They tend to care entirely too much and be too involved in my life for objectivity. Personally, I'm grateful they are.
On that very principle, I don't keep my therapy secret from my friends or family, but I don't expect them to understand and I insist that they let me trust my therapy program.
You’re absolutely right. The only reason I opened up to my family after so long is because I had no idea how to deal with everything getting worse. I was in a lot of confusion and had no one to trust. although I knew my fam wouldn’t fully understand they were the only people constantly worried about me and I felt that I owed them an explanation.
I joined this site right after I opened up to them actually and if I had just known about this before maybe I wouldn’t have made the mistake of letting it out. I thought opening up to them would help me because I expected them to just be more understanding or take action and find a therapist afterwards but unfortunately I did not get the reaction I thought I would.
Thank you for the insight. I will definitely put ur advice to use. <3 xx hugs
I go for letting my friends and family be my consistency while I sort my psycho snot knots within my therapy support network. Nobody understands like somebody who is actually living with similar issues. I kinda hope my friends and family never **have** to understand that perspective.
Sorry about the situation with your family. I thought I would join the conversation to let you know that you're not alone in these connection struggles.
On your relationship journey with your family I hope you find a good combination healthy boundaries and knowing when to (and not to) approach family with certain issues.
You are very brave to open up about your mental health with your family.
As from my experience, you'll have moments where you catch yourself following a repeated patterns of trying to share or get a certain response from said relationships and thats ok because we are all human :) take a step back or even a step away from the scenario and give yourself some time to breath.
I definitely recommend finding a therapist, or even possibly suggest a family therapy session (but only if you feel comfortable).
Maybe as a default safeguard, I don’t at all expect people to be understanding, though there are certainly a few who are. At the end of the day, after all the madness has subsided for a while, I know I’m still me, kinda like getting out of muddy work clothes and cleaning off for a bit. As long as THAT parts still there, there’s still something to work with.^_~