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...
I do okay sometimes. My meds help, but there are situations that are sometimes too much for me. I start to shake, panic, stutter. It used to get so bad I'd shake to the point of looking like I was having convulsions. Things are much better now. I work hard to keep a stable environment and plan things out which helps lessen my anxiety about things, though I've just started school and I've had a few medium-strength attacks in the last week. Now though I'm facing something else. I'm bipolar, I've been working through a depressive phase lately, and the anxiety isn't helping.
I live with my sister, her boyfriend and our underage cousin. Tonight my sister and her boyfriend had an argument and when she walked away from him he started "crying" (made crying noises and wiped his eyes though there were no tears)and then she insulted him and the girl he's been "talking" to at work. Evidently, my sister found some text messages where he was talking about her and called my sister some names. My sister told him that based on the girl's replies that she was low class. And he started yelling about how he wasn't allowed to have friends. Then he grabbed up a steak knife and stabbed himself in the head and thigh(very shallowly), using his other hand to beat his head on the opposite side.
I called the crisis line. They said to make an appt monday at the mental health centre, but unless he was in immediate danger there was nothing to be done. He's calmed down now (by himself) and my sister has gone to bed, along with our cousin, but the whole incident has been unsettling to me and I've been having the kinds of tremors that usually preface a major attack.
I'd like some advice on how to deal with this situation with the boyfriend and to control the attack I feel coming on. Already my skin is crawling and I'm twitchy. I don't know what it is about this that's triggered me, but it's more anxiety than depression at this point.
I live with my sister, her boyfriend and our underage cousin. Tonight my sister and her boyfriend had an argument and when she walked away from him he started "crying" (made crying noises and wiped his eyes though there were no tears)and then she insulted him and the girl he's been "talking" to at work. Evidently, my sister found some text messages where he was talking about her and called my sister some names. My sister told him that based on the girl's replies that she was low class. And he started yelling about how he wasn't allowed to have friends. Then he grabbed up a steak knife and stabbed himself in the head and thigh(very shallowly), using his other hand to beat his head on the opposite side.
I called the crisis line. They said to make an appt monday at the mental health centre, but unless he was in immediate danger there was nothing to be done. He's calmed down now (by himself) and my sister has gone to bed, along with our cousin, but the whole incident has been unsettling to me and I've been having the kinds of tremors that usually preface a major attack.
I'd like some advice on how to deal with this situation with the boyfriend and to control the attack I feel coming on. Already my skin is crawling and I'm twitchy. I don't know what it is about this that's triggered me, but it's more anxiety than depression at this point.
H, you pegged it. He is spoiled (indulged continually by his mother). He does these things for attention and when he doesn't get the responses he's looking for it escalates into something worse. When he's caught out in a lie or a situation where he's at fault, it's always the other person's fault--they misspoke, or misunderstood him. I still think he needs therapy, but right now I'm more concerned with how I'm doing, and how my sister and cousin are handling things. My sister is fine and thinks his antics are pathetic (and has no problem telling him so). My cousin though, was scared and I hate that he had to witness such thing. He's already dealing with the aftermath of violence in the home (one reason he came to live with us while he finishes high school). I don't want him to have reminders of the place he left in order to be safe, here where he's supposed to be able to focus on school and his future.
Thanks again both of you, for the advice. It was really helpful. And I do feel much better and will keep what you've said in mind for the next attacks.