Anxiety VS Productivity

Welcome to the forum @tylerjay

I really like your thread title. It is a big issue for a lot of us. I do not have simple answers. I have had to jump in and swim or sink ... lucky I learned to swim young, even if it was not always with the greatest style or technique lol ...

Take care Apple

Hi tylerjay

Welcome to the forums and thanks for sharing a bit of your story.

It sounds like the anxiety really seems to be getting in the way of things for you. I’m glad you’ve found a way to study at university. What are you studying?

It can be hard to stay hopeful when things you’ve tried, such as counselling, haven’t been helpful so far. There are lots of different professionals and therapeutic approaches though so please try not to be discouraged. It can take a lot of experimenting to find the things that work for you, but I do think you always learn something from those experiments.

Can you remember what kinds of professionals you’ve seen or types of therapy you’ve tried? There can be big differences among professionals and therapeutic approaches. For example, a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist may be able to do some assessments to identify if there is anything else going on besides anxiety that might influence which treatment would be the best choice. While a counsellor doesn’t have the same training in diagnosis, they often have specific training in different types of therapies, so your experience can be very different depending on the counsellor.

Is there anything else that you’ve tried in terms of managing your anxiety? Some people find grounding techniques helpful, such as mindfulness or breathing exercises. Other strategies include goal setting to manage stressors and exploring and challenging any negative thought patterns that you might have.

It’s a lot to be figuring out moving from school and university to work and making your own way in the world. It can be challenging and tumultuous even without managing anxiety on top of everything else. What kind of support do you have around you at the moment? Is your partner supportive? Do you have any professional support?

I’m glad you’ve come across the forums. Please keep posting and let us know how things are going 🙂

Hi and welcome, @tylerjay .

I can empathise - my anxiety isn't as bad as yours, but at its worst it's paralysing and like living in terror.

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@tylerjay wrote:

While counselling seems useful in this situation I have been through counselling since grade 3 of primary school and have not found it to be helpful in my years of personal experience.

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I'd like to encourage you to try again...I have 6 MIs (mental illnesses) plus childhood abuse. I tried for 18 years to find a good fit with a psychologist or counsellor, but then found an excellent psychiatrist who did talk therapy, and that began my healing journey. When she retired I was able to find an even better psychologist, and have gained a lot of healing over years of therapy and also the right meds.

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@tylerjay wrote:

I also find it to be very stressful as I have difficulties looking at people directly, I stumble over my words and become fidgety when stressed, which I then stress over even more so as I know that I would appear as nervous as I feel.

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Regarding this, I always write down my issues and print off a few pages for my psychologist to read, as I express myself better in writing. Another strategy I've come across on the forums here (thanks, @Bow ) is to write your answers to the psychologist's questions while in the actual appointment, too.

As @Former-Member said, different counsellors or psychologists have different approaches and may or may not be a good fit for you. If you want to try a psychologist, the first step is to visit your GP and ask for a Mental Health Care Plan. This will entitle you to 10 subsidised sessions with a psychologist per year. The only thing is that psychologists are so overwhelmed with demand at the moment that it could take 6 months to get in to see one. But it's a good idea to get on the waiting list now.

You can help this process by googling then ringing round psychologists in your area to ask: are they taking new patients at the moment, what is the wait time for a new patient to start, what are the costs, etc. Then you can take a name to your GP for the Mental Health Care Plan referral. (GPs might not know which psychologists are taking new patients and which have stopped as they are full.)

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@tylerjay wrote:

...would do anything to fix it. Any advice at all would be appreciated.

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It seems your life is being derailed by your extreme anxiety 😞 So I would think it's definitely worth trying a professional psychologist. Plus any anti-anxiety meds your GP might offer, if you haven't tried those already?

Good luck, @tylerjay ...

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