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My story and mental health research

garykingSenior Contributor26 Nov 2015, 10:44 pm AEDT

My story and mental health research

Hello folks,

I believe we are all in some boat. So wanted to share my story.

Never had OCD or any type of anxiety whatsoever. But after going through very stressful health situation more than 5 years back I fell victim to OCD and anxiety. Basically my situation at time was pretty bad and I was very worried which caused me to have obsessive thoughts and depression. I could not focus on anything and felt vulnerable and edgy. I started to doubt myself, my intentions and kind of started feeling dangerous person to my ownself. Managed to fully recover from physical issue. But due to stressful situation it left me with ongoing anxiety and OCD.

Currently sometimes it's hard for me to focus on anything for long time. I have had obsessive thoughts of what if I harm my family member, what if I start smoking cigarette etc. etc.

I am practising ERP, cognitive thinking, mindfulness and some physical activity to make some or full recovery. Also taking medication which makes me feel pretty drowsy. So going to see GP again for any other medication.

Currently I am obsessing about what if I get addicted to drugs like ice. I don't know from where but somehow I think I picked up this worry after watching some disturbing some advertisement on TV about dangers of ice. Since than I started obsessing about it, which only gave me more fear. So I am now doing ERP by watching documentaries on ice, reading news about ice and drugs etc. However my main problem is that I often relate things that I see with what I am obsessing about. This means for example that if I am walking down the street and if I see someone homeless or someone strange my mind will relate that automatically to ice and drugs.

So my questions are:

1) If there are so many people suffering with anxiety and OCD how much research is being done to understand mind scientifically?? It's easy said than done but honestly there has to be some research going on to treat such things.

2) If what I read is true than anxiety and other issues are due to problems with serotonin in brain. Which is basically chemical imbalance. If it's imbalance of chemical than most effective way treat would be to take medication apart from exercise etc. So how much does CBT etc. really helps as it's ultimately chemical issue.

3) Can anyone else relate themselves to their mind relating things with what they see? I believe in my case this is a very unhelpful behavior.

4) What did you do (or didn't do) to make full or partial recovery from OCD and anxiety? What can I do to treat my obsession and fear of ice and drugs??

Please let me know your thoughts on this. Appreciate your help.

Lastly I wanted to say that staying away from caffeine helps. So stay away from caffeine to stay better.

thanks,

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In response to: My story and mental health research

Tim_HSenior Contributor23 Dec 2015, 1:05 pm AEDT

Re: My story and mental health research

Hi MoonGal,

Thanks for your post. The technique descibed below sounds interesting, I'll have to give it a try ! Mindfulness type approaches to obsessive thought's really help I agree, just letting the thought be etc.

Learning to live with obsessive thoughts (and mental compulsions) is hard, as for me they are constant i.e. if one goes away it's replaced with a new one. But that's OCD, never gives you a rest.

In response to: My story and mental health research

Tim_HSenior Contributor23 Dec 2015, 1:14 pm AEDT

Re: My story and mental health research

Great to see medication is helping with your obsessive thoughts. It's funny you mention the lack of a physical complusion.

Complusions are best described as either a physical activity (including avoidance) or mental act. 'Thinking' or 'analysing' is actually a compulsion ! And don't I know it !

All my years reading/attending support groups and learning about OCD these types of 'mental' complusions are often overlooked for some reason.

In response to: Re: My story and mental health research

garykingSenior Contributor23 Dec 2015, 8:39 pm AEDT

Re: My story and mental health research

Great to see others contributing so much to this thread. I am definitely trying few things and hoping to do some more practise. Mindfulness is important as many of you said. I realise that I could be more positive right now due to my medication which definitely appears to helping me. But at the same time I am looking for build some mental skills further.

I didn't took any medication for more than 5 years of being diagnosed with OCD because I was reluctant to take this approach but in all honesty I tried few things and nothing seem to help me much. I couldn't even imagine having a cup of tea in morning as my stupid brain became bit too active and start firing negative and OCD patterns. If I didn't drink any tea (caffeine) I won't experience any anxiety or OCD symptoms. But having said that it doesn't mean that I was treated but my OCD would just lie dormant in my brain. Does anyone else have such sensitivity to just 1 cup or coffee or tea?

Also saying that I don't have compulsions would be overstatement as I have tried to avoid some situations, objects etc.

Best to say work is under progress for now..happy Christmas

Content/trigger warning

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