I am struggling at the moment

@Former-Member, I think this is the perfect time to post. Get it out and intervene before it gets really bad. Can you go for a walk, call someone or do a distraction activity?

When I was doing EMDR my psychologist taught me some anxiety reduction techniques to do when it got really bad. Is there something like that you could do - mindfulness, meditation, relaxation?

Attagirl @Former-Member .... ❣

It means that you have recognised the wind-up stage and have taken action .... well done !!

In response to a question you had asked previously, can't remember whether it was @Shimmer or @Former-Member who said that you will being to recognise when things are going a bit wonky and to take evasive action from that point.

That is a part of who you are.

Its a part of who I am.

My eggshells have the power to spiral into deep depression if I let myself go there .... but I learned where the edge was and take every evasive action I know how when something big crops up .... I am advising things that I follow myself, although are circumstances are different, a lot of the functions are the same.

Work at keeping yourself out of the emotional storm and just let it pass beyond you. There will be a quietness after that when things can be dealt with more rationally. You don't have to see or do anything beyond recognising the danger in this minute, and avoiding it.

❤️💕

Hi @Former-Member

Sorry to hear you're feeling lost and confused.That's understandable in the context of having had a big session today and making a decision about changing medication tomorrow.

I agree with @Former-Member, it's great that you have reached out for support now to interrupt the process of "winding up".

@Faith-and-Hope is right, these emotions will pass, and it will be easier to look at the challenges you're facing when they have.

Doing something to ground or distract yourself is a great idea from both @Faith-and-Hope and @Former-Member - what could you do this afternoon @Former-Member?

Take care, and keep reaching out to your supports if you need,

Shimmer

Think I am working in mental health @Former-Member .... just to survive my family situation ... lol .... ❤️💕

Just being a bit facetious there for a minute ....

Thank you for that lovely compliment ....

I know I was born with a strong empathetic nature .... And maybe that was enhanced when my brother suffered a traumatic accident while I was in-utero .... not sure how these things worked, but I likely experienced something of my mother's emotional trauma, and connected with her very strongly in terms of that empathy ....

In any case, my sister suffered chronic health problems in her infancy - she was born less than three years after me .... so perhaps these things help to shape us ....

The flip-side is that you need to grow a bit of a shell to protect your vulnerable core, and my life experiences carreered down that road too .... boarding school, boarding for uni, then an inlaw family from warrior tribes (both sides(0) who have been through hellish war experiences.

@Former-Member has the same sort of empathetic core .... in the process of re-growing a shell, if you want to look at it that simplistically .... but of course we are all full of individual colour and differences that add more dynamic than that ....

And you have that empathetic core as well .... so many of us here do ....

I had a wise, loving teacher-mum for 12 short years ... then a few more years by remote before she passed ....

A community can help carry the place of absent parents. That is part of the healing nature of these forums I think. I can clearly see the spirit of who my mum was here ....

❤️🌷💕

I have not been home long and have just crashed on my bed for now. I am feeling exhausted. I guess I really wanted to be ok and come home reinvigorated or feel like I had a purpose or mission after fridays appointment worked so well. I stalled leaving her office again as I was already fearing coming home and falling in a heap.

I think you both hit the nail on the head @Faith-and-Hope, @Former-Member and perhaps this has shaken me from today's session too. I learned today something which I didn't realise until now (discussing it here) was the case. Kind of too ashamed to talk about it but I just realised that your previous posts have helped me to recognise something that was my homework for this week. Sorry this is all vague.

Thanks @Shimmer too.

💜🤗

And I'm so sorry it has taken so long to post back as my brain is really not working well. I'm not sure but I think I was better functioning brain wise on my last antidepressants. I'm really struggling more to think lately.

@Faith-and-Hope I think I build my shell too young and it's is too thick and everything underneath is locked up tightly in a box. I don't remember any of my childhood before 9, so I can't really say much about it and what shaped me - which is why I want therapy, even though I'm scared.
@Former-Member, has been a massive support to me, I just wish I could help her back.
I know I go here to get support I can't get from the parents I live with.

No problem at all with the vagueness of posts @Former-Member .... the important thing is that they are helping provide clarity for you.

And we all have brain-fog days, with or without meds involved .... read: that's okay too ..... ❣

You do help me back @Former-Member. I think you've helped me loads lately and I've been learning from you. And @Faith-and-Hope is the rock that is there for me with loads of snippets of wisdom and now picks me too easily (every time you write read this 😊 you are pretty much on the money). Today's therapy was trying to find distance to my inner critic and I am really struggling to find or create that distance, her voice and thoughts are mine. She is the one who wants me to self destruct right now and the one who wants me to die. See you both helped me to find my first bit of distance (my homework). Thank you both from the bottom of my heart.

💜🤗