well i am a social worker. i spoke to human resources today just wondering if i took some time off to address mental health issues if it was considered sick leave or personal time. now i am in a jam and she is insisting i take a leave of absence.

the thing is i function fine at work, i just go home and have a breakdown. i am really good at compartmentalization. if i ever feel overwhelmed with a client, i am able to say, "now is not the time" and stuff those feelings back in. then when there is free time, i can say now is the time and let those feelings free.

i have a couple of tips that work well for me to handle anxiety and panick. a way to stop panic attacks is to relax. it is physically impossible to panic and relax at the same time. you dont even have to really relax. just fool your brain into thinking you are relaxing. imagine as if you just did a meditation or had a massage and all your muscles have turned into limp noodles. just let them all go. this will stop the panic attack. you may have to do it a couple times over your first tries, but when i started doing this it ended the attacks and soon i never had a panic attack again,

i have this thing called an anxiety meter that i visualize in my head. it goes from 0 to 10, 10 being the worst anxiety ever. so when i am anxious, i see where the needle registers on the meter. then i do breathing exercises until i get it down to a four. which is manageable for me. sometimes i see a knob on the meter and i will manually turn down the meter to four so i can calm down faster. practicing this enough, all i have to do now when i am anxious is say dial down, and i can calm myself.

i hope this helps.