Irrational Thoughts & Anxiety...

Hello Everyone

Have you ever isolated yourself for a couple of days or more...and then go outside....and start thinking irrational thoughts...like.....everybody is watching me.......ppl are talking about me....this sense of impending doom...etc?

Suggestions on how to keep my mind reality based after isolating myself?

Thank-you

i have the "sky is falling" and "impending doom" thoughts occasionally. AND i hate it!!! i don't have any good suggestions about "focusing".....as i usually ride it out and go on.........xoxoxo pat

hey, yeah i have those.

what i do... is i try not to think of them as 'thoughts' so much as 'feelings'.

'i feel afraid that people might be watching me' etc.

that isn't so irrational. most people don't like to be gawped at. if one has been hurt before its understandable that one might feel a little afraid of people sometimes.

but...

at the very same time that one acknowledges that one does indeed feel afraid... one can also acknowledge that 'rationally' one knows that it is very unlikely that people are gawping and that even if they are they are probably thinking about what to have for dinner or whatever or are worrying about whether you will smile back at them if they smile at you.

sometimes that helps my fear feel a little less intense. and... i can 'fake it till i make it' which is to say... the feeling gradually reduces and fades away...

i think our minds start playing tricks on us after we have isolated for a time. i used to find the same thing going on for me after isolating for a few days. i'd get hallucinatory phenomena too where everything looked outlined in black (like a cartoon) and black would drip down things kind of. hard to describe. mostly the atmosphere was one of threat and i felt very generally afraid.

i think it is a mild form of sensory deprivation. if people are locked in a cupboard or an isotank or are enclosed in a submarine or a station at antartica or whatever... largely working by themselves... or are fishing for 13 hours a day by oneself in a canoe in alaska...

it can bring on delusions and hallucinations.

they say one of the worst forms of torture is... (this is really rather surprising)... being tied to a table flat on ones back (so one can't move) in the total dark... with a dripping tap dripping water onto your forehead.

drip...
...
drip...
...
drip...
...

apparantly the sensory deprivation (no info coming in via your other senses) along with the predictable, repetitive sensory stimulation in exactly the same place

drip...
...
drip...
...
drip...
...

starts to feel like the most painful think you could possibly imagine.

sensory deprivation seems to induce delusions and hallucinations too...

i think...

the answer might be...

to stop with the isolation?

The irrational thoughts that I was, and still do have are the hardest part to deal with regarding my anxiety.

Things have been getting a little more difficult for me lately so I went to Borders tonight and purchased a book because I find, at least for me, a sense of comfort when I read about my disorder. It reassures me that I am not alone, and at times, that is the only thing that keeps me going.

I can relate to what your going through, its tough. Please keep posting, talking. I'm here for you.

Jen

There is a great deal of 'grounding' suggestions at the top of the PTSD forum. I've used many of them and they help draw the focus away from the thought to something else, like noticing the soles of your feet when you walk. Sometimes I will wiggle my toes, even in my shoes; it is grounding and it is relaxing for me.

Hope they help you too.

Sometimes if it seems like I'm losing in the thought department, I "accept" it and do a "So what?" Thinking everyone's looking at you is extremely uncomfortable but doesn't really hurt anything? Things I quit fighting have a tendency to drift off and something else more "interesting" takes their place.

HI Everyone

I would like to thank-you all for your heart felt and thoughtful comments you have shared with me & others.

I am on a sedative & anti-depressant right now. I feel like a _________ zombie first thing in the morning and have LOW motivation to get up and do something with my day. Any suggestions on how to get myself going before noon?

Thanks again for your help

ah. the problem of 'symptom substitution'

;-)

i would try... setting your alarm clock up across the room so you have to get out of bed in order to turn it off.

i'd then do some kind of exercise (dance or something cardio) to get the heartrate up and get those natural opiates flowing.