[Pink3032]

Hi im new to forum.Im here to for support.I have Generalized Anxiety and sometimes i suffer with mild to moderated. Symptoms of Gad.i was encouraged by my therapist to join a support group.I guess she wanted me to realize that im not the only that struggle with gad.If anyone would like to share with me how they cope with this.im. open to the advice.Lately ive been having trouble sleeping and my mind wont shut off and its making me look really stress because im not sleeping At all .Also what can i do about intrusive thought?

[stages]

hi, pink! welcome to the forums i'm new here myself. i also have generalized anxiety disorder, as well as ADHD. i'm doing ok lately but when my anxiety kicks up i still don't cope very well, but it's all about progress right? right now im often unable to prevent anxiety or panic attacks but deep breathing and medication helps delay them and recover more quickly.

sometimes if im worried about a worst-case scenario i will imagine going through it and focus on what might happen afterwards. for example if im worried one of my friends is dead because they haven't talked to me in a week, i will imagine finding out they are dead, grieving, and most importantly recovering, and things i might do afterwards like meeting new people or picking up a new hobby. it helps i guess because i am 'experiencing' the situation and 'surviving' it so it is kind of like an internal exposure therapy or something?

unfortunately i dont have advice for difficulty getting to sleep or intrusive thoughts, i have those but neither has been a big problem. actually oversleeping is a bigger problem for me

[Pink3032]

Your advice was very helpul and i look foward to meeting new people here that help me cope when im going through symptoms of Gad. Some people dont understand anxiety if they dont have it .So im glad that i can come to these forums and talk to other people who have the samething.Your right it is all about progress and over the last 3 years i have made alot of progress through counseling and working on it myself.

[stages]

you're welcome, i'm glad i could help ! yes, i've also found that a lot of people without an anxiety disorder aren't very understanding.

something that's happened several times is, during a casual conversation someone describes a time they were irrationally anxious, so i share some of my own experiences (often the stranger ones because i think they're funny in retrospect). but the person is shocked and concerned and asks if i'm 'okay', and only then do i realize that they don't relate to my experiences at all! it ends awkwardly at best..

i'm glad you've made a lot of progress. hearing about other people's improvements reminds me of my own, and that there's lots of positive possibilities in our futures, not just the possibilities we dread