Depression and Anxiety Thread
- Thread starter JohnBM01
- 2,241 comments
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Not true.
When I'm depressed there is a mental mechanism that makes me want to get out of a depression ASAP. I'm almost always doing the right things (known by medical science and my own gut) when I'm depressed. Except staying away from benzos which are the main reason for getting very severely depressed with constant anxieties in the first place. If I knew this years ago, I wouldn't have had all the very severe depressions I had since 2006.
Put this on Reddit.
- 26,814
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
It is now Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. To me, there is a certain magic to Spring even for someone who loves cold weather like I do. I would say Spring sort of lifts your spirits. Always look for any sort of time that can elevate your spirits when you're down.
And as always... don't let depression or anxiety win.
And as always... don't let depression or anxiety win.
These things are not always possible. It is a fact that many people on this planet say that they are depressed but they just feel very bad. Being depressed is, like I always am when I relapse, is really and truly being depressed. Last year I lost between 18 and 20 kg in two months just by being depressed and having anxiety attacks all the time.
Trying to do some computer work or watch TV isn't even possible. The concentration makes me even more depressed, anxious and I can literally feel the stress coming up. So, what do I do, I lay down on the couch with my earplugs, put an eye mask on and try to relax through breathing exercises. Problems is that I fall asleep and wake up half an hour or one hour later feeling even more depressed.
Even getting up to go to the bathroom (WC) is too much. In my case I'm still able to think rationally but the irrational thoughts and pure anxiety takes over and messes everything up.
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- 26,814
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Social media can make some people depressed. That was the case when Chrissy Teigen (who I know NOTHING about) quit Twitter recently. I deleted my Instagram recently because of general dissatisfaction with the service along with a loss of interest in trying to make content for my IG. I almost felt like making one last post before I officially wanted to delete my account. However, I simply left without warning. I did tell my Facebook friends and Twitter friends that I left IG.
I guess I have reached a point where I've lost interest in a few things. A loss of interest is a sign of depression, and you don't have to be properly diagnosed with depression to have these symptoms. The clinical term for a loss of interest is called anhedonia. I guess certain feelings from the past have helped contribute to me not feeling as productive. You know, this even pertains to my time on Twitch. I found myself recently unfollowing channels I either don't really watch much anymore or don't feel I as important or loved anymore. This even includes being around people elsewhere whom I thought I was cool with. So maybe I am facing a manifestation of various depressing thoughts.
I always say, GTPlanet... we are all fighting the same battle. We must try to work together to help us all battle depression, anxiety, and any other mental health issues we have. It is best to have other people look out for you instead of be alone in dealing with mental health. You can go through life alone, but it is better having a support system of some kind.
Don't let depression and/or anxiety win.
I guess I have reached a point where I've lost interest in a few things. A loss of interest is a sign of depression, and you don't have to be properly diagnosed with depression to have these symptoms. The clinical term for a loss of interest is called anhedonia. I guess certain feelings from the past have helped contribute to me not feeling as productive. You know, this even pertains to my time on Twitch. I found myself recently unfollowing channels I either don't really watch much anymore or don't feel I as important or loved anymore. This even includes being around people elsewhere whom I thought I was cool with. So maybe I am facing a manifestation of various depressing thoughts.
I always say, GTPlanet... we are all fighting the same battle. We must try to work together to help us all battle depression, anxiety, and any other mental health issues we have. It is best to have other people look out for you instead of be alone in dealing with mental health. You can go through life alone, but it is better having a support system of some kind.
Don't let depression and/or anxiety win.
- 17,115
- United Kingdom
Anybody got any insights into how Anxiety and ADHD interact?
- 29,925
- Thailand
I’ll ask my father. He’s got a hearty dose of both with some Tourette’s mixed in for good measure.
- 17,115
- United Kingdom
- 29,925
- Thailand
Interesting. I’ll have a discussion with him over the weekend and see what he can tell me about those two things and I’ll report back if I get anything useful.
- 2,926
- United Kingdom
- 26,814
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I never think people are fake, and I never question if some people are real or not. I know even people who only post positive material online or always seem happy have their own lives and issues. I was reminded of this when I saw one Twitch streamer this past weekend, who is usually smiling and laughing in her streams, broke down into tears because of some personal issue that impacted her life recently. It is why I hope for the best for everyone. Hopefully someone does not have to experience such problems, but I always hope people can remain happy and positive regardless of what is going on in the world. And if you do need help, talk to someone and hope that someone can be understanding and work to help return you to a state of happiness. We are all fighting the same mental health battles. Let's try to help ease the tensions in our lives if we can. And if you do need some help with your mental health, you are not a disgrace to society; you just need help. We should help issues rather than exasperate them. As the motto of my life issues blog goes, "life happens."
As for me, I haven't really been myself lately. So far this year, I've left a few online services, I have unfollowed Twitch channels I don't really visit anymore, and just overall feel uninterested in a lot of things. Among the online services, I retired from Instagram and will soon retire using Wordpress to try my hand at making a GitHub Page for my online work. I also still feel like people whom I've cared about online (including here on GTPlanet) may no longer care about me. Maybe this is just a lull in my life I'm going through.
Again- don't let depression and/or anxiety win. Get help where you can, when you can.
As for me, I haven't really been myself lately. So far this year, I've left a few online services, I have unfollowed Twitch channels I don't really visit anymore, and just overall feel uninterested in a lot of things. Among the online services, I retired from Instagram and will soon retire using Wordpress to try my hand at making a GitHub Page for my online work. I also still feel like people whom I've cared about online (including here on GTPlanet) may no longer care about me. Maybe this is just a lull in my life I'm going through.
Again- don't let depression and/or anxiety win. Get help where you can, when you can.
- 29,925
- Thailand
@JohnBM01, I certainly can’t speak for everyone on GTP, or even for those who post here regularly, but I feel that if any of the members on this site care and take each other’s issues seriously, it’s the posters in this thread.
Having a place to occasionally vent about depression and how tough life is at any current time seems much easier with others who understand and may be going through the same.
In short, we care, and we are cared about, by others in here who understand what it’s like to be a bit down in the dumps.
If your in a bit of a lull, as you say, my own response would be to use it to appreciate how good things have been or will be on the other side. It’s hard to see through the mist of a downer, but having been at rock bottom so many times I’m able appreciate when things aren’t so bad. Hopefully this approach may open up a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for you. Maybe not, who knows, depression in any for is a mother****er.
Take care, and continue to get it off your shoulders here if you need to.
Having a place to occasionally vent about depression and how tough life is at any current time seems much easier with others who understand and may be going through the same.
In short, we care, and we are cared about, by others in here who understand what it’s like to be a bit down in the dumps.
If your in a bit of a lull, as you say, my own response would be to use it to appreciate how good things have been or will be on the other side. It’s hard to see through the mist of a downer, but having been at rock bottom so many times I’m able appreciate when things aren’t so bad. Hopefully this approach may open up a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for you. Maybe not, who knows, depression in any for is a mother****er.
Take care, and continue to get it off your shoulders here if you need to.
- 26,814
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
You're right, W3HS. Thank you. It does take courage to admit sharing such issues in your life, but that's the environment I wanted to provide here. I'm glad we all can share our issues and get the needed help.
All of us are going to go through lulls. It's all about how we get through them.
All of us are going to go through lulls. It's all about how we get through them.
Please read the article, look at the last website. It is important.
I tried it and it works.
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/benefits-of-cold-showers
I tried it and it works.
https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2020/07/are-cold-showers-good-for-you-an-unlikely-immunity-booster/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17993252/
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/benefits-of-cold-showers
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- 13,866
- Adelaide
- Neomone
The other way around. Untreated ADHD tends to look a lot like anxiety, particularly in adults. And also particularly as there's a spectrum of ADHD types and quite a lot of them don't look like what a lot of people assume stereotypical ADHD looks like. There is a strong co-morbidity with a lot of other mental health disorders, including anxiety disorders, so it's entirely possible to just have both from the outset.
My understanding is that ADHD isn't something that grows over time, although it can get worse or at least more damaging in the ways that it impacts your ability to live your life. It's a structural difference in the brain as to how it produces and uses dopamine and ultimately how the whole executive functioning part of the brain works. If you have it you've had it your whole life, and you should be able to see some evidence of it from childhood. It doesn't develop later in life if it wasn't there early, or at least not later in life than your teens.
The problem is it's not that ADHD people can't function and do everything that a neurotypical person can do, it's just that some stuff is harder for them. That's stressful and consumes a lot of mental energy, but they usually just get told to try harder and stop sucking so much. Which leads to burn out, anxiety, depression, and just general stress as they desperately try to cope at doing things in ways that their brains are totally not equipped to handle. Which then looks a whole lot like "normal" mental illness, but it's not and treating it the same way straight up doesn't work.
It's also more common that most people think, about 5% of the population is the number I remember hearing. If you want a starter test you can try this one, but it can be hard to answer in a way that doesn't feel very vague. I've found a more useful thing to be going on Youtube or other social media and listening to experts or other people with ADHD talk about their experiences and see how well they match up to your own. If you have ADHD then meeting or seeing other ADHD people often feels very familiar.
It wouldn't surprise me if untreated anxiety could also lead to ADHD-like symptoms (without actually being ADHD in a clinical sense), but annoyingly ADHD symptoms are so broad that it's basically impossible to diagnose on symptoms alone. But in that case you would probably expect the ADHD-like compulsions to go away when the anxiety is treated I guess, but I'm no psychiatrist.
- 4,122
- United States
I just has a realization about the suicidal thoughts I have from time to time.
It's not that I want to kill myself, but actually my old self. I'm so happy to have realized that, and as long as I keep trying to be a better person, I will be happy with who I am, and not who I was.
It's not that I want to kill myself, but actually my old self. I'm so happy to have realized that, and as long as I keep trying to be a better person, I will be happy with who I am, and not who I was.
- 29,925
- Thailand
I brought it up this past weekend on a call with my father and he’s not sure how they factor into each other, only that his anxiety didn’t kick in until later in life, early 20s, but the ADHD and Tourette’s were both there for a young age.
It could be that as hyperactive state of youth subsided or became more under control with maturity, the anxiety become stronger.
Other than speculation, there’s not much either of us can say on the subject that isn’t anecdotal.
- 17,115
- United Kingdom
Thanks for the comments @W3HS @HenrySwanson @Imari
Hmm, this gets down to it I suppose. What ever the condition or diagnosis is, nothings going to change without treatment. That's perhaps what I need to get in to my head.
Hmm, this gets down to it I suppose. What ever the condition or diagnosis is, nothings going to change without treatment. That's perhaps what I need to get in to my head.
- 13,866
- Adelaide
- Neomone
One of the explanations that I've seen is that the anxiety comes when your ADHD starts seriously restricting your ability to live your life as you want to. For most teenagers you're largely guaranteed food and shelter and if stuff doesn't get done then the worst that happens is that parents and teachers maybe yell at you. It's impairing but not in a way that necessarily impacts your safety or relationships.
As an adult suddenly there are real consequences if you can't control your symptoms enough to regularly turn up and do your job, get the bills paid, maintain your house, buy food, etc. Whether you recognise it consciously or not, having to fight your own brain in order to accomplish what other people find to be relatively trivial with major costs for failing is very stressful, and that often comes in as anxiety. And rightly so, anxiety seems to me like a completely rational and sensible response to that situation.
I don't know much about Tourette's but I could see how a similar sort of logic could apply.
You asked the right question. It's very hard to see that something is not right from the inside. It took me 35 years of struggling before I finally realised that actually something wasn't right and that I was just lazy, nervous and oversensitive like I'd been told my whole life. And honestly, being able to look at it in the same way as a cold or a broken leg is actually pretty refreshing. It's an adversity to overcome but one that you had absolutely no part in creating, you just got unlucky.
You don't have to go straight for treatment if that feels uncomfortable. It is completely okay to go and talk to someone about your concerns with no immediate expectation of treatment options - feel out the ground and gather information if that's what you want to do. Or if you want treatment then by all means go for it, in my experience even trying something that doesn't ultimately work out feels better because you're taking control and starting to push back against something that's making your life difficult.
Neurotypicals make a big fuss about "if you're gonna do something, do it right". It's BS. For people with ADHD the whole problem is getting started, and so that's just putting barriers to entry. "If you're gonna do something, don't be afraid to half-ass it" is what works for me. I convince myself to do the absolute minimum, because it's better than nothing. My recommendation would be whatever is the easiest and least confronting way for your to start engaging with someone who might lead to a diagnosis or treatment, do that.
Or at least I guess the next step up from talking to friends on GTPlanet.
I had another cold shower. I always start at around max. 30°C but today, 30°C was too warm. There must be something wrong with the thermostat faucet (don't know the correct English word) because the water started to feel colder a little bit below 25°C. I went to 18°C and after a while it was an amazing pleasant feeling.
Important note: don't use cold water on your head. Only your face and the rest of your body, never on your head.
Important note: don't use cold water on your head. Only your face and the rest of your body, never on your head.
- 2,926
- United Kingdom
A couple of hours. Max. 3 hours. I mean the extra energy I get immediately during the cold shower. If you mean the adjustment to the t° I can't say because I only started taking cold showers.
Yesterday I took a cold shower again and my energy went up 100%. Also, I feel much better when I woke up this morning.
In the beginning, I had to start at 30°C and lower the temperature gradually to around 21°C. Now I can start at 25°C and it still feels like it's too warm. I ended at 18°C and it feels so good after a while.
This link was posted by @Jordan somewhere in this thread about cold water on your body to fight anxiety.
In the beginning, I had to start at 30°C and lower the temperature gradually to around 21°C. Now I can start at 25°C and it still feels like it's too warm. I ended at 18°C and it feels so good after a while.
This link was posted by @Jordan somewhere in this thread about cold water on your body to fight anxiety.
