Answered questions(15)
Do I have OCD?
I’ve always been a bit of a double checker of things, but it’s gotten to the point now that I have a lot of trouble leaving the house. I have these crazy worries that I left the stove on or the iron is plugged in or the electrical wire is dangling out of the socket. Before I leave the house and before I got to bed I have to check and recheck everything like 5 times – and I’ll usually end up getting out of bed or unlocking the door after leaving to go back and check things a few more times before I can reluctantly leave it alone. I used to really like to smoke marijuana but I had to give it up because it just drove my anxieties about this kind of stuff into super overdrive and I’d literally stay up for hours into night just so I could monitor the house so it wouldn’t burn down. If I use the stove at any point near when I have to go I have to check that it’s off and cooled down an insane number of times. I’ve told a few friends about what I go through and they laugh it off and say they do the same thing…but I don’t think they could to the same level, because I really have a hard time even leaving the house anymore. Oddly enough, if I am with someone else and they do the checking, I don’t worry at all and can leave without distress. I also brought it up with my doctor at a recent check-up but he said that people with OCD are much more affected and that my behavior remains within the normal range. He recommended relaxation exercises as a way to overcome compulsive feelings. Based on what I have described, do you think I have OCD? If so, will medication help me?
Read answer →Anxiety Can Be Conquered
I cannot pee in a urinal. I can be naked at the gym and be OK with it but if I am at a urinal and another person comes up I just pretend I am done and wait until the person leaves and go back to try again. This is embarrassing. I know this is not totally uncommon but I am not really comfortable discussing this with my friends. How do I overcome this problem?
Read answer →Scaring Yourself with Worry
I started to feel really stressed out a couple of weeks before Christmas. I get really anxious about spending time with my family. I got through it Ok but I still feel really stressed and worried all the time. I feel like I am scared of something all the time but I don’t know what I am scared is going to happen. Should I be worried that this feeling is not going away even though I am back in my own place again now?
Read answer →Arachnophobia Needn't Affect Your Children
I have a strong phobia of spiders and bugs. If one lands on me I will scream and panic….(I bug out! Haha…that’s my fallback phobia joke) I have 2 young children and I am clearly teaching them that bugs that a normal person would not consider dangerous are things to be deeply afraid of. I have given up hope of ever living normally with insects but I do not want to pass my problem on to my children. The challenge is that even though I say flies or beetles are not dangerous the way I react when I see one in the house teaches them the exact opposite. They are too young to understand phobias (they are 3 and 5). How can I safeguard them?
Read answer →Movies That Respect Mental Illness
I want the people I meet (some of them) to understand anxiety. I am sick of people telling me to ‘just relaox’ or try getting a massage or taking the day off to distress. I know they mean well but people really are clueless about what it is like. The problem is every movie or show that I have ever seen that shows mental illness seems to make a joke out of it, or the main character can get better and happy by the end just because someone loves her or something. Do you know of any movies or shows that accurately portray mental illness. I wish there was one that I could just tell people to watch so they would get it.
Read answer →Interview Anxiety
I am a hugely qualified candidate that is 2 years out of a Master’s degree program and I am still unemployed. The reason: I freeze up with anxiety in interviews. At the worst this has led me to cut-short an interview because I think I was having a panic attack but normally I just freeze up mentally so when they ask questions, even about subjects I am incredibly knowledgeable about, I can’t think of a thing to say and come off looking like an idiot. Unfortunately, I do not get better at interviews with practice… like everyone keeps telling me I will. If anything, it is the opposite. The more I mess up in interviews the more sure I am that I will mess up when going into a new interview and so I walk in feeling already pessimistic and anxious. Here’s the weird thing…I am not an anxious person in other areas of my life. A friend suggested toast masters as a way to relieve my problem and I tried it and had no issue with it, because I am fine with public speaking …it is only this one narrowly defined situation that causes me problems. What do you suggest I do to reverse this?
Read answer →How much is too much worry?
How do I know if my anxiety is normal or not? I have always been a person who thinks a lot about things and it is rare that I don’t lie awake for a while most nights worrying about something or other. This is just always the way I have been, since I have been an adult anyway. A friend recently suggested that my worrying wasn’t normal and that I should consider seeing someone about it. It really surprised e to hear her say this as I had never really considered the possibility that I might be mentally ill. So is how I am normal or abnormal – and how can I tell the difference between the two?
Read answer →Night Terrors
This month I started waking up in the middle of the night with cold sweats and pounding heartbeat and every time I wake up I feel like I am dying and I can’t even think because I am so afraid. It takes my wife a few minutes to reach through to me before I can hear her talking to me. Are these panic attacks? I am under a lot of stress right now. They are horrible beyond any words I can think of to describe how they feel.
Read answer →Do Quick Fixes Work?
Would you recommend EFT? I have problems with anxiety and phobias and I often self medicated with alcohol and valium as a way to deal with my anxiety. I am interested in the way EFT seems to cure people of their anxieties quite quickly because I have not had much luck with CBT. It sounds a little weird though and I am not sure if I should take it seriously or not.
Read answer →Stressed Out? Don't Wait to Get Help.
My new job is basically an accounts management position. There is a lot of responsibility and stress. Ever since I was promoted 8 months ago I have felt a lot of stress and anxiety all the time. I thought it would get better as I got into the position but it hasn’t, though I have become adept at my new responsibilities. As I understand it, anxiety is unreasonable fear and worry and stress is worry that is proportional to a situation. My worries are proportional to my responsibilities but when my stomach is in twists at night it feels a lot more like anxiety. As I understand it if it is constant anxiety I need medication or therapy but if it is just too much stress I need to focus on eliminating stress right? I think it is stress but I am not sure because if it is just stress why has the way I feel not changed even though I have become much better at my job? Should I see a psychologist?
Read answer →Overwhelming Sound is Not Good for You
I own a quick service meal-salad kiosk that opened a second location in a subway station. I am there 12 hours a day and the noise level at peak times is overwhelming. Sometimes I feel like I can’t take it anymore. Like it is actually driving me crazy. I just feel frantic and an edge all the time. I never felt so affected by noise before so it is not something I ever considered before launching the venture. It takes me hours to calm down after a day off jangled nerves. How worried should I be about this feeling I am having? I am not in a position where I can make any changes financially.
Read answer →What to do about long waits for appointments
What are you supposed to do when you are in a mental health crisis and you are told that you cannot possibly get an appointment to see a psychiatrist for 9 weeks. Can I just go to a hospital and tell them, in the ER that I feel like killing myself even if I really don’t just so they will be forced to take me on a psychiatric hold so I can get some help today? My issues are PTSD with disassociation.
Read answer →Anxiety is Scary
I have GAD, panic disorder and now, to really make my life great, I’ve developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I am living with constant bloating and pain and there are so many things that I eat that leave me running to the toilet for hours after. I feel like a prisoner here at home because whenever I go out my urgent need to use the toilet seems to get worse and it’s really stressful and it really doesn’t help with my anxiety or panic to get those cramps and feel my heart quicken and know that I am about to soil myself. The only way I knew how to deal with my anxiety was to try to relax through deep breathing exercises and to remind myself that my anxiety was false response to a non-dangerous threat. With my crazy diarrhea deep breathing exercises are a joke and the ‘threat’ of embarrassing myself in public is unfortunately all too real. I feel trapped in a circle here. How can I manage and live with IBS without triggering anxiety?
Read answer →Scaring Yourself with Your Fear
My wife started having panic attacks last year and now she only feels OK outside of the house when she is with me and right close next to me. This is hard for both of us since she doesn’t want to go anywhere or do anything without me and because I work long hours and it can be very tiring to have to do everything with her after work. How can she get a little more confidence back so she can start going off on her own again?
Read answer →I survived a REAL crisis! But what's next?
After my mother died 2 years ago, I quit my job and started a record label with a friend of mine. I thought I was going to take over the music business... however, after only a few weeks I began believing something was wrong. I just couldn't identify what it was... I had difficulties sleeping, couldn't concentrate... soooo scared the business would go wrong. "OMG, what's going on, I can't afford to fail.. keep going, keep going... " was all I kept thinking... Then, for some reason I felt that I had to spend myself to success. it was silly I know- buying expensive suits, a new BMW... I left my girlfriend, at first blaming her for my panic attacks, that she wasn't helping at all (in fact she's been faultless). My business partner was beginning to be irritated, too.. well to cut it short: we were lucky, and secured a few record deals. A year later, things have improved a lot. I know I've been acting recklessly.... but this is not why I came here. I would like to find out how you would approach a difficult period in life, if you were me... the next time around. Would you seek treatment? Honestly I am still scared. Scared, that I may happen again, and that this time I won't be as lucky... so, I guess I am scared of my anxieties. It is crazy, no? Thanks for your time, sir. Buster
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