**The Mental Health Thread**

MOOGLEYS said:
Having COVID is taking its toll on my Mental health my Anxiety and feelings of dread and just feeling horrible have returned. At times it feels like I’m just waiting to be worse. It does not help my Wife and kids also tested positive so have that to worry about too. I had been doing ok for quite a while but COVID and being unwell seems to have brought it all back. I know being unwell takes it’s toll but wowzers it’s hitting me hard.
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My old boss and his family had it. They said it was a very odd experience but a few months down the line it's a distant memory. It's very easy to let your imagination run away given all the media hype but try to keep things in perspective and stay positive buddy :)

I'm terrible for expecting the worst too so totally sympathise.
 
Narj said:
My old boss and his family had it. They said it was a very odd experience but a few months down the line it's a distant memory. It's very easy to let your imagination run away given all the media hype but try to keep things in perspective and stay positive buddy :)

I'm terrible for expecting the worst too so totally sympathise.
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Thanks mate... Overthinking and thinking the worst is definitely something I’m good at.
 
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It's been a month or so since I posted in here about finding what works for anxiety. I found some short term solutions in breathing exercises, time management and mindfulness.
The part I was apprehensive about was any prescriptions for treatment as I had talked about with the doc due to seeing family members become worse using them. That said I have been taking an SSRI (sertraline) for the past few weeks and wish I had started using it sooner. After feeling like I had an extended hangover everything has toned down to managable levels and I have been sleeping much better and more focused on productive things as a result.
 
I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but for those finding themselves in an existential crisis from time to time or feeling pangs of regret, the new Pixar film Soul is an excellent watch (dealing with heavy issues such as purpose and how to live life in a charming, light manner).
 
Nitefly said:
I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but for those finding themselves in an existential crisis from time to time or feeling pangs of regret, the new Pixar film Soul is an excellent watch (dealing with heavy issues such as purpose and how to live life in a charming, light manner).
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You're always very insightful (and I'm always having existential crises :D ). I'll give this a watch :)
 
MOOGLEYS said:
Great that you are getting good results from the meds. Hopefully the combination of meds and what you have already in place will help keep things a bit more manageable.
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Having a better suited app9 from the MO has helped too.
I saw the physio who established that CV is limited to walking, previously I had to stay on mainstream PT which meant stopping after a few minutes in every session. Extremely frustrating. It changed after I had an asthma attack a couple of minutes into an AFT build up session.
Huge difference in phys abilities when I could previously do lots of long distance running (half marathons, regt orienteering team).
 
Currently having CBT therapy for my mental health, I have really bad social anxiety which impacts my mood an other things, if i don't have regular social contact and get out of the house regularly etc i become very isolated and my social anxiety increases to the point where i find it hard to go out again. Last summer (2019) i made the best progress of my life, i was in a really good place, i reached the point of enjoying being outside, i had not been to my own town center for over 5 years due to my anxiety, it was like a new start at life. This year was a huge set back in that regard, I've lost all of the momentum i gained and i have become extremely isolated
again.

This has been the story of my life, I've struggled with sever anxiety since i was a child. CBT isn't really helping, i felt a bit of a weight lifted of my shoulders speaking to somebody about it but overall i no longer find that its helping but i am sticking at it.

At the moment I've been feeling really hopeless, like my life has no meaning or purpose, i lose interest in things really fast and struggle to find enjoyment in things.
 
MookJong said:
I think for most people their children are a bit of a relief, their life gets a direction and can basically become about someone else. But of course childhood is short lived, soon the child become an adult with no real purpose and the process usually starts again. For what end nobody wants to talk about. Death isn't the big taboo in society, in my opinion it's life.
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A really interesting post, particularly this bit. I said to a colleague I had no interest in having kids and he said “you get to a point where you realise there’s no point without them.” I think as humans we like to think our purpose and motivation is more than just continuing the existence of our species, but for some people that’s what it ultimately comes back to whether they realise or not.

I struggle with purpose a lot, and I’m not convinced having kids that will then grow up and have the same experience is really the solution, particularly given our caveman like urges to keep the bloodline going become a bit irrelevant when we are outstripping the resources we have available to us and we have no natural predators.
 
BassHead said:
Currently having CBT therapy for my mental health, I have really bad social anxiety which impacts my mood an other things, if i don't have regular social contact and get out of the house regularly etc i become very isolated and my social anxiety increases to the point where i find it hard to go out again. Last summer (2019) i made the best progress of my life, i was in a really good place, i reached the point of enjoying being outside, i had not been to my own town center for over 5 years due to my anxiety, it was like a new start at life. This year was a huge set back in that regard, I've lost all of the momentum i gained and i have become extremely isolated
again.

This has been the story of my life, I've struggled with sever anxiety since i was a child. CBT isn't really helping, i felt a bit of a weight lifted of my shoulders speaking to somebody about it but overall i no longer find that its helping but i am sticking at it.

At the moment I've been feeling really hopeless, like my life has no meaning or purpose, i lose interest in things really fast and struggle to find enjoyment in things.
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Stick with the CBT, it helped me to develop my toolkit, just a selection of practices I use when I get a wave of anxiety. But also hold onto the fact that you made massive progress last year. That's not lost, if you've done it once, you'll be stronger to do it again. Look back at photos from last year and remember how good it felt to be out and know that those times will come again. Make sure you try to keep regular contact with friends/family via any safe means. What's your exercise regime like?
 
I agree that kids can just be a temporary fix in some cases. The amount of women I know who got fed up then suddenly decide they wanted another baby to make things better is crazy. I'm sure it's the same for some men but I can't really offer an opinion there given I've never had any paternal instinct whatsoever. Children are fine as long as they aren't my responsibility. :D

I just plod along in my little bubble trying to enjoy the small things, spend time with nature, do creative stuff and so on.

Feelings of existential dread - I do find that looking up on a starry night never fails to trigger them. I think that's quite a normal thing. :D
 
Has anyone here suffered much with illnesses linked to their mental health? In my particular case I have (suspected) fibromyalgia which I think is linked to my mental health, just wondering how other people have coped or treated other ailments related to their mental state. Getting any referrals etc from the NHS is a bit of a pain at the moment (understandably), so I'm trying a lot of 'self help' etc.
 
gord said:
Stick with the CBT, it helped me to develop my toolkit, just a selection of practices I use when I get a wave of anxiety. But also hold onto the fact that you made massive progress last year. That's not lost, if you've done it once, you'll be stronger to do it again. Look back at photos from last year and remember how good it felt to be out and know that those times will come again. Make sure you try to keep regular contact with friends/family via any safe means. What's your exercise regime like?
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Yeah i am holding on to the progress i made last year, i believe i can do it again and get back to where i was, i am just hoping covid settles down some more in time for summer, funnily enough i recently started running, i purchased a treadmill and have been using it around 3 times per week sometimes more, i went from running 0.5 miles and feeling like i was going to die to being able to run 2 miles. Another funny thing is that i now want to begin running outside which i think would also help massively with my anxiety, 12 months ago i never dreamed i would take up running or be thinking about running outside at all which is pretty crazy. My anxierty is putting me off running outside at the moment but i plan to start going out at night when its quite once this snow we have melts, I hear running outside is harder than the treadmill which im also worried about but the idea of being able to run outside next year in nice weather without my anxiety stopping me would be fricking amazing and i know its possible.
 
Talked with my doctor again and switching to a different medication (venlafaxine) and signed off work for a few more weeks. Fingers crossed this does the trick because I'm kinda missing work if ya know what I mean? :confused:
 
I always thought feeling terrible around this time of year was a reaction to the boozing and overconsumption that typifies the Christmas period, but I still feel **** this year after being very abstemious over the break. Think it’s the doom of the return to work plus the worst two months of the year coming up. Always a struggle.
 
One More Solo said:
I always thought feeling terrible around this time of year was a reaction to the boozing and overconsumption that typifies the Christmas period, but I still feel **** this year after being very abstemious over the break. Think it’s the doom of the return to work plus the worst two months of the year coming up. Always a struggle.
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It might perhaps be s.a.d? I've struggled a bit with energy levels over the last month or so. I've not slept well and even with a sunrise alarm clock it's been a task to get out of bed. The days have been so grey lately.

Do you feel better in the spring/summer months ?
 
secretspy said:
It might perhaps be s.a.d? I've struggled a bit with energy levels over the last month or so. I've not slept well and even with a sunrise alarm clock it's been a task to get out of bed. The days have been so grey lately.

Do you feel better in the spring/summer months ?
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It definitely is, things are more manageable in the warmer months for sure. There is just something about the new year period in particular I struggle with though.
 
One More Solo said:
It definitely is, things are more manageable in the warmer months for sure. There is just something about the new year period in particular I struggle with though.
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Definitely relate to this. Something about marking the end of a period and starting new ones. Makes me fixate on long past friendships and relationships, and stuff I can't do anything about. Or things I'm not doing anything about now. Not great. The whole Christmas period is like this for me, with pressures to see family or catch up with people. I just keep my head down and hope it passes - this year was quite uneventful and I only had a twinge of the melancholic last night.
 
I can relate somewhat. I always dread Jan as it's my birthday month lol

The main thing affecting me currently is my energy levels or lack of. It was mentioned back in Nov that I probably do have chronic fatigue but the last 2 days have especially been a struggle. I'm finding it difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep (my cats have been disturbing me somewhat, recently) some mornings I've gotten up to feed the cats and then gone back to sleep for a couple of hours. The last two days I've tried just staying awake which works for a few hours but all throughout the day I find I'm nodding off. I then don't have the energy to cook so haven't been eating much lately :/

I didn't have the best start to the new years, won't go into details but wish I had just gone to bed at 10pm when I felt tired :(
 
One More Solo said:
I struggle with purpose a lot, and I’m not convinced having kids that will then grow up and have the same experience is really the solution, particularly given our caveman like urges to keep the bloodline going become a bit irrelevant when we are outstripping the resources we have available to us and we have no natural predators.
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I can related to this. Im mid thirties and have never really wanted children. They seem great at times but I like my own space and the choice to do what I want with the limited free time that we all have after work. I am getting to a stage where I feel like "is this it?".

Part of this is just that COVID is limiting my life to literally nothing at the moment. I don't even feel like going outside just for a walk really and all my core hobbies require travel or the facilities are currently closed. Feeling like our country is full of selfish ***** right now as despite barely leaving the house in weeks we seem to be getting way worse infection rates so clearly a large minority of people are ignoring the rules. Whenever I do go out I see people still not wearing masks.

Makes you think that maybe children give your life more purpose and some focus but its a massive decision to have children and with the way the world is heading with climate change and the general "me first" attitude I don't know how the world will be in 10-20 years. Its amazing to think that in under 100 years we have utterly ****** our planet and show no signs of slowing down.

I don't have anxiety or depression, I just struggle to see the point of it all.
 
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