I think I’m losing my mind! – Are You?
Have you been feeling weird lately? Like things are slightly off? Or not as energetic as you might like?
Yes?
Thought so. How’d I know?
Because it’s perfectly normal to be somewhat tired, somewhat drained, somewhat unhappy! It’s a hell of a lot easier to complain and feel crappy than it is to realize how good things really are.
But if you are seriously concerned about your mental health, the list below offers some questions that you might ask yourself. If you see yourself in them, it may be worth thinking about seeing a shrink or getting some kind of help.
General
I can’t concentrate as well anymore.
I feel different over the past few weeks.
My friends are worried about me.
Mood disorders
Have you felt seriously down or unmotivated for more than a few weeks? Or have you felt irrationally happy, or excited, spending money casually?
Do you no longer enjoy doing things you used to?
Anxiety Disorders
Do you worry a lot? Is it hard for you to relax? Are there things that just make you panic?
Does the memory of some traumatic event keep coming back to you?
Psychosis/Schizophrenia
Do you believe people are out to get you? Can you read other people’s thoughts?
Does the TV sometimes talk directly to you?
Dissociative disorders
Do you often feel like things aren’t real? Do you sometimes not remember what you did over a period of time?
Eating Disorders
Do you have difficulty eating? Do you count calories or restrict how much you eat?
Or do you eat too much and sometimes purge?
Substance use disorders
Is there something that you couldn’t live without – literally? Would stopping a substance result in physical symptoms?
Do you often blackout?
You might like:
Get Help! Seriously. You need it!
Source:
Abnormal Psychology, Hansell
I think mee too:
I stand there, looming over my skyline, poised for action, waiting and watching for the ceaseless tide of blanked-out commuters to appear, as they surge down the narrow Victorian terraced streets in a polluted ocean of greys and muddy browns. I want to be amongst them as much as I loathe and despise them, if only so I could loathe and despise myself without any recurring guilt. I whisper to them that I know where they’re going, I know what they’re doing, I know what they each want to be.
So I have not been thinking. I have been devoid of thought. In truth, I still am. Like any pretentious lover of words, I harbour a vain and pretentious desire to attach the label of Writer’s Block to my humdrum affliction, were it not for the fact that (a) I could not look myself in the face without guffawing; (b) I am not a writer; and (c) what ails me is not so much a blockage, but more of a vacuum. Indeed, I am a virtual Hoover, just without the crucial sucking action. I am empty of brain. When my front door slams shut, I hear it echoed precisely seventy-three times between left ear and right. Insects frequently use me as a vaguely scenic shortcut across the pillows at night.
In summary – and even if you don’t need a summary by now, I certainly do – I am no longer a productive member of society. Or of the human race. Or of the inhuman race. I need rescuing from myself, from the cesspit of pointlessness into which I find myself tumbling, flailing around, swallowing toxic effluent mixed with tinned peaches, and washing it all down with industrial quantities of black-hearted caffeine.
We need to help each other now
Caffeine pumps through me like oil into a tanker; crude, imperfect, and loaded with energy producing substances.
The drive is long and pointless; who cares how far it is to Jersey from New York, and why bother racing with other cars who care not the least about your frantic efforts to make a difference?
But you do, and the car always need more fuel.
im going crazy. i dont know what to do.
try to find a good friend to talk to, or set up an appointment with a therapist. things can and will get better! =)
I’m about to lose it!
I’m 24 years old, a full-time student at the University taking 17 credit hours, I work full-time for a satellite company, I teach Sunday school, assist coaching Junior High football and have my first baby due in two weeks (finals week). I’ve been dong great up til now. So far i’m getting all A’s in my classes and I feel like it’s all going to go down hill. I just don’t care for much anymore. I still go about my day as I normally would but I can’t focus, I’m not motivated, like I was winning a marathon and on the final mile I start walking, because I just don’t care.
Jays, I’m sorry to hear that things haven’t been going well for you. Have you considered seeing someone and getting help? Therapy can make a real difference.
Jays, I’m sorry to hear that things haven’t been going well for you. Have you considered seeing someone and getting help? Therapy can make a real difference.
I look around to the people in interact with on a daily basis and realize that nothing about my life with them is real. They know nothing of who i am as a person, only as a worker bee. I can’t trust anyone around me. Everyone i know will hurt me because they either they already have or, well, they already have. I feel as though my wife, who i should love above all else, is the one who is hurting me the most. I dont know what she’s doing but i know she has to be up to something. I have horrible, horrible thoughts i can not begin to even describe. Things that would make a normal person have nightmares. Please what should i do
Dear Adam,
I’m sorry to hear that. I am not an expert and don’t know much about mental issues but it sounds like making an appointment to see a therapist might be a good idea. It sounds like things are getting a little hard for you, and someone who is an expert on those issues could help you figure things out and make your life better =)
i had to say yes to must of all that but i think it be easy to give up then to try to fix it every time i get happy something go’s wrong.
I constantly dwell on the past I’ll realive past experiences and just get this weird feeling like I cant get over it, like it tears me up on the inside, it really is getting old but I cant shake it but thats just one problem, I constantly worry about things I really cant control and the things I can control like a future, i’ll get something started and just give up, but when someone else has a problem and they ask me questions I seem to have to answers and when I bring it up to them they say the same thing and it just doesnt get through, I just feel dumb all the time like my concentration is not there at all I dont know maybe it just me, maybe its nothing but it really getting old like if I dont get over my mind messing with me i’m going to be stuck in this hole until its too late
I think I’m loseing my mind. When I try doing something I would just 4get what I was doing and do other stuff . And I don’t trust many ppl I spand to much money to make myself feel good but it not helping I feel like all my friends aren’t really my friends I can’t focuse enymore I hate the future I don’t like not knowing what’s ganna happen next
mariana,
please write a novel. Â you owe it to yourself and society. Â the pain you feel is just a deeper spiritual calling, and you have a real gift. Â after all, the majority of great artists have been insane. to be great is to be misunderstood.
I am an Expat working in East Africa. Therapy Services in my location are difficult to find, as mental health issues are still seen in a very negative light. Do you know of ANY online services that I can use. I really need help, re-locating, recent loss, stress and anxiety are probably going to send me to an early grave.
Please help.
S.
@Eric, you just described me down to the letter. I’ve become highly sensitive and paranoid. I dwell on the past and stupid details. A mionth ago an event triggered paranoia into high gear and It’s on the verge of costing me my marriage and family. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can’t work or concentrate I find myself in constant deep breaths and drinking tons of water. I’ve tried working out. Only drinking alcohhol annd talking to my wife has soothed me.. but it’s very short lived and her patiences is running out.
Hi im 17 i was enjoying my life up until this point I go to college, have a part time job and i recently started working out again going on regular runs etc.
Two days ago i had a massive anxiety attack. This is somthing i have never suffered from ever since, I cannot think straight it feels as if the stuff i do isn’t worth it, i don’t know if its down to exhaustion or other. I don’t know properly what i am doing feels as if everything is a blur, i keep thinking i’m going crazy. I didn’t go in college today because i thought what really is the point, before this attack i was so motivated to do well i wanted to go to university and had great ambitions, now i cannot be bothered thinking about college, work, socialising or anything else. i am constantly scared and don’t know how to deal with it.
Is it worth going to see my Doctor, or is this just what people go through in life?
I am having a nervous breakdown. Â I have no friends anymore. Â I had to break up with my loser boyfriend because he constantly lies to me and keeps shit from me. Â I just had to move back home into a house where I don’t belong. Â The only things that make me happy are my dogs. Â I don’t have a job right now because I just moved and I feel like a fucking loser. Â I hate this life of mine. Â It could not get any worse. or maybe it will after I just said that. Â According to my abusive boyfriend I am a jealous bitch and will always be alone. Â I don’t know what to do anymore. Â Everything in my life I feel like I have failed miserably. from keeping friends to boyfriends. Â I’m beginning to think it is me. Â Wtf is wrong with me. Â i have absolutely no self esteem and feel worthless. If someone could take the pain away I would let them. Â I’m too pussy to do it myself. Â Why do I always end up in these situations? Â all alone and no one to talk to except a computer. Â I have no one to turn to. it’s so fucking sad. Â How come he can move on just fine and not be upset? Â Why doesn’t he feel the least bit bad for what he put me through? Â It’s like it’s always my fault. Â Who the fuck lies about having a kid with someone else? Â who the fuck does that? 2 years down the fucking drain. all because of his lying and keeping shit from me. and he wonders why I don’t trust him. worthless pig. i will never forgive and never trust anyone ever again. fukc him. once again i get screwed over. Â please if there is a god help me. Â I don’t really believe in a god but i’d like to start believing in something. i need a reason worth living. i don’t want to start drinking again and numbing all of the pain. i jsut don’t know what to do.
@Jf. Â You may feel that you are a looser because of all the hurt that you have been through. Â Its not easy, I have been there myself. Â The real truth is that he is the loser. Â Keeping the identity of his child hidden from you is down right pathetic. Â Did he really expect you to say : “oh yes you have hidden the fact of this child from me for 2 years, lets party?!” Â My dear, he is the fucking loser, not you!! AND DONT EVER THINK OTHERWISE!!!
When I left my abusive bf, he told me pretty much the same thing that you have heard yourself: Â ”…blah blah blah jealous bitch….blah blah useless, worthless,etc”. Â And for a while I believed that no-one would want me, I realised that abusive men do that! They break us down to a point where we are so dependent on them, that no matter what they do we will always go back. Â Â You are stronger than that. Â Picking up the pieces wont be easy, but you are already on the right track by leaving him. Â In time the hurt will heal, and you will love again, though it wont feel like it now. Â You will also be on the watch out for warning signs for abusive relationship partners (which is a good things :) )
Keep your chin up, you are in  no way a loser,  and this one is definately not your fault.  Start a hobby while you pull yourself back together, like painting, or dancing, I found that it helped me find my self again after my first and last abusive relationship. :)
S.