im diagnosed with ocd panic anxiety depression and severe derealisation for 1 and a half year after a surgery. im so afraid becoming paychotic and recently wonder if im going paranoid i think maybe some pple outside try to harm me or outside is dangerous or wht if my parents are againts me i know these thoughts are foolish but at some point im afraid im believing these. wh should i do im so terrified
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You should talk to your doctor and see if you could get on an antipsychotic med.
Try your best to remain calm. I know it’s hard but you can control some of this.
Try this technique to calm down a bit, it helps ground you in reality …
- Rub your feet on the floor or ru you hands together until you can really feel the sensation change, keep doing it so you can really feel your hands rubbing togehter and the skin starts to feel really soft
- taste something like a peppermint or some fruit. Activate your taste sensation and savour whatever your tasting
- look at something calming, find a picture of mountains or countryside or the beach on the internet and really look at it for a while, take it all in.
- listen to some relaxing music. I listen to jazz or classical music, you might like something different.
- smell a nice perfume or essential oil. Take your time with it
It’s really important you get at least eight hours sleep at night and keep regular bed time and waking hours. Start a routine for when you wake up. Mine is, I have a drink of water, take my meds, and put on a pot of coffee then turn on my computer to read this forum.
Don’t isolate yourself. No one is out to get you, people are too interested in what’s going on in their lives to think about you.
Write everything down, keep a journal. When you write down an experience like paranoia, make sure you write down what you were doing at the time, what time it occurred, rate your anxiety levels over it out of ten. Keeping a log of all this information helps your pdoc and therapist understand you better and they can maybe start to see a pattern in your thinking.
Keep us posted.
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the member above u made me panic telling me going on antipsychotics
Antipsychotics aren’t so bad. They’re really helpful actually. It takes a bit of trial and error to find the right one but when you do, your life can improve greatly.
When I was psychotic I took about nine or ten months off work, I just couldn’t function, but when the antipsychotics started to work I returned to my job and I’ve done nothing but increase my contact hours since returning.
You should be talking to a psychiatrist or at least a therapist about what you’re going through. They can really help alleviate your stress.
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@anon84763962 has some really good advice for how to deal with panic. I have another trick. Put an ice pack on the back of your head, right above the top of your neck. The feeling of panic comes from your limbic system, and cooling it will reduce activity in that area of the brain.
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Don’t panic about taking anti psychotics, you may not be psychotic - we can’t diagnose you. You do need a doctor though, not just an internet discussion board. Are you on any anti anxiety meds? Because those can help a lot too.
It really sounds like a doctor and a therapist could help. Lots of us don’t need anti-psychotics; it just depends on the level of psychosis and whether you can reason through it or not. The good news is that you are here telling us that you know your thoughts are incorrect. That’s a very good sign.
On the other hand, having panic and psychotic tendencies can be a real pain. Panic often makes psychosis worse, so my advice to you would be to do everything you can (barring alcohol and illegal drugs) to stay as calm as possible for as long as possible. If you are able to relax, you may see a decline in these other symptoms.
Long baths and deep breathing can be helpful, stretching exercises often work well, classical music can really lower the intensity, keeping any caffeine/sugar intake down can also help, walking is good if you have somewhere to walk where you feel safe, drink enough water, etc.
Maybe a benzodiazapine would help. They’re what pdoc’s usually prescribe for anxiety. They’re not nearly as harsh as antipsychotics.