Mental as anything

[karatestu]

Mental health is a very extensive field. Until I started looking in to it i never knew there were so many recognised conditions and personality disorders. Somei I knew like bipolar disorder, clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder but there are many more.

I don't know where to start and how the heck is a GP (if you can get an appointment and taken seriously) going to point you in the right direction for further help ? As the public health service is an underfunded over stretched joke these days I don't have a lot of faith in getting anywhere fast with this. See,my negative thoughts at work again

[r3xj0hn570n]

Most governments have been on a gaslighting campaign for the past couple of years. Now thugs are trying to start WW3. Part of recovery is recognising what the cause is. Are there help lines? I wouldn't bother with a GP, they'll just refer you elsewhere or try and sell you drugs. I'm seriously disillusioned with the whole medical system at the moment.

Maybe https://www.rethink.org/

[Lindsayt]

About 4 years ago I wasn't sleeping properly, due to a load of unfair ongoing crap that was happening at work.
I knew that this wasn't right. So I went to my GP about it. She referred me to the local mental health team. They put me on a stress & anxiety awareness course.

I alredy knew a lot of the stuff on the stress awareness course, but it was worth covering these things as a reminder and confirmation. Some of it was new to me.
A lot of the anxiety stuff on the course wasn't really relevant to me. But it was still interesting to get confirmation that my approach to warding off anxiety was the correct one - of basically facing down my fears. The anxiety stuff was aimed at - for example agarophobics, and people getting panic attacks.
Part of the reason for me getting so much stress at that period was because I had a relatively fearless response to the source of my stress - putting me in an intermittent ongoing conflict situation.

I'd say the course was worth it. The sort of thing that's worth going on even if you've not gone through an episode of large stress.

The course was spread out over evening sessions over 8 weeks. During that time the source of the stress resolved itself. And I went back to my normal sleep pattern.

As a result of my experience, my recommendation for anyone with any suspected mental health issues would be to see your GP.

[SteveTheShadow]

…. See,my negative thoughts at work again

I’ve extracted that bit of your post, because negative thinking is at the root of clinical depression. It’s not exclusive to it and I’m only speaking as a one time sufferer, not a doctor, but couple this with anxiety, which is what I had too and you have a recipe for disaster.
Earlier in another thread I mentioned removing things that frustrate, from your life. This is a key factor in dealing with this thing. At this stage, this is what you need to do as a matter of urgency. I would start by muting the TV when the adverts come on. They are designed to create fear, anxiety, guilt and wanting. All these are negative emotions. Mute the ads and you are well on the way to removing that source of crap. Better yet, record programmes and fast forward through the ads.
The news is not good at the moment, but even when things are relatively calm, they will find anything negative to pump at you 24/7. Bad news sells, fear sells, crises, sell. ‘How worried should we be?’is a common question the media use to create fear and keep the click-bait going.
Once you are able to see through the tactics they use, it is amazing to watch their attempts to manipulate your emotions. Media, advertisers and governments employ marketing psychologists, who know exactly which buttons to push. It’s all about profit. A few suicides are acceptable levels of risk to these people. They are not your friends.

Get this crap out of your life and the improvement to your mental health has to be felt to be believed. It is not the panacea to everything, but it gives you a massive advantage over the internal tormentor who is a fact of daily life for depression and anxiety sufferers.

A few deep breathing exercises and meditation are a good way to start helping yourself and there is plenty of information out there to get you started.
I meditate every day. It doesn’t have to be for long.

Five minutes is a good start. Remember that it is not about emptying your mind. That way lies frustration and negativity. Minds wander, it’s what they do. Meditation is more about observing the wandering mind (often the tormentor) without reacting to the crap it wants to feed you. It’s not easy at first but as with anything worthwhile, practice, practice, practice.

Anyway I’ve probably overloaded you with this level of detail but, it is food for thought and is intended to be a hint as to a way forward.

[Fretless]

Wish I could help Stu, but I've been away from the Selby area for so long I have no idea of how things work in the UK health services anymore. Also asked a friend in York if he knew any therapists of counsellors, unfortunately he doesn't.

Dump your 'angst' here for now - we're listening.

[NSNO2021]

I think I am fortunate in so much as I am optimistic and so far I have not been pulled back/down by depression or negativity and that's not because I had enjoyed a tranquil life, far from it. My weakness was and to a lesser degree remains impatience and an inability to keep quiet or walk away from issues. I want things to be better, I want to help fix "things" and inequality and prejudice piss me right off.
In the case of moderate stress I will go for a long walk as far away from people as possible. I let the fresh air and the peace and quiet wash away the nonsense, if the stress level is higher then I will go for a long ride in the sticks on my gravel bike and if I am really pissed off then I run and run to the point where running endorphins kick in and chase away the stress ( I also run when I'm happy). For me it's all about finding a way to detach myself from the nonsense and the endorphin hit is always a welcome boost.
Obviously we are all very different and there is no one size fits all answer but the fact that you are aware of your problem and are actively discussing it has to be a good thing.

[SteveTheShadow]

@NSNO2021
Spot on. Meditation and mindfulness of the present moment, ie getting out into nature, away from the unnatural shite that is current human existence, is one of the best therapies around.

One mantra to take seriously and try at all times to remember is, “You are not your mind”
That little mantra is highly useful when meditating as you can watch the mind’s antics as a detached observer. You then realise that the watcher is actually the true self, rather than the fictitious creation your mind has manufactured over your lifetime. It might sound like airy fairy eastern mysticism, but once you actually experience yourself watching the goings on in your mind, you realise the truth of it.

[savvypaul]

The only advice I can give is...be kind to yourself. In other words, don't beat yourself up.

[karatestu]

Many thanks for all the advice. I could go on forever about this, but will set the scene with some family history.

My mother has been clinically depressed for as long as I can remember. Crying a lot, sleeping through the day, awake all night, never going out much. She has been on medication all my life probably longer. She spent some time away in an institution when i was 8 or 9. She was even persuaded to have electric shock treatment on her brain. Not long after that she started with MS and dementia and here we are 20 years later. A cabbage in her own home.

My middle sister took an overdose and missed the whole third year of high school whilst in Bootham mental hospital. My maternal grandfather slit his wrists when he was in his 20's. He survived into his late 70's. My oldest sister(58) has been diagnosed with early onset Lewy body dementia and now is stuck in Cyprus with not a lot of help.

It would seem my family is plagued with mental issues. Not much hope for me then is there. I will tell you all everything as I'm not ashamed but ill get to myself in due course. But for now lets just say I work in the outdoors a lot of the time in a rural area which is not unattractive. I am lucky in that respect. My house is surrounded by fields with not many close neighbours. I watch a pair of barn owls hunting in the field behind my house most mornings and evenings. If they don't show up I get worried. I have a loving wife who would do anything for me and two beautiful kids. Why the fuck am I like this ?

[SteveTheShadow]

…. Why the fuck am I like this ?

The history bit before you wrote the above is what’s known in the mindfulness world as the pain body. it represents all the pain you’ve accumulated so far.

The “Why the fuck am I like this?” part, is the pain body acting on your mind. I call my own pain body, “The Tormentor” and what yours is doing is trying to keep you dependent on it, trying to keep you in pain. Keeping you depressed, anxious, worried etc is how it survives.

The first step is to acknowledge and accept where you are rather than ask why. That takes the wind out of its sails and gives you room to start dealing with what is happening and tell it to fuck off (in a nice way of course)

The six week course I went on in 2018 which the GP referred me to was based on the idea of MBCBT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.) What I’m talking about is all based on science.

If you look up mindfulness based cognitive behavioural therapy you might be able to find something in your area.