I wouldn't mind being part of this, if that's OK.
Without going into too much detail, I have crippling anxiety that generally affects my ability to function properly...it's more or less shaped my identity I guess, as I've been like this since I was six years old, although it's shifted focus and intensity as I've gotten older. I have no friends, I still live at home, am stuck on benefits because I can't work enough to support myself due to my health, am severely underweight ? my appetite is always the first thing to go and the physical nausea utterly destroys me ? and it generally affects my mood...not that it excuses my general cynicism and bitterness towards life, but it's a major contributing factor. It's difficult to even want to live sometimes when every waking moment is anxiety. I could probably fit for a couple of other things, but I've never sought a diagnosis because I honestly thought I had enough to be getting on with, and knowing that I had it and couldn't change it wouldn't help...not to mention if I told my GP some of the thoughts I've had he'd probably want to put me back in therapy and I don't think I could take that. I have a great GP, but there are limits, and I definitely cross those boundaries with my thoughts sometimes.
But I think the only advice I'd offer, the one thing I've learned the hard way, is that if you're going to seek help, make sure it's the right help for you. You're an individual, not your mental health problem, and just because a prescribed method is said to work for a good portion of people does not mean it will work for you too, or that there is something else that will work better. Don't sell yourself short, and make sure you're comfortable with whatever treatment you get. Nobody should be able to force you to get better even if it's what you want and is in your best interests. You have to do things your own way. I see so many people who think they can just medication their problems away, or that therapy is the right answer...if it is, then good for you, y'know? But it doesn't always work and when it doesn't things generally feel even worse, so I guess my message is that it is OK if it doesn't work.
Speaking from painful experience there after nearly being sectioned, and subsequently forced into secondary care for four years, with fortnightly blood tests, weight checks, psychiatric assessments where I felt like I was constantly walking on a knife's edge, etc. These things do not always work. Know what isn't good for anxiety? CBT. People swear by CBT, but it can be utterly demoralising when you literally cannot do what you're being asked to. Because of CBT I was misdiagnosed with something that utterly consumed my life for four years, and is still giving me severe anxiety two and a half years later when I think about it. I was blamed for it not working, and I still kinda feel that way sometimes.
I have hypnotherapy sessions now and it's made me significantly calmer generally even if I can't resolve the problems I have yet. I couldn't work before I started it, at least, and I've gained half the weight I need to be at a healthy weight for someone of my height...although I'm on supplements because I can't get half the calories I need otherwise, and it's taken me six years to get to this point, with a lot still left to improve that isn't progressing because of the added stress of work and my general self-worth.
But I digress. I guess my point is that even if you share a diagnosis/label/whatever with people, you're still an individual and deserve to be treated as such, not a problem to be fixed with a prescribed solution. That's a stigma I've seen and experienced a lot, and one I don't think is particularly helpful when you're feeling fragile. So yeah. Don't listen to that kind of junk. Do what works for you and don't be ashamed if you can't do what ?should? work.
Sorry for the babble. I don't generally like admitting I have a problem unless I already have a solution, and I have no solution to any of this. Honestly I may wind up deleting this, because it's unlike me to talk about myself this way. The last few weeks have been difficult and I'm emotionally drained to the point of complete apathy though, so why not. Maybe someone else could take away something positive from my experience too, which would be something.
