Forums > Social Chat > paranoia...any treatments?

Posted: 11th Nov 2003
if you are doing any substances legal or illegal - stop them.

Speak to a close friend or family member - by totally honest with them - ask them if they are prepared to be a buddy - like they do at Alcoholics Anon.. speak to them every time the paranoia occurs, try to remember any triggers that cause this (used to be crowds and new people for me). As soon as you are able to identify them, then you may be able to fight it.

when you do feel an attack coming on.. try to remove your self from the trigger, and breathe.. I know it sounds a bit hippy but think of good things.. if it helps, say out loud over and over - I'm ok, I'm ok. When the panic starts to pass, increase it to I'm a nice person, there is nothing wrong with me and no-one is watching me because I haven't done any thing wrong..

A bit of meditation and self esteem building (go find a book about it or something) and these feelings will pass.. and don't be hard on yourself about it - we all have imbalances from time to time

understanding was the key for me anyway.

I honour you as an aspect of myself..

You are never to old to storm a bouncey castle..

Posted: 11th Nov 2003
i'm not doing drugs...
i haven't ever done drugs..
sometimes i want to..but only cause the bad outways the good in my life..
but oh well..
thanks MisStix*
thanks for the advice..
but yeah it usually happens in big groups..
it's like everyone is waiting for me to mess up..fall down..or just do anything..like they are expecting me to do something for them...like dance or something..like some kinda of circus monkey or something..it sucks..
well anyways..
i'm stupid..lol..
thanks again..lata
take it easy

-LuNcHbOx, Aka. Nathan...Give a man to fish, and that man knows where to come for more fish...Teach a man to fish and you have just destroyed your market base...

Posted: 12th Nov 2003
Sounds like a minor personality disorder. In fact that kind of anxiety affects almost 10% of the population, so don't feel too alone. There are two routes you can take, arguably.

From a psychoanalysis viewpoint, this is caused by prior problems that you never fully processed. That can be worked through in various ways, but they are all usually long term. For instance, making a list of every person you know, starting with the last person you met, and work backwards to your parents, while doing so reconstructing past memories and emotions. I found this to be quite effective, and improved some of my problems drastically.

As for immediate treatment, exposure therapy is the most effective I think. Put yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable and force yourself to deal with them. Eventually you kind of build up a split personality, one side being your older neurotic side, and the other your new ego that counters anxiety by being reassuring. For instance, if you feel like your being watched, just look around, and put yourself in everyone elses shoes, allowing yourself to realize that they aren't judging you. Then eventually you learn to identify with the less-neurotic you more and more.

I have a friend like this, and I am too to a lesser extent. It's not an issue of changing yourself, but in learning to deal with it more effectively. I still get jittery and nervous in some situations (Tip: stay away from caffeine, nichotine, etc., hehe). Also you might look up breathing exercises or meditation. I can't even begin to describe how much those practices have helped me.

Cheers and good luck friend!

Posted: 12th Nov 2003
Whenever you get that feeling that everyone is waiting for something really embarressing to happen to you just think "what's the worst that could happen?", followed by "in a hundred years who's going to care?"

It works, I promise you.

There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.

Posted: 12th Nov 2003

quote:

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Originally posted by LuNcHbOx...(Aka. Nathan)-un-single:

i'm stupid..lol..

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Like I said - don't be so hard on your self!

I honour you as an aspect of myself..

You are never to old to storm a bouncey castle..

Posted: 12th Nov 2003
i occassionally get days were im totally paranoid, im walking down the street an feel like everyones watching me, talking about me laughing at me.
anyway this happend one day when i a with my friend, so i turned to her and said 'do i have something on my face or something?'
she looked me over and said 'no, why?'
so i explained and heres what she told me

' do you really care that much what they all think of you? most of them you'll probably never see again! if you had something on your face, normally it would be funny to you right? just remember when you feel like this to put things in perspective.'

just remember its okay to bugger things up sometimes, most people wont remember if you did anyway. if someone laughs laugh with them, that always makes me feel less stupid, try see the funny side of things.

hope that helped abit, take care

she who sees from up high smiles

Patrick badger king: *they better hope there's never a jihad on stupidity*