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Question
03 Apr 2006
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Generalised Anxiety Disorder
I come from a long line of depressives (incl alcoholics) and as was expected my GP and a Psychiatrist diagnosed me with GAD as well as slight OCD - they ended up putting me on Depnil after trying several other meds.
My problem is that whenever I go through a bout of bad anxiety (lasting atleast 3 weeks but sometimes longer) my immediate thoughts go to my relationship (16 months) with my fiancee, and I start obsessing and worrying about my life with her. Thoughts like "Break up with her!" and "I want to be alone!" are not uncommon, but they seem to come out of nowhere and are totally irrational.
When Im not going through these phases we actually have an idyllic relationship. We talk our little arguments through, the love is reciprocated, I feel complete.
The crux of it all is that I am worried that I might be walking along one day and let one of these thoughts slip. Should I pay them heed or should I just continue to fight them off and try survive the storm? It's like Im fighting a constant battle in my head.
My problem is that whenever I go through a bout of bad anxiety (lasting atleast 3 weeks but sometimes longer) my immediate thoughts go to my relationship (16 months) with my fiancee, and I start obsessing and worrying about my life with her. Thoughts like "Break up with her!" and "I want to be alone!" are not uncommon, but they seem to come out of nowhere and are totally irrational.
When Im not going through these phases we actually have an idyllic relationship. We talk our little arguments through, the love is reciprocated, I feel complete.
The crux of it all is that I am worried that I might be walking along one day and let one of these thoughts slip. Should I pay them heed or should I just continue to fight them off and try survive the storm? It's like Im fighting a constant battle in my head.
CyberShrink
This seems, Celery, to be a good example of a situation where medication can indeed be useful, but where habits of thought that contribute to these obsessive and troubling ideas contribute to prolonging these troibles, and CBT style counselling could make a major difference in revising those ideas and developing a much more comfortable way of life. This is preferable to "fighting them off" which in some ways contributes to their strength.
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