re: For those suffering from mental illness: (Long Post)

Hey man, Beta Blockers have been found to be effective at treating many types of anxiety. They are a class of blood pressure medication that are non narcotic and not habit forming.

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A lot of people don’t want to hear “that Jesus shite” because they don’t even begin to understand what it is.

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an excuse to be a total piece of shite to everyone?

I've heard depression described as feeling like you're in a burning building. No one would think that it's logical to jump out of a window to your death until you feel the flames at your back. It is so critical to have at least one person that truly understands what you are going through. To understand when to preach solutions to the problem and when to just listen to the problem. To understand that some days are about making changes and getting better, while other days are simply about maintaining. One person can truly make the difference. Be that person for someone if you can.

Things that I think are helpful:

- Talking to someone, anyone. Whether that's a close family member, therapist, or someone you meet in a support group, you can't keep it all to yourself
- Being active - run, lift weights, swim, bike, whatever. You will feel better about yourself, self-love is critical
- Dropping shite that makes you unhappy. Quit the job you hate, stop talking to the friends you don't like, move away from the area that holds bad memories. Sure there's real consequences to this stuff (money issues, angry people, whatever) but you can't stay in routines that drown you.
- Get off social media. Seriously, what good does it do anyone?
- Read more stuff that is inherently positive and inspiring

If anyone reads this and needs someone to talk to, email me. Good luck to anyone out there reading this that struggles with mental illness. You matter more than you know.

I suffer from anxiety and depression. Moreso anxiety most of the time, I guess. Not really social anxiety, just generalized. I can get nervous about anything.

As far as not being able to see a shrink, you've got to. You have to feel the fear and do it anyway. The fear won't kill you, not talking might. Schedule an appointment with a counselor somebody you know can recommend. Get as nervous as you want about going and talking, but go anyway. Once you get there and realize how non-judgmental a counselor can be, you will feel soooo liberated.

Seeing a counselor is something I believe EVERYONE should do. Not just people suffering from mental illness, but everyone can benefit from talking to a non-biased source.

I don't know what meds they have tried, but many long term anxiety and depression meds can take as long as 12 weeks to start really working. It can make it worse at first, but the benefit outweighs the initial symptoms. Celexa (citalopram) is a pretty even keeled SSRI. Maybe talk to your doc about something like that.

Also, it's ok not to be ok. Always.

Growing up, i had a support team (mom and dad and family) and was raised in the church to pray and believe in God's plan and purpose. Of course you grow up and go thru life wondering "why do i feel down" or "why me". Questions sometimes without a seeming answer.

Sometimes the best way to get past certain things that are holding us down or anxiety is to have that support system. Be willing to open up to a close friend or trusted party and talk. My ex had anxiety and though I personally didn't understand it, i would always support her and let her know i have her back. I'd even attempt to get us to do (go out to eat, hang with friends, etc) things to get her mind calm and away from it.

I'm not a big believer of pills being a solution. Just a way for Dr's to get more money from someone who actually may/really just needs someone to hear them out and talk to. Of course this is coming from someone who doesn't have social anxiety or suffer from certain things like this. I've been depressed before but as a God fearing person my copping mechanism is to pray and stay busy.

But like I stated, i believe the best thing is to have someone to talk to. Open up about how you feel and the why. Not everyone will get it BUT some will. As the old church folk say, "bad don't last always".

TL;DR- making a plan and coping skills I learned on my psych rotation were more useful for adults than I thought

I’ve always felt like coping skills are under appreciated and not utilized enough with adults. The brief time I spent working with children’s psych issues was really enlightening because the approach is very different. We used meds and talk therapy, but teaching the kids how to develop their own coping strategies I think is what really set them up for success. I never saw this used with adults. My philosophy on why is because the skills seem childish. But sometimes it helps to simplify things for a moment because life is so complex.

In some ways, the skills are used as a distraction to get through the toughest times, and this may seem as a cop out from your feelings at first. But eventually you learn to tolerate, understand, and be ok with being sad. Then, you get to a point where being sad occasionally is normal, and periods of happiness start building up. Like many things in life, it’s difficult because it requires time, patience, and energy, and when you’re depressed, you feel like you just don’t have that capacity. But again it’s one of those things where if you just stick it out a little longer, you eventually start seeing the good.

Coping strategies we taught kids:
-internal: things you can do by yourself when feeling down- count, hum, pray, meditate- these things don’t require anyone or anything else
-external: play sports, workout, listen to music, color/draw, cook- things that require others or objects to do
- who you talk to: people close to you, professionals, and then emergency (911, suicide hotline)

The point is to have a plan and stick to it. Hope this is helpful, sorry for the long post.

nm

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Having a parent with a mental illness sucks.

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Yes it does,the sad fact is you can't help someone who doesn't want help.

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I recommend an extended trip to a third world country.

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I hear what you're saying for someone's who just needs to gain perspective and get grounded... but maybe not folks with severe depression/anxiety issues.

have you ever tried buspar? I think I'm going to ask my psychiatrist for it today. my therapist thinks it'll help me get out of my head

I have bipolar disorder so I require a lot of meds. fortunately most meds I have tried worked and I don't get a lot of side effects

it's just that they require constant tweaking doses or adding something else depending on my current mood state

abilify is a great drug as an add on for depression and has always helped me with anxiety