Hi Everybody!

[gypsieflower]

Hi, my name is Alex. I have recently realised that I may have some serious mental issues I had always dismissed as just being weird in the past.

I dont really like self diagnosing from online quizzes, but its looking like I may have a pretty bad case of OCD.

I am planning on starting therapy, because I really feel I need it.

This year is also pretty big for me. I am getting married in August as well as building a house. I started a new job in January as well.

I guess I want to hear about other peoples experiences to try assertain what my problem is.

I have always been interested in psychology and even studied it for a time but had to stop for financial reasons.

I suppose I am starting to feel like an anomoly. Like no one could understand what I am going through. Everything about me has become so easily changeable and contradictory I am not even sure who I am or what I do or dont like etc. For example I both love being around people and hate being around people.

Sorry to ramble. I am just not really sure who I am or what is wrong with me and most of all I dont know how to make it all stop snd to just feel settled.

I also am starting to find it harder and harder to express what i am thinking and feeling and i feel as if i am in constant overdrive.

There isnt anything especially stressful going on. My job is great and the house and wedding planning have been surprisingly easy and stress free.

I am just not sure why i feel like i am all of a sudden this blob that is a different person each day or what triggered it.

This had been happening for a ciuple of years but slowltly from what i could tell and it didnt affect a lot of my life. Now i feel it has taken over. Its suddenly in my fave every day.

3 years ago i was a very strong person who knew who she was. Now not so much. And i feel what is left is slipping away.

If anyone can offer any advice that would be great. Feeling really alone right now in this condition.

ETA: I am a 20 year old from Australia. No children for at least the next 3 years. I was raised in a family of people who were autistic, depressed, and bipolar. I left home 5 years ago at 15 and have alwayd been an independent person.

I am proud of myself and how far I have come, but yet sometines feel like I could be more and im a bit inferior to most people as I didnt even graduate from highschool and had to drop out of college too because i couldnt afford to study and support myself.

 

[Retired]

Hello Alex and welcome to Psychlinks! Glad you joined us and hopefully we can help you find the information and support you need at this time.

You are quite right, that online quizzes and self diagnosis are unreliable and essentially unsafe when you are experiencing symptoms that cause impairment or distress. Commendations on taking steps to begin therapy. Being assessed by a mental health professional, who can interview you face to face, is the only way to receive an objective and reliable diagnosis, in order to know your treatment options.

If your diagnosis, whatever it may happen to be, has not impaired your ability to function in the past, there may not have been reason for treatment, but if you have concerns now, then this is the right time to address those concerns.

This year is also pretty big for me. I am getting married in August as well as building a house. I started a new job in January as well.

We are told that stressors are cumulative, and the three events you are undergoing are some of the most stressful we humans face during our lifetimes. It may not be a surprise that these events have raised your level of anxiety, which may account for the increased severity of symptoms....my lay person's :2cents: opinion..

Psychlinks has an extensive information and discussion section specialized in topics about OCD HERE in the umbrella section about Anxiety Disorders

Would this be the first time you would have received therapy or counseling for the symptoms you described?

 

[gypsieflower]

Hi, thanks for responding.

I do hope a therapist can help. Ive got to a place where i feel no one can help and even a therapist might not know whats wrong with me and im scared i will just keep getting worse and worse. Hopefully i can organise somethinf by the end of the month so I am at least on the road to understandinf what is happening to me.

 

[Retired]

Ive got to a place where i feel no one can help and even a therapist might not know whats wrong with me and im scared i will just keep getting worse and worse.

That a trained professional mental health specialist would not be able to assess and diagnose your symptoms would be highly unlikely. You cannot project your own confusion and ambiguity on a person whose job it is to diagnose and treat you. You can be almost certain, the therapist you see will have seen and heard it all before, and would interview you with respect and dignity, in an objective manner, following specific diagnostic guidelines.

The therapist is trained to extract the emotion you feel and to search for the symptoms you are experiencing without judging.

In the same way a trained mechanic is able to diagnose a car that doesn't sun properly, a mental health professional is able to observe and elicit the facts in order to make a rational and educated diagnosis. From that diagnosis will come treatment options to discuss., to determine which options would be appropriate for you.

You may find some insights in this article, paying particular attention to #4: 15 Common Cognitive Distortions

 

[forgetmenot]

Good for you for getting an appointment to help you understand more of what is happening to you The therapist will be able to help with that gathering your family history and your input about what is happening the time span etc they are trained to look where we cannot look.
Let us know how your appointment goes ok. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage and new job and home wow like said that is alot of changes so it has to affect one in some way. Nice to meet you

 

[GDPR]

Hi Alex.Welcome.

 

[HBas]

Welcome ALex