Lately I've been super anxious and panicky but my friend tell me that it's normal to be this way in school when exams are coming up. Is it really normal or am I suffering from anxiety?
Unfortunately, it's not possible for me to tell you whether or not you're suffering from anxiety. However, it's possible for you to think of your situation and come up with a possibility for what you think the problem could be.
Everyone worries, right? But it becomes anxiety when it's constant fear that gets in the way of your everyday life. If it's affecting your everyday life, there's a good chance it's an anxiety disorder. You need to think about:
1. How much you worry - is it everyday? Is it once a week? Once a month? It's very often, you've probably got anxiety.
2. How bad your worrying is - if it's just a bit of worry then it's probably nothing, but if it's something that goes on for a long time that really makes you stressed and keeps you awake at night, it may be anxiety.
You should talk with a doctor about anxiety disorders or Google them to find out more information. If it's obsessive worrying, check out NHS to find out more:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/anxiety/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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In university well at least in my school since the classes have at least 300-1000 students sometimes they would split us up into smaller class rooms called tutorials with about 50 maximum students. My tutorial teacher doesn't really know how to teach so he forces us to read our assignments out to the class, every Monday I dread going to the tutorial since he always makes us read usually I'm always anxious but today my heart was beating super fast and loud, and my face started getting hot and tingling. Then when it was my turn to read, I read it and he just nodded his head and moved on to the next person but when other people read he would comment so when he nodded my eyes started to water and I had to blink back tears because I didn't wanna cause a scene or bring attention to myself but my eyes were watering for about 20 mins and my heart was still beating fast even after my turn was done, my heart stopped racing really fast after about 10 minutes. I've had something like this before where in grade 12 I was presenting in front of the class with 3 other girls, majority of the class were judgemental people and I don't like being judged, so when it was my turn to speak my eyes started blacking out, I started to stutter and and my face was getting hot and tingly again, luckily my part was small or else I would've fainted right in front of everyone. Anyways do you think this is social anxiety or just panic attacks or both? If I told my tutorial teacher that speaking in front of the class gives me panic attacks do you think he will care or would he ask for a doctors note? (I've had a mini panic attack when I was about 16 and I told my mom, she didn't wanna take me to the doctor because sometimes those pills mess you up) and just a little background information on me I'm a 17 year old female about to be 18 in 2 months, most people would say I'm awkward, shy and quiet. I'm an introvert I don't like socializing with people and I don't like parties or places where I don't know the people cause it's just awkward for me. I don't have any guy friends, most guys think I'm awkward around them when I'm awkward around everybody and that's about it
It sounds like you had an anxiety attack. It differs from a panic attack but does stem from social anxiety. There's a difference between being shy and being socially anxious - the obvious difference being that social anxiety disorder makes you completely panic, and shyness just makes you feel uncomfortable. Also, you know it's S.A.D when it affects your life and gets in the way of your daily routine. If you're in complete panic over reading out loud, that does sound like a social anxiety thing. However, I'm not specified to diagnose you, so if I were you I'd visit a doctor to find out what help is available for you. I know your mom doesn't want you to take pills, but you don't have to take pills. There's also the option of various therapeutic strategies and other things you can discuss with your doctor. Don't live in fear, you have every right to ask for help and to improve your mental health. Well done for reaching out to someone, that's brave!
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Is it normal to talk to myself?
Sometimes when I am doing homework, particularly when I am just starting a task, I talk to myself...just little things like "so how shall we start?" or "what's next" or "okay, let's.....".
Also, a lot of times if I am doing math, I talk myself through each and every step: "now we multiply by two" "oh look! that works!" "how do we go on from here?...." One of my friends described it like I have a bunch of little men in my head telling me what to do. I don't feel that way, I don't feel like my head is messed up. She didn't mean it that way either, just to clarify.
Anyways, I am wondering, is it normal for me to do that? Can I talk to myself when I'm doing stuff?
Completely normal, don't worry. I think everyone does this at least once, it's working things out out loud instead of your head, which is sometimes easier. If you're worried you're going mad or insane - don't! It's completely normal and there's nothing wrong with it. Everyone talks to themselves, I know I do it when I'm working something out, and I'm sure it's not just us. Don't worry about it too much.
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Self harm has become a big part of my every day life for 4 years, that was when I first started doing it. I've been doing it ever since and I can't stop, how do I bring myself to do it?
Self-harm is very addictive and after four years (which is a very long time) it can become part of your daily routine and without it you can feel completely lost. A lot of people say that they cannot get through this without support and help - although it's true that help and support is a positive thing, a huge percentage of the work put in to help you stop harming yourself comes from you. It's clear that you want to stop - otherwise, why would you be here? - so, it's important that you write down every reason why you want to stop doing it to look back on whenever you feel like doing it. If, however, you relapse, it's perfectly normal. But, if you do, write down all the negative feelings you get from it and how bad it made you feel, and remind yourself of that next time you are considering it. You've been doing it for four years and it has only added more pressure and more problems into your life, right? So you need to convince yourself that there is no point carrying on doing something that helps you for, what, 5 minutes before the guilt kicks in? Find healthier ways to deal with your underlying problem (whatever it is that made you want to cut in first place, if the problem is still there, of course) for example; exercising. Find a hobby, something you enjoy, and replace the negativity of self-harm with the positivity of your hobby, whatever that may be. As I said before, most of the encouragement needs to come from you, and you only. You need to convince yourself that you can do this, because even though it doesn't seem like it, you can.
The release you get from self-harm doesn't last very long before the guilt kicks in and then you realize what you've done and feel even worse, it's not worth it. In all honesty, I did it for six years and I got nothing out of it - it didn't get rid of my underlying problem, it just made it even worse, adding more problems to it. I know that when I told people they always told me ''go to the doctor'' and that annoyed me because people think that's the only way through this - it's not. So that's why I'm not telling you to do that; as good as it would be to get some help (and you could/should) most of the work comes from you. Yes, having people around you who care is an important factor, but the most important factor is loving yourself, and telling yourself that you can get through this. I'd say that it's extremely important to get your feelings out, because keeping things bottled up is so bad for you, this leads to emotional breakdowns which almost always leads to some sort of self-harm e.g. cutting, suicide attempts. It's so good that you have decided to go online and find some help, praise yourself for that! And anyone else who is reading this because they are hoping they can stop soon, too, well done just for reading! You have no idea how proud you should be because you've already taken the first step - wanting help, and looking around for it.
Self-help is the most effective form of help because only you know you and only you know how you feel, and you can trust yourself more than you can trust anybody else, right? If you are thinking of counselling, medication etc. - great! But, please keep in mind all the things you have to do at the same time in order to really keep up with staying clean from self-harm. Even though it's been four years, it's definitely not too late to stop, it's never too late! And as I said, give yourself a pat on the back for even coming here to find some support and help. Remind yourself that you can it, and imagine a happy life without the need to self-harm in order to actually be happy. Whatever you do, just don't give up. You may have relapses, yes, of course, a lot of people do! But that doesn't mean you have failed, or that you're back to square one, it actually will probably make you more determined. Avoid set-backs if possible but if not then it's okay, you haven't failed and you can still do it! If you cut by self-harming (the most popular form of self-harm) then throw away anything sharp in your room that you could possibly use. Try to tell the people around you so that you have someone to turn to if you feel like doing it again. It's all about believing in yourself.
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I'm done with it. It's a terrible message for people suffering from this stuff.
Reality of depression: a mental disorder caused by bullying, abuse, etc where the victim can't feel happy, and is always sad. This person needs to get help and heal.
What it is showed as: an emo kid who is a very shy and misunderstood, a great trait where the amazing emo is deep and poetic. This person should continue on with it because it's romantic and beautiful.
Reality of self harm: something extremely serious, caused by something so intense and traumatizing the victim wants to end his own life. This person needs help (right fucking now)
What it is showed as: something an emo kid does, where he "paints a picture, the razor is a brush and the wrist a canvas. This person should kill themselves because they are " an angel who wants to go home"
Reality of anorexia: a very dangerous and serious mental disorder where one is obsessive about loosing weight, driven by insecurities. This person needs to see a food therapist. Right fucking now. It makes them look very ugly and disturbing.
What it is shown as: something an emo kid does (always coming back to emos) where they loose weight and act sad, driven by wanting to be pretty. This person needs to write "not thin enough" on their stomach and post it on tumblr. It makes them look sexy and mysterious.
Why?
I think that a lot of people say this as a way to deal with their mental problems, they make it sound like something they should be proud of so that they don't feel so insecure about having these problems. When people say ''he paints a picture, the razor is the brush and his wrist is a canvas'' because it makes self-harm sound less embarrassing to them, the same way people say that 'scars are beautiful', it's so that they see their scars not as imperfections but as a part of them.
You see, even though it seems extremely weird to you and a lot of others, everyone has different ways of dealing with mental illness, and some people just need to know that they are not alone and that being mentally ill doesn't make them 'strange' or 'ugly'. It's a way of dealing with things, a way of making things sound better than they are. That's the way I see it, anyway.
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