Anxiety/depression

[Tomshardware]

"Been through bad time lately with suffering with this. Dark thoughts as well. I know some posters on here suffer with this. Anyone come through the other side of this shit?

"A number of posters have been yellow carded and told to stay off this thread unless they have anything constructive to add.This is a thread that has been very useful to so many, for any other posters with scores to settle, argue on another thread. This thread is sacrosant.Thank you"

[Block]

"goose 9:15 Tue Jul 27 Re: Anxiety/depression goose, the signs and signals are totally different for each person, for me the sure signs I'm struggling is that I'm moody, withdrawn, lacking motivation and just generally isolating myself. Usually, when I notice this going on just talking really does help - thankfully my mrs can spot these as well so we usually talk about it. A coping mechanism for me is meditation, I meditate one a day every single day, not the mindful stuff which for me doesn't work, more so transcendental meditation. the crux of it is repeating a word which you just make up, and saying it over and over and over again for a period of time, an analogy is that you're giving a child a playstation to play on whilst you just sit and chill, it's effectively giving your brain something to just solely focus on whilst you are ""in the now"" and not thinking about anything else. SOrry for the long post."

[Block]

"goose 9:15 Tue Jul 27 Re: Anxiety/depression goose, the signs and signals are totally different for each person, for me the sure signs I'm struggling is that I'm moody, withdrawn, lacking motivation and just generally isolating myself. Usually, when I notice this going on just talking really does help - thankfully my mrs can spot these as well so we usually talk about it. A coping mechanism for me is meditation, I meditate one a day every single day, not the mindful stuff which for me doesn't work, more so transcendental meditation. the crux of it is repeating a word which you just make up, and saying it over and over and over again for a period of time, an analogy is that you're giving a child a playstation to play on whilst you just sit and chill, it's effectively giving your brain something to just solely focus on whilst you are ""in the now"" and not thinking about anything else. SOrry for the long post."

[goose]

Fair enough. I’m not gonna presume to know more than those who’ve been through it. Reason I say it is a friend of mine suffers with bouts of anxiety but knows the warning signs and has his own protocol to help deal with it. He’s ex special forces so living proof that even the most resilient of minds is capable of suffering. As an aside I think the principles taught by Wim Hoff are invaluable for all mindsets. He continues to re-write what the human body is capable of.

[Manuel]

"I saw yesterday the fella that use to be in Home and Away topped himself, 45, on the face of it had everything to live for. Very sad, and you hear more and more about this now."

[Manuel]

"goose - I'm certainly no expert on it all and I won't go too much into my own situation on here, but I think there are just too many variables to pin it down how you may suggest. A lot I think depends on why you are depressed and how difficult or not the solution is 'a way out' and of course it also depends on how strong. or otherwise, a person is and what they have to live for, ie do they have something they think is worth living for, ie young children. Sometimes there is a reason(s) why you are depressed, sometimes you hear people with no worries still get depressed and they don't even know why. I don't really think any amount of 'training' will help beforehand as if you are in a dark place you don't really see any light, you just hope that a situation or something arises that will give you the hope that you need to come back. Some come out of it and some don't. I do think there is a bottom though, you can only go so low, then you either end it all or start to climb back."

[goose]

"67 (and maybe Manuel too), do you think that people can be educated to see the warning signs? Are those signs preventable if spotted & tackled? And if you knew coping methods beforehand would it have made any difference?"

[Manuel]

"I know all about depression, that's for fucking sure. Wish everyone the best."

[Westham67]

It's not the kind of thing you can predict goose it accumulates over time and then ovewhelms you.

[Mike Oxsaw]

"Westham67 7:40 Mon Jul 26 Yet you seem proof that it can be managed. In common with what many have said on here though, the biggest issue seems to be accepting you have a problem in the first place and then realising help is available. I need to qualify that as merely an observation as ""an outsider"" in these matters."

[goose]

"I don’t doubt that for a second 67. But at some point you have to get up if you wanna beat it. Also, if you had a toolkit previous to that point do you think it would have got that far?"

[Westham67]

Goose. Thanks for good intentions but about 18 month ago I was sitting in an hotel room sobbing for ages. Depression is debilitating mate you cannot get motivated about anything even getting out of bed is a chore

[Block]

"goose, bottling things up and sweeping stuff under the carpet, does not work. So talking about it helps, in that regard."

[goose]

"Instead of people talking about how they feel, give them a toolkit to manage their feelings. - breathing - cold water/weather exposure - move more - get outside - keep a journal - sleep - choose your story. Limit or filter what you read & see - what you take in will shape what you feel"

[Block]

"goose, to a degree I do agree. Sadly, there's a lot of people who are taking advantage of it because of all the discussion about it, which makes people switch off. Because of the minority who take the piss and because people are switching off a lot of people now do not talk up about it who genuinely have a problem."

[goose]

I'm not expert but here is my thoughts on the subject of mental health - completely agree with the below comments RE consistently talking about MH. It's become the thing to talk about if you're a celeb. In the end it becomes damaging to the people really struggling while some desperate celeb claims to have 'anxiety'. If you want to build a resilient mind-set you could do a lot worse than looking up Wim Hoff.

[Block]

"Mike, I'm a very very laid back person - The kid is very much the same. If me and the mrs ever have a row it's always when he's not around, same goes for when I'm not feeling great, I take myself away from him so he's not around that."

[Mike Oxsaw]

"Block 11:24 Mon Jul 26 Following up from what Irish said, kids really do pick up on any stress (or even lack of confidence) going around and it then becomes a self-feeding vicious circle. I'm about as laid back as you can get, but my kids mother was the opposite. I'd often hear one of my kids (as babies) crying as I walked up the garden path home. As soon as my key entered the lock of the front door, the crying stopped and by the time I'd de-booted and gone up to the nursery, she was fast asleep. In fact, weekends and days when I was at home it was hard for me to believe that my kids gave their mother any grief whatsoever. Not suggesting you should get stoned to create a relaxed atmosphere at home, but cutting out stuff that gives you a personal ""buzz"", gives you an ""edge"" may be a good investment."

[mashed in maryland]

"Fifth, spot on. Unpopular opinion: the more we're urged to ""talk about mental health"", the worse the country's mental health gets. Its obviously not working. What you noticed is a prime example. Don't wanna bog the thread down so will leave it at that."

[Fifth Column]

"I'm on a short term contract working with a mental health institute at the moment (nothing to do with the clinical side obviously about which I know nothing)... was talking to one of the clinicians who does work in schools. She was saying how frustrating it is that when she goes into schools everyone is so aware of ""mental health"" now that people constantly speak about ""being depressed"" or ""having anxiety"" when in reality they actually are a bid sad or temporarily anxious eg about an exam. There is a world of difference between being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and being anxious every so often like 99% of the population is. It also undermines people who actually do have those conditions. This is not a reference to anyone on this thread. It's just a general observation about the world."

[mashed in maryland]

"I second Irish's suggestion. Once you go cold turkey and if you want settle on one cup in the morning (maybe at most), you really notice a difference. Shite for a few days but once you learn to just push through and realise you don't ""need"" it. Little lifestyle changes like that are often far superior to any tablet or anything medical. Mental the amount of people who knock back tea coffee and energy drinks all day then complain about lack of sleep and feeling on edge all the time and don't seem to connect the two."

[Irish Hammer]

honestly give it a go. its a hell of a lot better than what's happening with you now. and I'm afraid to say they will only get worse and more frequent loads of decent decaf pods/beans etc out there. and Starbucks (huck spit) actually do a very drinkable decaf! Good luck

[Block]

"Hi mate, thanks for the well wishes, hope you are doing well too bud. Not sure how I'd survive without caffeine, particularly with a 9 month old! Is something I've been thinking about though, just not taken the leap as I've relied on it due to a lot of sleepless nights."

[Block]

"Hi mate, thanks for the well wishes, hope you are doing well too bud. Not sure how I'd survive without caffeine, particularly with a 9 month old! Is something I've been thinking about though, just not taken the leap as I've relied on it due to a lot of sleepless nights."

[Irish Hammer]

"Block 2:20 Mon Jul 19 Re: Anxiety/depression Sorry to hear of your struggles mate. I can't help obviously but if I could suggest a small thing which helped me personally. (I have a lot of neurological and health issues) Try giving up caffeine, completely. Decaf tea, decaf coffee is not the worst thing to live with it, knock the coca cola on the head also. Imagine your a pot of boiling water inside, the pot is nearly full, and then something else adds to it and what happens ? It boils over. And Caffine causes a reaction in your body and can be the cause of such an attack of anxiety or panic. Honestly, I gave it up totally, and went from multiple issues a day to a handful a week. Good luck with it mate."

[Hallerinthemorning]

"Barty I'm genuinely glad you have found your balance but it really isn't like that for many others. They can't quite find that balance and writing that on here for those who are struggling probably doesn't help. They will feel further away from normality I reckon. Anyway, good for you üëç Stevethehammer seems to be one that got away for now which is very sad. Hope he comes back on eventually."