My analysis of myself

[KikiTheFrog]

I am a chronic worrier and have been for many years. This year has been particularly stressful in our household. Won't go into too much detail but mostly involving dd16. I have been in a state of anxiety/high alert all year and I just can't come down from it. My mind is filling itself with things to worry about to justify the feeling of unease. I do fret about stuff that most people would shrug off and its getting ridiculous. I won't even say what prevented me from sleeping last night as its just pathetic .
I am so ashamed of myself when people in this life have real serious problems to deal with and mine are trivial.
I am also a coward and won't go to the doctor and admit I need help but posting here is the first step towards doing that. I need counselling and need to sort it out.
I don't know the purpose of this but thanks for reading. It helps getting it out.

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

Sounds like an anxiety condition? I am a bit like this, and sympathise with the teenage situation. I didn't find counselling helped long-term with it, but maybe something like CBT would have been more use. Excercise seems to help a bit, when I can get my naturally lazy self organised :)

[MyFavouriteClintonisGeorge]

I am so ashamed of myself when people in this life have real serious problems to deal with and mine are trivial.

Anxiety is far from trivial. It is serious and while you call yourself a coward you actually sound quite brave for trying to confront it. You've named your pain, as it were, and that is a great first step.

Why not try writing down your thought patterns, what triggers them and how they affect your life? It might be easier to hand it to the doctor when you do go than try and describe it orally.

You will find a lot of kindness and support on here, and I really hope that helps you to feel better. I shall send you psychic rays of confidence, so if you feel all brassy in about 10 minutes, blame me!

[KikiTheFrog]

Thank you for your kind replies. Psychic rays of confidence much appreciated . I do find that writing things down does help. I've been doing a lot of that lately.
I've been struggling with this anxiety for too long now and I feel a bit defeated and very low but I really don't want to go on medication. I want to get myself out of this. Or at least try and if that fails then I'll have to seek help.

[moopymoodle]

Can you look at the Claire weekes programme? If you Google for the free audios she takes you through step by step what causes anxiety and why we react to thoughts and how to accept them. I've been practicing it for years after a 10 year bout of severe anxiety with panic attacks and depression. Never ne ashamed of your fears, when your nerves are sensitized your predisposed to feeling fear over trivial things. Christ I've worried about if I like my house, if I really loved my dog, then all the usual intrusive stuff too.

When you can label your experience and recognised your body is over reacting, you can let the adrenalin fizzle out and after much practice you revert to a more calm place.

I rarely worry now and I deal with stress really well, I was horrendously ill before. I would worry if I was capable of cooking dinner, then I'd make dinner and worry if I was neglecting my children by feeding the grown ups more. Then I'd start panicking that all this worry would send me crazy!

If any of that sounds familiar to you check out claire weekes :)

[Imogenj]

As others have said, CBT is really helpful for anxiety problems. Ask your GP for a referral to psychological services or google IAPT or physiological services in your area and you can usually self refer, after which you'll be given a telephone assessment and placed on the wait list for help. Lists can be long so if you can manage private therapy have a look on the cbtregisteruk.com which has properly accredited cognitive therapists accredited by the BABCP or AREBT.