Brexit result and mental health

[erinaceus]

I often feel anxious where other people might not, or fear when there is no real, practical threat. I am finding the real fear and anxiety in myself and others about the uncertainty in the UK's future outright confusing.

How does one untangle one's mental health condition from the news on an historic day like this? Does one even try? I feel angry and frightened on behalf of those of us who rely on publicly-funded support to help us with our health and wellbeing however you definite this relationship, mental health, physical health, social support and so on. I feel lucky to live in this country and have had enormous amounts of support from both the NHS and the private sectors in the past for which i feel inexorably guilty, but there is not a lot I can do today about having received that support in the past when I was, in the language of psychiatry, too unwell to ask for it. My current support are great. At the same time, I also feel frightened and anxious for myself and my family and friends today and now, and I am quite confused by all of these strong emotions in myself and others. The places I go to for certainty and security, are now anxious and frightened too.

Can anyone relate? At times like this, does my history and diagnosis and so on become irrelevant? We with the mental health diagnoses are no longer the ill ones, in a nation that is itself unwell? Or something poetic like that?

I think probably don't even try to untangle it. You sound very sensible and self aware. I hope you are feeling a bit better even now than when you posted?

I felt very anxious this morning and slightly panicked I was succumbing to old MH problems so you aren't alone. It is a BIG day. I am feeling a lot calmer now, though it is scary. And lots of people are a bit scared, including many who are not MH sufferers.

Be kind to your self

My anxiety has been high today. The looming doom feeling has been lurking all day. I didn't even realise it until a colleague asked me if I was ok-realised I'd been quite quiet, most unusual! Couldn't stop thinking about the world my DCs will have to cope in.

I thank my lucky stars for citalopram, sunshine and cake today.

It's normal to feel uncertain and worried. I have felt angry and a bit despondent all day. I second being kind to yourself. Try to find nice things to do and avoid reading about it. Not easy.

Thank you everyone for your responses. 1234hello not trying to untangle it sounds like what I need to do. I intellectualise my emotional responses - sort of self-aware to a fault - and can usually tolerate the anxiety and fear in the knowledge I am safe even if I do not feel it. Now it seems like the fear and anxiety are utterly utterly rational and I cannot comfort myself.

Today is better. Spending time with people instead of isolating myself is helping. Yesterday I was alone all day until the evening when I went to see friends. After that and reading your responses I feel much better. Today I have plans as well. I need to be with people. I am grateful for MN and for WhatsApp as well

Thank you everyone. Sometimes it helps just to not feel so alone. to all, and yes, medication and going outside, where the world is still going on, for today.

I am also amazed at the humour that has emerged. I continue to be astonished by people's ability to satirise catastrophe and for some reason this gives me hope too.

I am with you on this.
I've recently started fluoxetine for anxiety and depression and this brexit result almost gave me a panic attack. I was in tears.

My life is so full of uncertainty at the moment and the anxiety comes from that and my drive to need a plan and a solid path into the "known"
I am struggling enough as it is keeping myself in check in my daily life and add to that a massive uncertainty that has at this moment made my whole world crumble is destroying me.
I had hoped to move closer to family which would have helped my MH but the possibility of a drop in house prices and then possible interest rate rises and an unknown future makes a more expensive mortgage in another part of the country hard to sell to dh.
There's no guarantee we'll not end up selling during a drop and trying to buy during a peak which would be impossible.
I don't think I can handle all this right now!

Thank you FairySouth for posting.

I am also someone who needs a plan and the uncertainty makes it difficult to have a plan. I do feel better each day - I felt terrible on Friday when I posted. However since then spending time with people doing normal things is helping me. At the moment, nothing has changed in legal terms although you are right there is a certain amount of chaos in the markets not to mention Westminster.

Do you have RL support, beyond fluoxetine? I hope that you are getting on okay.

erinaceus I am lucky that dh knows how tough I am finding things at the moment and family are always very supportive.
I am switching between coping and falling apart. I am trying to remind myself that things will all work out in the end but at this moment in time it feels like I am lying to myself pretending that things are ok when they aren't.
Hopefully time will help and the fact that you are coping and feel better than Friday gives me hope.

I'm struggling at the moment. I had a bit of an anxiety meltdown on Friday night - not helped by trying to chase away the fear by drinking wine. DP is always super understanding about my illogical anxiety driven breakdown moments but I was going wildly off - sobbing and saying we'll never be able to afford to have children, etc. Deep down I know that's probably not true - I'm only 27 - but the anxiety makes it feel so, so real.

As per PPs above I'm also very much a planner. Really not keen on making any moves until I have thought about every possible ramification. The problem being that, at the moment, there are too many unknown variables for me to steady myself.

We were at a wedding on Saturday and I was so worried about having a panic attack; we were five minutes late to the service and I was panicking that we wouldn't get there on time. It was fine (brides are always late, I know that!) but I think it's fair to say my reaction was disproportionate, as it tends to be when I'm having an anxious time.

What I'd really like to do - as usual - is turn everything off and stay in bed until the feeling passes. But once again, that's not an option. I am instead settling for skin picking, obsessive thoughts and wine. I hate myself when I'm in this place.

scribble ditto to skin picking. Just the skin at the base of my thumb nails though and my lips so they look horrific right now.
I keep saying things will be fine but like you I'm forever looking at all the possibilities so when there are so many unknowns it becomes and impossible task. Then I give myself an extremely hard time if something doesn't go to plan because I didn't think of one of the possible permutations.
I just want to sit and eat cake but as dh is currently unemployed we have zero spare funds so my fridge is empty of stuff to comfort eat!

Thank you for starting this thread, it is just how feel. Seeing the Labour party tearing itself apart today has made things worse.
I'm old and past it, but I am so angry on behalf of young people.

Fairy - thank you for that. Perversely, makes me feel so much better that others are in the same boat

Thank you everyone for posting. I agree with Scribblegirl, just knowing that other people are feeling similar to me is helpful.

sobbing and saying we'll never be able to afford to have children

Yes, I had a similar sort of meltdown. You may or may not have children, which was always true, and this does not stop the feelings right now, that is what I find. And being worried about big things like political stability plays into making me more prickly about the little things, like the wedding you describe panicking at. That is how I feel anyway.

Then I feel selfish for worrying about my mental health at a time of national crisis, and so it goes. I do think this national distress feeds directly into individual distress and if you are already fragile it can make you feel worse. A colleague described it as feeling like a bereavement. I do not feel the same as him but I do feel frightened and anxious.

What I'd really like to do - as usual - is turn everything off and stay in bed until the feeling passes...I am instead settling for skin picking, obsessive thoughts and wine.

I do not hate you, for all that you wrote that you hate yourself when you are in this state. It is just a state, it is not you, said the pot to the kettle and all that.

Take care of yourselves, everybody.

thanks erinaceous for this thread, I'd been going downhill since before the result but feel like I've driven off a cliff. I keep telling myself to get a grip but I worry. Thing is, the kids and I will still be EU citizens due to our heritage (although it involves some paperwork) so 'we're alright Jack' but I still feel terrible. I feel so sad for those people who are being racially attacked, so sad for those children who had messages left outside their school, awful for friends who are from other countries. It's like being a nightclub at the end of the night when they put the lights on…everything was fine and dandy and hazy and then suddenly everything is in ugly strip light fluorescent reality with all the dirt and rubbish and you've lost your mates. Kind of.

I wanted to bump this thread - may be I should have called it "current affairs and mental health"?

The news seems to be playing into my mental health problems in a number of ways right now. I feel bewildered and frightened. I feel like I need a "good news" channel.

Hi another bump.

Following brexit and everything since here, and last nights horrendous attack in Nice I am really struggling with my anxiety and finding it v hard to stop watching the news (I know, not helpful). Also know this is nothing compared to the tragedies in Nice and elsewhere, but its now having a major impact on me and my ability to be a good mum.

colouringinagain

I hear you. You are self-aware. You are aware of the impact that the news is having on you. If you would like to talk about it, we can listen and maybe make suggestions.

You sound like a good mum because you are self-aware

ericaceous I can't tell you how much it means to feel heard. Thank you

I watched the making of the Olympic opening ceremony tonight and it's just made me feel sadder

Do you mean the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony? Or the one coming up?

I am happy you feel heard. You feel heard because you are heard. By me. Here.

The 2012 one. A positive collaborative project bringing loads of volunteers together. Someone said it was a lovesong to Britain

Aw I love the 2012 one.

I have the DVDs. Nothing improves my mood like a bit of Super Saturday. We love Danny Boyle, we do.

Not to say your sadness is not okay. I suppose I see it as a happy occasion not something that has been lost.

I emailed my sis just after the Brexit result, expressing horror, dismay and disgust. She'd only voted Brexit, hadn't she! She hasn't spoken to me since. The last few weeks have been my darkest for a long while, and it hurts that I've gone through them without her. However, I can make it through without her. Sad, tho.

DeepDarkPit I am so sorry to hear this. The referendum has shaken the country up in so many ways .