Mental health

[Clarentine]

Hi, I hope everyone is well. I'm back again after a few years. Lately I have not been doing so well. I have been struggling with work and also with getting washed and dressed and brushing hair etc. I feel like an actor like I am in a movie playing a character. I don't feel like me is really me.

I am currently on 100mg sertraline plus prescribed propanolol and an antihistamine to help with sleep at night.
I have tried so many different medications and I do not know what more can be done?
Please can someone let me know what I should do. Most of the time I really feel awful. Surely life should not be like this?
I do not have my own family so it's just me to worry about.
Please can someone advise?

When and why did these feelings start?

This sounds like depersonalisation which is often a trauma response. All the drugs will do is dampen the anxiety/fear/depression arising from the symptom of depersonalisation.

You really need some excellent therapy to tackle whatever is at the root of the trauma response. Ideally something that is body based as well as talk therapy. You need to be able to start to regulate your emotional response in order to dampen the anxiety while at the same time start to heal whatever it is that is causing you to feel whatever is going on for you.

Have you been offered any psychotherapy? Six sessions of CBT is not what I mean, I'm talking about long term psychotherapy.

If this isn't available to you, and you can't afford to access it privately then I suggest you start to do activities that will make you feel more secure in your body. That might include yoga or Pilates. Maybe have massages. Learn to improve your breathing (there are tons of YouTube videos that can help with this). Read books by Peter Levene, Deb Dana, Judith Herman and Gabor Mate. They will all explain the links between trauma and the body.