What are my options with this mental health problem and does anyone else have this?

[Storybot]

Just for background I am currently on a course of steroids which have really hightened this issue for me and my brain a lot harder to control but I have always been highly sensitive to this stuff, empathy off the charts but funnily enough struggle with emotions when face to face with people (have read this could potentially be a sign of ADHD)

In recent months my brain just cannot stop thinking about bad things. I have to actively avoid anything negative but generally I am completely overwhelmed by the awfulness and suffering in the world, child and animal abuse in particular. Whenever I'm not busy my mind immediately wonders to awful things that have happened that I've read about or heard about, DH is aware not to mention anything to me re things along the news about war or climate etc. I have found short term ways to manage like listening to sleep podcasts when going to bed and trying to keep engaged with other things as much as possible. I've also started donating left over money each week to charities so I can at least feel someone out there is doing something good. But I overwhelmingly feel the world is bad, hate people, regret bringing a child in to this world.

I came off sertraline last year which I took for pnd. I don't feel depressed, I can get up and go to work and socialise but anything can trigger these thoughts. I don't want to take antidepressants again, mainly because I can't deal with the initial side effects. I don't understand how everyone doesn't feel this way with what's in the news tbh. What can I do as it's dominating my mind and it's bloody miserable

Stop watching the news.

I know that sounds simplistic but I have been through phases where my mental health just won’t allow me to watch news or watch/read/listen to anything remotely ‘dark’.

CBT is probably going to be the best therapy if you don’t want to take ADs again.

Yes I don't want the news and try and manage my social media algorithms. I now also can't watch any potentially upsetting films or read any potentially upsetting books, I've resorted to reading romance which I've never done before😂😎(sorry those emojis wont let me delete them)

You've (unwittingly) trained your mind to seek out the negative news. Rather like someone who has a fear of flying who will home in on all stories about bad flights or will actively read crash stories to reinforce their beliefs.

Your Reticular Activating System is the part of the brain which filters our the unimportant stuff and filters in the stuff we decide is important - hence the doom scrolling. To counter this you can consciously redirect it to start looking for glimmers instead.

Glimmers are those little things we see, hear, touch every day but don't notice because we're too busy looking for the opposite - the triggers. So that bird singing in a tree, that child giggling, that daisy gamely pushing through a gap in the pavement, that old couple walking in tandem. You get the picture. Once your mind realises you are interested in these little moments of pleasure it will change bias of the RAS to actively seek out more and bring them to your attention. Win-win!

That's interesting, I will try doing that a bit more

I just came to remark it sounds like OCD. PPs seem a lot more switched on to what you're experiencing, and please do try managing your perceptions.

It may also have something to do with coming off sertraline. Best of luck with whatever the steroids are for and with pacifying your mind

Thank you, pacifying my mind is exactly what I'm looking for, hadn't thought of that wording. I came off the sertraline fully last January so I don't know if that would still be impacting me. I'm scared to go back on it because of the terrible insomnia it causes when I start it. I don't have the capacity to also cope with that right now. Prior to the steroids I was able to suppress thoughts I didn't want to think about but this wired state of mind the steroids cause is making me unable to do that anymore.

Hi OP.

I'm a psychotherapist specialising in CBT.

Immediately when reading your post, I think CBT could help you and these clinical approaches spring to mind:

• acceptance work - of things we cannot control or change.
• anxiety management skills.
• refocusing of attention - skills to help you refocused your attention on the present when your mind wanders to awful things.
• mindfulness.
• challenging unhelpful beliefs - e.g the world is an awful place. I know it is 🫠 but there is a lot of good too. Challenging these beliefs so they are more balanced could be helpful for you.

You can normally access CBT free via your local wellbeing team. You can self refer (Google Hertfordshire wellbeing team for example). Or you can discuss a referral with your GP.

Work could also involve reducing unhelpful behaviours that are maintaining the problem for you, such as excessively seeking out news for example.

I wouldn't encourage complete avoidance of news etc. this is basically impossible in modern times and only leaves you still unable to handle the difficult feelings and excessive rumination it leads to.

I have it too and the idea of CBT and meds makes me even more worried.
I keep thinking that the more cbt and meds everyone does the more we allow ourselves to be blinded by the horror in the world and nobody will do anything to help those suffering because we're all cbt'ing and medicating our way out of caring. I feel like collectively those are very short term selfish solutions.

I don't know what to do long term but try not to watch the news and try to get out of the house often. Walking round and having positive interactions with people will make you understand most people are actually good it's not all doom and gloom!

@bottomsup12 CBT does not do this. It does not dismiss one's concerns/worries away.

It trains you to challenge unhelpful beliefs and behaviours that are maintaining distress for you.

The world is shit. There is no denying or dismissing that fact. There is not whitewashing or diluting that fact. The world is fucking awful.

But how helpful is it to stew and ruminate an unhelpful amount so that it causes you daily stress and anxiety and achieves nothing. The impact of this is very very real.

CBT trains you to be in the middle. To look at the facts, at what you can control, and to manage the anxiety and worry around things you cannot.

How old is your baby? I was alot like this at 6 months pp. Also, are you taking birth control? The pill gave me really dark thoughts, had to stop taking it but going to try again soon.
Are you getting much sleep? The less sleep I had I was more like this. Hope u feel better soon x

I have ADHD. I stopped watching the news in the pandemic. I check the headlines and that is all.

CBT is helpful. Also if you didn't get on with sertraline some people with adhd find citalopram better as it helps with focus and motivation (though you do need to still have a positive routine).

Also magnesium glycinate helps anxiety and generally good gut health will help. I also find eating well generally i.e. enough protein carbs and fat helps anxiety.

I read somewhere that happiness is 40% determined by thoughts actions and behaviours, 40% is genes and the rest is actual stuff going on - so you have quite a lot of control in terms of thoughts.

My mantra to myself these days is that I am in control of what I allow in my head. To an extent some thoughts will just occur but we can definitely choose if we let them stay. There are lots of grounding exercises, mindfulness etc in CBT that I find helpful - the body based stuff often works when I am in my head too much. X

Are your steroids called prednisone by any chance? I think if/when you taper off the steroids your mental health will improve (speaking from experience)

@scoobysnaxx

The world is shit. There is no denying or dismissing that fact. There is not whitewashing or diluting that fact. The world is fucking awful.

Might be worthwhile you stepping away from your psychotherapy practice for a bit, just to help you get your balance back.

@Eyesopenwideawake

lol I'm good thanks. The world is an awful place. The world is also a wonderful place full of amazing inspiring people and incredible adventure.

Do you not see the benefit of balance?

Did you read the rest of my post?

THE WHOLE IDEA IS BALANCE.

There is no benefit to a therapist who sits there and tries to convince you that bad things don't happen in this world and your worries simple won't ever happen so look on the bright side 🫠.

If you've seen a therapist like that get your money back.

This sounds to me like what often happens when you come off or reduce meds and you still need them to be honest.
You have these kind of unhealthy, distressing thought patterns but you don’t recognise that they are simply from being unwell, you think the problem is reality and it’s coming from the external world. You try to work out what is wrong with you and what you can do to manage or fix it. But the answer is simple, you’re anxious/ depressed. The solution is also simple: go back on the meds.
Coming up with reasons why you can’t or shouldn’t is just a part of it. If you keep on down this road, you will eventually get worse and worse and most likely end up back on them anyway.
Sorry I may be way off base, but that’s what I have been through, many many many a time. It’s taken me over two decades of going on and off meds to get this through my head. I wish I’d realised it a long time ago.
Talk to your doctor or whoever was prescribing the medication. Good luck x

Steroids are an evil necessity sometimes. They are known for creating or exacerbating mental health issues, particularly depression, rumination, anger, hopelessness etc.

How much long are you in them for?

It sounds like OCD, the obsessive thoughts part of the disorder. It can be just obsessions, there doesn't have to be compulsions as well. Have you tried CBT or EMDR?
I certainly feel that way myself at times. I think all sensitive people feel that way some of the time, but have to keep it out of our minds most of the time in order to not sink into depression. If it's at a level where you can't live a normal life because you keep getting triggered, you need treatment.

Yes they are. I'm on a tapering dose but I'm not sure exactly how long I'll be on them as they might find a maintenance dose. I did mention anxiety to the nurses at my last check up and they just kind of said oh that's a shame

Lots of interesting ideas on here to read after DD goes to school, thanks

You could also try reading about/listening to podcasts about stoicism to distract you. I have the same issue to a much lesser degree and I take comfort in the fact that the world has always been this way, and some people have always struggled with this, and stoicism was (as far as I know) the first philosophy to attempt to come to terms with the issue.

Stoicism is a good shout too.

In reality we live in one of the most stable periods of time with democratic capitalism.

It blows my mind that maternity leave didn't even exist 30 years ago.

Ultimately the answer is finding things that lift your spirit out of the doldrums. I'm not talking religion necessarily but it could be things like music, art, being outside, meeting a friend for a coffee, those kind of simple things that help you feel connection to something whole.

I have ADD and cPTSD that I would say I have largely healed from, so I get some of what you are saying.

I also agree with a previous poster that the world is in equal part cruel and amazing, terrible and wondrous, kind and evil and I think people can display all of the same traits. It is quite easy to step out of a lot of the bad stuff and make a really wonderful life but depending on your internal environment (your Dx, your upbringing, your internal voice, your sensitivity to sensory experience and emotions) and your external environment (particularly the number of difficult people in your close environment) it can take a lot of effort to get to a good place in my experience.

Personally I read everything I could around good mental health around compassion, around healthy habits, around attachment and attunement in early relationships, around the impacts of stored emotions within the body, around neurobiology that I could find (thank you very much ADD for the ability to focus on an interest) then I set about implementing everything I learned to make improvements to my wellbeing. I am a completely different person and I have a very, very happy fulfilling life. I am genuinely content. I highly recommend taking control in a way that allows you to get to know yourself and that works for you personally, everyone is so different it is a personal journey. I found an excellent therapist in the early days too which helped enormously.

Stoicism is interesting as my DH did a lot of reading around that within the last year but he applied it more to his personal relationships he was struggling with, where as my problems are around worldwide suffering, feeling the whole weight of it on my shoulders

I am currently paying out for a private nutritionist but once that's done I think I will explore therapy in more detail. I have found therapy hard in the past as I am not good at explaining myself and cry easily. Zero resilience is also a problem I'm dealing with. I cried last week and was upset for hours because a lunch I'd been looking forward to didn't work out!