Getting professional help and advise is the best course. We cannot self diagnose mental illness. Even a doctor/psychiatrist can't self diagnose and had to seek colleague help. Mental illness is an illness. Just like your hepatitis, TB, stroke, etc. It's an illness. We tend to think that we can cure it doing self help alone. Yes but those are the outliers. Probably a huge chance they manifest with a mild form or was able to be diagnosed early. If you feel and think that your condition is crippling you from doing your usual activities of daily living. Seek medical help. We sesk help for trivial illnesses like common colds. Why can't we do the same for our mental health?
you need to understand that the internet is NOT the place to be asking advice about mental illness. you need to see a doctor and you need to be on medication. don't let your illness run your life, i know it's scary, but you need to get a handle on it before it gets any worse. staying silent about it is the worse thing you can do.
Hi , idk if this can help you but try to find a medium to your stress like for me when i was on verge of killing myself i just went trekking by myself and by then on i tried to travel by myself to unwind. I also write poems to express how i feel. Also try to visit a therapist if it aint for you then do something that will make you smile , bit by bit. My depression is still with me but i can attest that i am better than before. You can also talk to me if you want to
As it's been about 8 years and you are not noticing any improvement on your own self help tips won't be much help and may even make things worse.
But the general advice is to try to keep a healthy lifestyle and diet. Including sleep, exercise and healthy food. It sounds like you are already having trouble with this and need to have a discussion with your doctor about it and maybe get an appointment with a nutritionist and sleep specialist. (But this may be treatment for further down the line).
Some practical advice for the mental health issues:
1. Look up your local regional health website or local citizens website and see what treatment options are available in your area.
2. If you do not already have a supportive family member or friend that knows what you are going through, open up to someone. This way if you are not able to make an appointment with a medical professional yourself, you can get them to do so in your stead and may be willing to shaporon you to and from the appointment (if you feel it is necessary). Note if you try to use one of the freephone services the service will get an explanation from whomever rings up but they will ultimately want to have a brief chat with you.
3. Normally there are two options for treatment (may be more in your area)
First option get a referral to a counselor/mental health professional from your doctor. The counselor will do a diagnosis and decide on the type of treatment that would suit your needs best. If there's no improvement after a few months, short term medication may be prescribed along with the counselling. Long term treatment will be decided at a later stage.
Second option is to go through counselling sessions through a freephone service (depending on service may be available over phone or face to face). Again the counselor will do a diagnosis and decide on the type of treatment that would suit your needs best. If there's no improvement after a few months, you will be advised to seek out medical treatment from your doctor. Note the free services should not be prescribing medication.
Hope this helps you get started.
As someone who has dealt with depression, general anxiety, ptsd, and social anxiety for the past 20+ years and spent 10 of those years trying to deal with it by myself.... YOU NEED TO SEEK HELP FROM A THERAPIST. trying to take it care of it yourself doesn't work unless you have the right tools (i.e coping strategies, medication and such) a therapist and psychiatrist will help you with that. yes it can be scary to reach out....i still have crazy anxiety when making phone calls myself. but at the end of the day just like you, I couldn't take living that way anymore and i just took a deep breath and went for it. that being said breathing is sooooo important. good practice of breathing can help tremendously with anxiety and phobias https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201705/diaphragmatic-breathing-exercises-and-your-vagus-nerve
this article really shows how breathing affects our nervous systems and how in breathing correctly you are able to deal more effectively with anxiety and stress.
Also don't try to self diagnose only a professional really can, and don't be discouraged if when you do find a therapist or psychiatrist (and i hope you do seek help ) that you don't connect with them right away or at all. over the past 20 years I've had many different therapists....some i connected with and some i didn't. as a child i sort of dealt with it if i didn't connect with them. but as an adult, if i didn't connect with them i just moved on to another therapist until i found one i could trust and feel comfortable with. some one i could open up to and know that that person was there to support me and wanted me to thrive, succeed and heal. I sincerely hope you seek help. in the meantime trying breathing excursuses and mindfulness (there's a lot of articles on mindfulness) can help the stress, worry, and fear. but like said before the only real way to get better is get professional help. a therapist will give you the tools to deal with everything so that in the future you CAN deal with it yourself if you need to.
good luck
hello, writing here is a eighteen year old girl suffering from depression & social phobia.
well, actually it hasn't been diagnosed by a doctor yet because sth seems to stop me from going there. but it's a fact that i'm suffering from mental health issues, i have lots of knowledge about that. the problem is, however, that my knowledge about treatment options is limited. i know that you can either go see a therapist or take some kind of medication.
that's when i started wondering if there isn't actually sth you yourself can do about this issue? sure, your heart & mind need to be ready to change your current condition. otherwise, this is a dead-end. i think i recently have reached that point.
i've been suffering from depression for at least three years now & from social phobia for more than eight. these are serious topics,i know, not only because it affects your state of mind & heart but also because it's bad for your physical health. i have never self-harmed myself, but i have had suicidal thoughts. my physical condition is pretty bad as well; my immunity system is basically pretty much destroyed so i can't leave the house without having to wear a ton of clothes to not catch a cold. that's sth that's worsening in addition to social phobia. as soon as i leave the house, i'm afraid of literally everything & everyone. so i not only sweat out of heat (from my clothes) but also out of fear.
anxiety, nausea & insomania are also my permanent companions. all in all, i am certainly not healthy right now. & i've had enough of it. what's tricky is that social phobia is stopping me from talking to a doctor/ therapist or even calling the anonymous counseling center for depression. talking to my family or the people around about it seems like a no-go.
so what should i, a depressive and anxious girl that's willing to get better, do? i am hoping for any rational advice or from someone who suffers from similar issues like i do. much appreciated.