I’ll feel fine for a few weeks, then get a scary thought like “what if this isn’t real” or “what if this is a video game or made just for me” scary things that I stupidly read one time can indicate “psychosis” or things like that. Now I know it’s not truly psychosis as the thought scares me and isn’t a “belief” it is an anxious intrusive thought but my mind always is like “but what if you have other mental illness”. I’ve been told by countless psychologists that I have anxiety and occasional OCD thoughts. But my question is has anyone else experienced that before, and if so how did you get through it and not focus on it? The anxiety sucks because the body sensations that go with it, but it just makes me hypersensitive and overly aware of everything. Advice?

Going thru that rn. I'm lucky enough that I'm on a medication that works for me, I have a strong support network, and I'm in uni right now so I have things to do with myself. I recommend trying to figure out what's important to you and just commiting to it even if you feel like nothing is real or matters. It seems strange that you would care about something possibly fake, but everything's strange in some way. Commit to what you still have to do and do it. Accept that you probably won't know if you're developing psychosis or not. Don't tell yourself it is impossible or unlikely, tell yourself that you don't know, can't know right now, and that you have to keep going about your day-to-day despite this uncertainty. When I get really concerned about losing my mind, I tell myself "Well, I'm either going to lose it or I'm not, I can't really do anything to change that, maybe later on I can do stuff to treat it but thag's no guarantee, so I'm just gonna worry about stuff I actually care about and enjoy." It takes time (I've been doing this a few weeks and it takes lots of practice to accept the concerns) As for the anxiety, imagine your body and mind as a stove. The anxiety is a pot boiling water in the front. You can't put the pot away or it'll burn you, even if you dump the water. You can't leave it on the front burner either, because you have other stuff to cook. Put it on a back burner while you do other things - the heat will stay initially but then it'll eventually reach room temperature and you can monitor it without it taking up all your focus.

Going through the same thing at the moment. It’s crazy how much OCD can trick us into believing things. I have questioned if I’m in psychosis so much. It went away for awhile and then all the sudden comes back. I always feel like when it’s comes back, will be the time I lose it for real. I’m so sorry you are going through this as well. It helps to know we aren’t alone. This too shall pass. I have a hard time with if I was delusional, would I know it? Would I have insight? Those kinds of things. Trigger warning but I have a fear of becoming delusional and doing something bad, of believing a intrusive thought. It’s so hard to deal with. I can convince myself I’m losing it or something. Anyways, we will make it though this! Stay strong❤️

I can relate to this as well. I would have similar thoughts plus others, and they would cause me a lot of distress. Eventually I’d get over them for the most part, and poof several weeks later out of nowhere they reappear. They’re not as intense as they used to be though, thankfully. I have gotten better through making HUGE lifestyle changes like going to the gym daily, sports, doing chores around the house/yard, cutting back a little on video games, and vice versa. It does get really difficult at times though, but I find it a little easier to surround myself with people who support me and telling them about what’s on my mind from time to time. I’d also recommend following up on your faith if you are religious. Just make sure to keep yourself busy doing things that you enjoy. If you need anybody talk to, then feel free to send me a response through here:)

These are all fantastic bits of advice and I appreciate them very much!!! I just have to accept and learn to do that. I know I’m in the up and up and in the ends of the recovery phase, it just sucks to have the flare up again.