- Date posted
- 45w
New to the app,unsure about OCD/anxiety approaches
I’m 19 and in my second year of college, experiencing a period of extreme anxiety, similar to the experience I had first semester last year where I felt like I couldn’t handle any social situations and was anxious and overwhelmed all the time and felt like there was something wrong with me and that I couldn’t have friendships/relationships because I was rarely able to be comfortable and present in the moment because my stomach felt anxious and I was anxious about how I was being perceived/what to say/do, anxious about the anxiety basically. I keep going in a cycle it feels like of trying to tap into the right mindset to get through a day or social situation and try to enjoy it and then end up coming back to my worried thoughts and fear that I’m mentally ill (even though I know my diagnoses and have been through 2 years of inpatient/residential therapy treatment in high school so it’s not like I don’t know I have these things) trying to fix or find a way that will make it all stop. I feel like I can’t feel connected to anyone sometimes and been ruminating on the fact that I feel alone, and spending a lot more time in my room, also because I’ve been overwhelmed and stressed about school completing my assignments and working on these two big research projects which take so long because I’m a slow reader and I feel like this is another thing being effected my my racing/intrusive/repeativr thoughts. I’m working with my therapist who I’ve been meeting with online since December 2023, and this past spring/second semester of college I was able to get to a better place from where I was mentally that first semester of college by going and “doing things” like focusing on doing things such as yoga/working out when I could/breathing exercises/doing stuff to keep me busy, and that’s been my therapists main approach but I’ve felt like my thoughts have been taking over, probably due to a lot of external factors that have happened since the summer if been super anxious about such as a high intensity situation with my mom, not being welcome in a group chat/action for my schools SJP group (this whole thing is complicated), distance between some friends I was way closer with last semester, one friend completely ghosting me (blocking me on instagram) who I was close with over summer like she literally came to visit me from a different city, and I have no idea why etc. etc. Like right now I’m also overwhelmed with my ability to explain clearly and am always anxious I’m not going to be understood/I’ll just confuse people because I get confused my my own thoughts myself and don’t trust myself a lot so it’s hard to even make decisions. This is a ramble but I’m new to the app and want to see if anyone relates to the way I think/am struggling right now. I probably didn’t cover everything and K don’t even know if this is the right thing or if this in itself is rumination but whatever, I woke up with an anxious stomach and chest and thoughts so here I am.