Anxiety and/or depression discussion.

When my anxiety strikes, I find it nearly impossible to ignore it. My instinct at this stage is to either try to ignore it or to think pleasant thoughts. Embracing it would be the hardest thing to do.

For myself, I wasn't able to function normally in life (leaving the house, working etc) without medication. Medication took away the very worst of the low mood and anxiety. It's still there but to a much smaller degree which, although not nice at all, is nothing compared to what I had back when I wasn't medicated.

I'm an absolute bastard for rumination

I'd love a clean slate but such a thing isn't really possible without a massive upheaval and even then I'd probably still fixate on the past.

Moving away is somewhat of a fantasy here. I doubt I'd be able for it in the real world though.

A magic wand would be a great tool for us all in here!

I've found that thinking A+B=C theory from CBT has really helped me over the past few days. I can't afford a medical professional so I've decided that I'm gonna have to read about CBT myself and it's working pretty well so far. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Haven't looked into mindfulness much really! If its anything like meditation I'll probably feel like a twat doing it like I did in school but I'll look into it if it has any chance of helping!

A few things that have helped me with anxiety/depression, I am sure you all know them already though

1. Sleep, getting to bed before midnight, not staying on boards until 3/4 am

2. Eating healthily, avoiding sugar crashes and hunger, my anxiety gets very high when I am hungry or my sugar levels crash. Kick out the caffeine/smokes in your life. I've noticed even switching to decaf tea instead of regular tea has helped, slightly, but still, every little helps.

3. Exercise, I exercise everyday, I just have too, however, over exercising can cause the body to become tired and anxiety levels tend to incline, so do a little bit everyday, and try mix it up, for e.g walk, cycle, swim etc

4. Talk to someone, a friend, relative, medical professional, share what's going on in your life, don't be ashamed or afraid to talk about your issues with people

5. Get into a routine, wake up at 8am, bed at 10/11pm

6. Take up some new or old hobbies

7. Get Socialising, start off slow, even go for a cup of coffee with a friend in a quiet little cafe

8. Keep a diary/journal and take some notes whenever you wish, but keeping notes daily helps, but remember it doesn't have to be done on a certain time/day, just whenever you feel like

9. Mindfulness practice, this is something I am going to get into more, I recommend the book " Full Catastrophe Living" By Jon Kabat- Zinn for some night time reading.http://www.sanctuary.ie/ have a look at this place if you want to practice it in person within a group

10. Electrical devices, turn them off at least an hour before bed, ^ read that book I recommend before bed instead

11. Be proactive, as much as possible, if someone asks you somewhere or to do something, go do it!

12. Do things that make you happy

13. Join support groups, there is one in the mater hospital, it's a free service I believe, on every second Wednesday of each month, aimed at people with Social Anxiety, but people with General Anxiety/Depression will get something out of it too- they also go for a sneaky drink at the end of it I believe . I believe there is also another support group being ran in North Brunswick Street? I don't know too much about it though. http://socialanxietyireland.com/mater-group/the-mater-group-programme/

14. Challenge those negative thoughts, really try break them down and see if you can make sense of them

15. When you have a negative thought, say to yourself "I am going to lock this thought away (in an imaginary box) and come back to it later" turns out you will probably forget what you were stressing about! I find these negative thoughts have no substance or strength behind them

16. If you OCD and wash your hands X number of times, or check something X number of times, try doing it a different number of times, or even better, try not doing it all, then just sit there and feel the anxiety, see what happens, invite it in, don't push away.

17. Anxiety doesn't have to control your life, I know it has and still does control mine, but I have met so many people with it, and I can tell you, people who suffer from this, are the nicest people you will ever meet, however, they're also the most critical and tend to be very hard on themselves, so give yourself a break, don't keep knocking yourself down, give yourself a pat on the back.

18. I hate to say it, but there is no miracle going to happen, you're not going to wake up tomorrow morning all cured, you got to help yourself and be proactive, sitting at home all day just isn't going to work, you need to be doing stuff, an idle mind is a dangerous one IMO!

19. Remember, to slow down and breathe, key! Slow the breathing down, observe it, take deep breaths from the diaphragm and SLOWLY exhale- over-breathing leads to do that 'foggy head feeling' .

Ok, that's it from me, I'll shut up You guys probably know all this already, however I thought it may be of some help.