I've had many brushes of what seemed to be something serious.
To some I reacted badly, others, I managed to conquer before the thoughts would consume me.
Before I share some random ideas of how I reacted/conquered certain ideas, I want you to take note not everyone has the same experience/it's not the same level etc.
Also, this whole thread could be a gross understatement...however, I think something useful can come from it, and we may gain insight so..here it is, here we go. I'll star;
General Anxiety/Random Panic Attacks: As far as I can recall, I was always more on the anxious side. I was anxious at school, I was anxious at home. Once older, at one point, I had random panic attacks that came out of nowhere. I then read on the internet you could try focus on the anxiety, the panic inside you, and try to make it worse with your thought...Feel it as a sort of arousal...I did that, turned it into something perverted, and guess what? After a while of doing that, it disappeared...I don't get actually random anxiety/panic attacks anymore.
Cyberchondria/hypertonia ("health anxiety"): At one point I got freaked out by every little detail, thinking something's terribly wrong with me. I went to get help from "Dr. Google" , but Dr. Google was rarely helpful, and often made it worse. I fixed this...kind of, by ignoring, and not googling when realising it's likely not (objectively) serious.
"OCD" (Trauma based): I caused a fire in my apartment due to cigarettes, but instead of quitting smoking, I was more careful, and couldn't go outside all the time due to another issue - social anxiety - so after I put the smoked cigarette into water and threw it away, I went back to check the trash can to make sure it was turned off several times...at one point, it was so bad, I had to check every half a minute, maybe less. I was devastated, but somehow managed to force myself not to check despite the huge/unexplainably heavy urge to. It then stopped/went away.
Sadism: As much as I hate to admit it, there were a few times when I was a kid when I enjoyed "lashing out". At the moment anyway, first few ..seconds? minutes? But I stopped engaging in "bully stuff" because well..though it felt good at the moment, it always made me feel absolutely awful/guilty/empathetic afterwards. I haven't had this "good" momenteral feeling since childhood.
Anti-social: Not really...but there was a time where I "didn't get it" but was then screamed at, made to understand what I did was bad, and basically forced to feel empathy/start crying. Tbh, I think it could have been handled better but still worked.
Agoraphobia: Had it after locking myself in after social anxiety. Solved it by going outside and realising it actually wasn't "that bad".
Paranoia: In the sense where I'd think people have bad intentions and such, hate me, gossip me, laugh at me...etc. I still get that, but I somehow recognised it's a delusion, so I know it is, so I solve it by viewing it objectively. Though, of course, it helps a lot to hear another's perspective on it, feedback that your insane ideas are not the reality of things.
Maladaptive Daydreaming: Not a disorder and ...I still do it compulsively at times. I just never stopped daydreaming, and it can become an addiction, depending on my thoughts. However, so can a certain video game..it's not something that's always 100% there. Also, I enjoy it, and need it at the time, though if I was in actually better life situation, I can see how this would be an issue.
Social Phobia: So, I was at the internship, everything was more or less "ok". Then at one point, seemingly at random, a thought peaked when I was about to deliver another coffee to a customer... "What if your hands start to shake...?" I've had weird ideas like that before, but didn't react to them. This time, however, I froze, *that would be terrible if others saw*. I set down and told another employe I feel a bit sick and if he can deliver it. He did. I later went on with it, but actually, ironically, DID start to have symptoms, even the shaking one due to anxiety. Despite that, I was still "functional", but then, I made a mistake, breaking a bunch of stuff, the guests laughed, I inwardly panicked and hid, I asked to go home, I went home, I didn't go out for months and developed agoraphobia. Happy to say my social anxiety isn't even as half as bad as it used to be.
Thanks to: small steps, meditations, medication. I still have it, just (not as bad). --- Also, at that time in internship, I even went as far as to make up a confident/extroverted character and act like her, to help myself out. I was "Jessica" lol. xD
Depression: Seemed on and off for a while..or the severity of it anyway. The last time I remember when its severity changed was when I was smoking on the balcony, thinking about life, and how happy people are delusional, how it's all pointless when a literal dark shadow fell over my visage..." confirming it" in my mind. The world felt more real, in a way, as though I broke from that "membrane" which deceived us all. Happy music became sadder the colour was greyer.
...Your turn. :P
To some I reacted badly, others, I managed to conquer before the thoughts would consume me.
Before I share some random ideas of how I reacted/conquered certain ideas, I want you to take note not everyone has the same experience/it's not the same level etc.
Also, this whole thread could be a gross understatement...however, I think something useful can come from it, and we may gain insight so..here it is, here we go. I'll star;
General Anxiety/Random Panic Attacks: As far as I can recall, I was always more on the anxious side. I was anxious at school, I was anxious at home. Once older, at one point, I had random panic attacks that came out of nowhere. I then read on the internet you could try focus on the anxiety, the panic inside you, and try to make it worse with your thought...Feel it as a sort of arousal...I did that, turned it into something perverted, and guess what? After a while of doing that, it disappeared...I don't get actually random anxiety/panic attacks anymore.
Cyberchondria/hypertonia ("health anxiety"): At one point I got freaked out by every little detail, thinking something's terribly wrong with me. I went to get help from "Dr. Google" , but Dr. Google was rarely helpful, and often made it worse. I fixed this...kind of, by ignoring, and not googling when realising it's likely not (objectively) serious.
"OCD" (Trauma based): I caused a fire in my apartment due to cigarettes, but instead of quitting smoking, I was more careful, and couldn't go outside all the time due to another issue - social anxiety - so after I put the smoked cigarette into water and threw it away, I went back to check the trash can to make sure it was turned off several times...at one point, it was so bad, I had to check every half a minute, maybe less. I was devastated, but somehow managed to force myself not to check despite the huge/unexplainably heavy urge to. It then stopped/went away.
Sadism: As much as I hate to admit it, there were a few times when I was a kid when I enjoyed "lashing out". At the moment anyway, first few ..seconds? minutes? But I stopped engaging in "bully stuff" because well..though it felt good at the moment, it always made me feel absolutely awful/guilty/empathetic afterwards. I haven't had this "good" momenteral feeling since childhood.
Anti-social: Not really...but there was a time where I "didn't get it" but was then screamed at, made to understand what I did was bad, and basically forced to feel empathy/start crying. Tbh, I think it could have been handled better but still worked.
Agoraphobia: Had it after locking myself in after social anxiety. Solved it by going outside and realising it actually wasn't "that bad".
Paranoia: In the sense where I'd think people have bad intentions and such, hate me, gossip me, laugh at me...etc. I still get that, but I somehow recognised it's a delusion, so I know it is, so I solve it by viewing it objectively. Though, of course, it helps a lot to hear another's perspective on it, feedback that your insane ideas are not the reality of things.
Maladaptive Daydreaming: Not a disorder and ...I still do it compulsively at times. I just never stopped daydreaming, and it can become an addiction, depending on my thoughts. However, so can a certain video game..it's not something that's always 100% there. Also, I enjoy it, and need it at the time, though if I was in actually better life situation, I can see how this would be an issue.
Social Phobia: So, I was at the internship, everything was more or less "ok". Then at one point, seemingly at random, a thought peaked when I was about to deliver another coffee to a customer... "What if your hands start to shake...?" I've had weird ideas like that before, but didn't react to them. This time, however, I froze, *that would be terrible if others saw*. I set down and told another employe I feel a bit sick and if he can deliver it. He did. I later went on with it, but actually, ironically, DID start to have symptoms, even the shaking one due to anxiety. Despite that, I was still "functional", but then, I made a mistake, breaking a bunch of stuff, the guests laughed, I inwardly panicked and hid, I asked to go home, I went home, I didn't go out for months and developed agoraphobia. Happy to say my social anxiety isn't even as half as bad as it used to be.
Thanks to: small steps, meditations, medication. I still have it, just (not as bad). --- Also, at that time in internship, I even went as far as to make up a confident/extroverted character and act like her, to help myself out. I was "Jessica" lol. xDDepression: Seemed on and off for a while..or the severity of it anyway. The last time I remember when its severity changed was when I was smoking on the balcony, thinking about life, and how happy people are delusional, how it's all pointless when a literal dark shadow fell over my visage..." confirming it" in my mind. The world felt more real, in a way, as though I broke from that "membrane" which deceived us all. Happy music became sadder the colour was greyer.
...Your turn. :P