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I've been under a lot of stress lately (loans coming in, thesis due, job hunting, waiting on phd apps, weird on-going kind of break up thing), and I've started to have these brief moments of intense and absurd paranoia. Assuming someone wants me to look bad, or wants to sabotage me- I've even had a few moments where I think, "they're trying to poison me". I snap right out of it but it disturbs me a lot, I feel like I'm going temporarily nuts in those instances, and they seem to come right out of the blue. Is this an uncommon but not totally worrying stress reaction, or should I see a doctor?
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 22:24 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 14:35 |
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Definitely see a doctor. Can you think of any ways to reduce the stress you're under at the moment. How do you relax in your free time?
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 22:28 |
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Right now I've just been concentrating on my thesis, watching TV, walking the dog every day or so (about 5 miles each time), so I have exercise which helps. There's not much to do otherwise. I tried going on a few dates out, but rather than help me get over the guy I was last seeing, it just upset me more, so I stopped that. Most of my friends have moved away from here so right now I'm in a pretty lonely transition period. I feel more confident that I can handle it than I did say, when I graduated from undergrad, but I'm really spooked out by these moments of paranoia. There is a history of mental illness on my father's side and I've been seriously depressed before. I'd say I've been depressed in a low level kind of way for about half a year right now, but the paranoia is new.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 22:32 |
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See a doctor. Depression or anxiety can both be causes of paranoia, and it indicates a severity that needs to be treated.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 22:55 |
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Who is it that you think wants to sabotage you?
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 23:44 |
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Yeah, I would see a therapist over this because if you have a history of depression and are in a low-level depressed state right now all this new stress is now causing the paranoia. Talk it over with a therapist and continue to do the things that relax you. I'm not sure if I should say this but I would hold off on the dates if they are causing more stress until you get this situation resolved.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 00:57 |
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Something similar happened to me when I went through a particularly rough breakup and was having some stress at my job. Those things led to a combination of depression and anxiety. Then the anxiety meant that I kept interpreting small comments/normal corporate BS as personal attacks at work, and would feel convinced that people were trying to make me look bad. So it's not unheard of that stress would cause this. It sounds like your paranoia is going further than mine ever did, though, because I never thought people were trying to physically harm me. So yeah, see a doctor.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 01:06 |
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Do you exercise? Mental stress/anguish can be displaced by physical exertion quite well.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 04:49 |
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But what if they are trying to gently caress you over? Going to the doctor is only going to lower your natural wariness of the Other.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 05:44 |
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As per sabotage, I usually suspect friends, people I'm close to, etc; not like random strangers. Or at least not usually, when I drive I become more paranoid. I sometimes get this overwhelming feeling that people will purposefully try to make me crash or something, I become nervous to the point of fear if I make eye contact with other drivers. I know seconds after thinking it it's nuts, it's just very distracting to deal with, and I worry that these sort of thoughts could spiral out of control or something. If that makes sense. I do exercise, and I probably could do more (I walk about 5 miles every other day), and while that is sometimes a temporary relief, this stuff keeps popping back up. It is good though to hear that other people have had this kind of stress reaction on some level. Still, I plan on seeing a therapist or doctor.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 05:47 |
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This is not an uncommon symptom for some people who are experiencing severe anxiety. That exact phrasing is literally one of the (many) criteria in the DSM for borderline personality disorder (this does not mean in any way that you have borderline personality disorder). If it is disturbing you, and affecting you on a fairly frequent basis, which it sounds like it is, I would head to your local psychiatrist or psychologist, who can most definitely help you out with it.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 07:40 |
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I have some mild ADD or something like it, and I've never been medicated for it. But drat when I was finishing my thesis the psychologist I was seeing and I agreed that some low-dose stuff would make everyone's life easier. Grad school does things to you.
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 09:19 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 14:35 |
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I get the impression you are finishing up your MA? I know I went pretty nuts because of stress during mine. OCD was my brain's quirk of choice. I had to check my stove's burner before I left and I had to lock the door. I would do those things dozens of times each time I left. Sometimes I'd even turn around half way to school to do them again. I'm glad it wasn't paranoia..because it turns out my adviser WAS out to get me. :Smith:
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| # ? Mar 8, 2013 12:51 |
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