Quite frankly I’m just at a loss at this point. Been on the therapy and meds journey for almost a year now, and did the whole exercise shebang consistently for like 2 years. I was doing cardio for an hour every 1-2 days.
I am getting quite disillusioned and don’t understand what I’m even doing anymore. I’m getting so caught up in various things that I’m just confused as all hell. Every time I think I figure something out, I end up so wrong it’s almost like it’s not even funny.
I have intense reactions to rejection. I have extreme and intense negative emotions that persist for many hours and days after a trigger and they are very painful and difficult to deal with and can impair functioning. I have a lot of social anxiety, which I did not think contributed much to this. But now I’m wondering if I have a pattern of social anxiety --> extreme rejection sensitivity --> extreme emotional dysregulation.
I have been on escitalopram (Lexapro), then lamotrigine (Lamictal), and now quetiapine (Seroquel). I do not have ADHD. I do not have bipolar disorder. I don’t even have persistent depression. I have periodic extreme episodes that cause a lot of distress and can cause functional impairment like how my work threatened to fire me. I also have intense shame and self-hatred, often babbling to my online friends nonsense about how I’m a “demon” when I get this way. I am also totally normal 90% of the time. It’s only the remaining 10% that causes the struggle.
People always tell me to “go to therapy”. I am. I have seen multiple therapists and have been consistent with this one since the fall. People tell me I don’t put enough work. I am. People tell me I am not honest enough to my providers. I am. People tell me try a different therapist. I have tried many (I stick with my main one for continuity and so that I don’t have to keep rehashing my backstory).
At this point I feel like I don’t know what is down and what is up. I no longer understand what my problem is anymore. Every time I think I figure out what my issue is, every time I think I figure out a technique to help me, I’m wrong.
I’m starting to think that this is who I am. It is unchangeable. I experience a lot of pain and sensitivity where others don’t. I wish that wasn’t the case, but I think it can’t be changed.
Idk where do I go from here, friends? Thank you to those who have read my entire rant lmao.
Mental health is a lifelong journey with ups and downs. The important part is to keep trying and working on yourself because you deserve to be happy and healthy. Just because you do therapy doesn’t mean your symptoms will go away, but it will help equip you with healthy coping mechanisms to deal with those negative emotions when they happen. Being self-aware of your issues is a really good start to getting them under control.
I got a lot of use out of the STOP mindfulness technique when I was really struggling with my mental health.
https://declutterthemind.com/blog/stop-technique
Yeah my therapist emphasized stop as well. There are like a zillion DBT skills so maybe instead of being overwhelmed by the volume of them, I should pick out a few key ones and latch onto them ig.
I would definitely suggest picking them up one at a time and working on incorporating them into your life. I’m not a mental health professional though.