Help with healing negative mental state.

[alittlestrange]

Hello everyone. Any help and/or incite would greatly be appreciated. I will give a little background info first. I am currently 19. For the past 10 or so years of my life it seems that I have been stuck in a downward spiral. I suffer what the doctors call social anxiety disorder and also depression. I become very anxious, to a extreme degree, to be around people. I feel that they will hurt me, even though their is no logical reason why they would do so. I also become very depressed sometimes and feel hopeless. I have been on all kinds of medications, with no real help. I have tried to meditate as well, but with seemingly no results. I have been skeptical of spiritual matters, but lately Ive had a thought lingering in my head to seek out spiritual guidance. So i guess my question is, are their any methods or something to help me?  Thanks in advance!

[The Present Moment]

Cardiovascular exercise and mindfulness are a great way to get your brain and mind back into shape. How do you feel about these states of mind? Chances are that you get anxious about anxiety and depressed about depression. One of the benefits of mindfulness is that it can prevent these states from snowballing with related thoughts, which keeps them at a more manageable level. Think constructively. When you feel yourself reacting negatively, be aware of it, and don't engage in patterns of thought which spiral downwards.

[alittlestrange]

Chances are that you get anxious about anxiety and depressed about depression.

I think that's exactly right. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Ive started to practice mindfulness.

[KI Aura]

As a psychology major I can say a few things, if the meds aren't working, then it's not a chemical imbalance in the brain. It's something you've come up with on your own, sort of a complex. For example, little tommy is scared to death at night because he just KNOWS that the boogie man is in his closet because his friend little tyler told him a million stories about how his friends were taken away, and there were all kinds of "proof" that the boogie man is indeed real. The kid becomes terrified when there is no reason to. The key I think for you is to meditate back to when you were nine (you said it started ten years ago, that puts you at about nine)..and try your best to find a happy place, the last thing you can remember before your worries and depression set in. Then try to remember up to the point where it actually went wrong, what was said or done to shift you. That's the hardest part. Then facing that fear and subject and concept will be much easier. I'm a Christian for instance, I lift my problems up to God, and I ask him to show me or remind me of things in my past for me to correct (if for some reason I ever feel down for some reason) and I have always gotten results . Since you said you're kind of spiritually lets say "confused", the method above will seem to be most helpful.

Meditate-think of happiness-find the wrong-over come it. It's a lot easier than it sounds, but if you find yourself a good therapist, I do believe you'll find a greater person within you, and you'll be free of your torment! Best of luck to you!

Feel free to PM for more details, and any thing else you may need or have questions about!

[alittlestrange]

Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate you guy's/gal's taking your time to help me out. I think you are both right. I am working on getting to the bottom of this complex and figuring out where it started. Anyways, I cant think of anything else to say right now, But thanks again and blessings be with you. 

[KI Aura]

Hey, no prob, just glad we could help out! If you need anything feel free to contact me anytime!

[The Present Moment]

I had major depression for quite a while, and it had a significant impact on my memory. What makes prolonged depression so intractable is the way it causes you to lose touch with happiness and other positive mental states. You can remember walking if you lose your legs, but you can't remember being happy if you can't feel happy. Trust that it is possible and don't get discouraged if it takes some time.

[alpine9]

One of the keys to a happy and fullfiling life is to have balance and wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit.

      The way to do this is learn to tune into and feel your Spirit. You must become you spirit and let it guide your mind and body. Learn to trust your spirit.

    It will lead and guide you to your hearts desieres, your life's purpose and ultimitly to spiritual perfection.

  It will begin to heal and balance your energy system thus also allowing your psyhical body to heal.
   
  Also begin to listen to your heart because this is where the Divine send guidence. Just sit quietly a focus your intent of listining to your heart. At first you may not hear anything, but as you contiue to practice it will get louder and louder.

[ShaMagus]

As a hobby herbalist and nutritionist i would also recommend you to look at your diet and also maybe to look up some herbs, maybe st. Johns wart could help in this case. But, i would advice to seek up an herbalist if there is one inyour area. If not, i can give some guidlines on how to take herbs and try to find herbs for your condition. Diet is for me the best way to do changes. Ive heard that grains is a cause of mental illness and that cultures where grains are absent have a very low appetance of mental illness. Dont know if this is documented scientifically, but it jives with me. I try to eat mostly organic stuff to reduce the amount of toxins in my system as these are promoting bad health and energy. For me its worth theextra price, since i started to eat more consciously, my whole being has been taken to the next level combine agood diet with some medicinal herbs, mindfullness and maybe some other exercise and you can come along way IMHO 

By the way, feel free to ask questions

[CFTraveler]

Hello everyone. Any help and/or incite would greatly be appreciated. I will give a little background info first. I am currently 19. For the past 10 or so years of my life it seems that I have been stuck in a downward spiral. I suffer what the doctors call social anxiety disorder and also depression. I become very anxious, to a extreme degree, to be around people. I feel that they will hurt me, even though their is no logical reason why they would do so. I also become very depressed sometimes and feel hopeless. I have been on all kinds of medications, with no real help. I have tried to meditate as well, but with seemingly no results. I have been skeptical of spiritual matters, but lately Ive had a thought lingering in my head to seek out spiritual guidance. So i guess my question is, are their any methods or something to help me?  Thanks in advance!

Hi, a.l.s.  When I was younger I thought there was something wrong with me because I had these strong emotions.  Later on I realized (or I always knew, but suppressed) that my bad feelings had to do with the way I was raised- I always heard things like "life is hard, everything is difficult" and was basically taught as a child that life was supposed to be difficult and suffering was natural.  So of course when I got old enough I became depressed, and had some anxiety issues.  I am also empathic, which made the situation worse.
The thing is, that if you are a sympathetic type of person, and you are constantly told that life is hostile, what else can you do but feel like it is?
In a case like that, anxiety and fear are just the expected results of this kind of programming.  Children are basically learning machines when young, and they will take on any belief they hear about or are exposed to when young, and then life piles on experience on top of this, creating a very dysfunctional onion.
I have seen some very good advice in this thread, but I haven't seen the one thing I recommend- to find out where your emotions or point of view are coming from.  If you too were constantly exposed to crying and conflict and emotionally charged negativity, you have to deal with this, and then move on to things like palliative techniques, to replace the negative associations with good ones, and the rest will come together.
And yes, the process is painful, but you're already in pain anyway. 
Cheers,
CF.

[ShaMagus]

I have seen some very good advice in this thread, but I haven't seen the one thing I recommend- to find out where your emotions or point of view are coming from.  If you too were constantly exposed to crying and conflict and emotionally charged negativity, you have to deal with this, and then move on to things like palliative techniques, to replace the negative associations with good ones, and the rest will come together.
And yes, the process is painful, but you're already in pain anyway. 
Cheers,
CF.

Great advice here! This is key in any type of healing. Understanding of where the issue arise from, dissolve it and release it. The way to do it, are many. Ive dealt with these kind of issues through meditation, prayer, dancing and drumming. Also, im throwing in the diet advice again as it seems that negative emotions tend to get stuck in the system physically as well and a detox can help release toxic emotions. But that is maybe more secondary. Most important is to start moving the energies inside out! If you need more advice on this, feel free to ask as i feel i have some experience in this field

[kako]

I am glad to read so many answers in order to help. I congratulate you all.

[lovEnergy]

Hi alittlestrange. Wonderful advice above. I have been personal friends with Social Anxiety Disorder for a while, and all I can add is exercise. No idea what you do now, but exercising gets those feel good endorphins moving, helps you feel good, and have a more, "who cares what they think,"attitude to those around you. It has definitely helped me.