Body not responding

[dan]

Hi all,

For about 14 years I've been suffering with a mental illness that I'm unable to define. My body will not automatically respond to anything that my mind tells it to and I have to concentrate so it doesn't. Examples of this are as follows:

- I have a fear my eyes will close and I always have to concentrate to make sure they are not

- I have a fear I will stare at people, so I get anxious about looking at people

- The worst one for me is the fear of not responding back to people when they talk to me. I have to think about what I'm saying back to them, which is distracting and make sme not listen to it

This illness has had a big effect on my life and my social life has suffered terribly. I have seen various doctors and phyciatrists with little joy. I have been diagnosed with social anxiety in the past but I feel it is more than just that and perhaps could be something like schizophrenia.

If anybody has any of the same experiences or knows what this illness could be please let me know as I am desperate to fight this.

 

[Dollit]

You do sound very anxious Dan and anxiety can take many forms (including being convinced there is something much worse wrong with you). I'm not belittling your experience just saying something that I've found to be true in my anxiety states. What you say about not responding to people and having to think about what you say sounds exactly the problem I have with lack of concentration. I almost walked by one of my closest friends in the street last week - he was feet away and he's a big fella, dresses in a police uniform. That's were my lack of concentration takes me.

At times we think that the simple answer can't be the answer but anxiety can play terrible tricks on the mind and body - ask anybody who's had a panic attack about that.

Try an experiment - treat yourself exactly as if you had anxiety and see how you respond. Just an experiment. And

 

[Fedup]

Hi all,

For about 14 years I've been suffering with a mental illness that I'm unable to define. My body will not automatically respond to anything that my mind tells it to and I have to concentrate so it doesn't. Examples of this are as follows:

- I have a fear my eyes will close and I always have to concentrate to make sure they are not

- I have a fear I will stare at people, so I get anxious about looking at people

- The worst one for me is the fear of not responding back to people when they talk to me. I have to think about what I'm saying back to them, which is distracting and make sme not listen to it

This illness has had a big effect on my life and my social life has suffered terribly. I have seen various doctors and phyciatrists with little joy. I have been diagnosed with social anxiety in the past but I feel it is more than just that and perhaps could be something like schizophrenia.

If anybody has any of the same experiences or knows what this illness could be please let me know as I am desperate to fight this.

Hello and Dan .
How are thing's going now ?

 

[koba]

Response to 'Body not responding'

Hi Dan,

In response to your post 'body not responding' I have been suffering from Generalised / Social Anxiety (among others) for over 17 years now and can totally relate to some of the syptoms you have mentioned.

It's almost as if the auto pilot which everyone else has on, is switched off and every move has to be made conciously such as how long do you make eye contact with someone before looking away and what if I looked too long or not enough and its SO SO consuming, that you can't concentrate on what they are saying and then you start trying to conpensate/cover up that as well and it just becomes relentless.

Also similar to yourself, I am often in conversation with people (especially at work) and I have to consiously concentrate when I am speaking to remember the question and monitor my answer and chose which words I can respond with and the grammar etc (which used to automatic). It is often impossible to follow tv programmes, films, novels and especially jokes even if I'm reading them, because I can't connect the bit I'm reading with the bit I just read.

Work is absolute torture as are alot of social scenarios - sorry I'm going off on one here - basically its ALL anxiety related, so you need to work on that directly, but I would advise professional advise on how to best go about it for you! I'm still fighting and it often feels relentless, but we have to keep going and defeat this demon of anxiety!!

Koba