Feel like I'm not safe anywhere

Post Reply New Topic

Every week I hear on the news that another person has got murdered - even in the middle of a busy street in broad daylight, and I'm so frightened it might happen to me or one of my relatives or friends. I even hear of people knowing a person for years then suddenly stabbing them to death. I saw it in the local newspaper that a man stabbed a woman 30 times in her house, and she knew this man for years. What if one of my man friends suddenly start stabbing me when I see them? And it usually seems to be men doing these crazy things more than women.

I also don't feel safe in my own house any more. We live right next to an alley, and any weirdo could be lurking up there at night and decide to break into my house. I always keep the door locked when I'm indoors, but I still don't feel safe. I still feel afraid somebody still might get in some other way, with a knife, then cut my throat or something.

Also sometimes the weather frightens me. I'm afraid lightening might strike the chimney, or the wind might blow a tree down onto my house or onto me. And I worry about other freak accidents, like a tree falling down on me when I'm walking along, or a car suddenly speeding from a narrow turning and killing me. This did actually happen the other day - a car zoomed out of a small, narrow road and crashed into a shop opposite, and luckily nobody was walking along there at the time, otherwise they would've been killed or seriously injured. Say if I had been walking there at the time, or somebody I love?

Then I worry that I might get ill and I have to go into hospital, and these days hospitals are very unclean. There's already been 2 people who we know who have died this week from the unhygienic state in hospitals.

I just feel like I'm not safe anywhere. I don't trust people, and these days people seem to have more aggression in them. I'm sick of it - I can't even feel safe in my own house. You hear so much on the news, so many people get murdered a month, and I can't believe there are so many mental people out there who do these awful things to people, children and animals.

It's scary knowing that you really don't know what's round the corner.

You are experiencing a constant fight or flight response and it can be very damaging to the body, the sense of impending doom is very common for people with anxiety disorders and can take place at any time, the trouble is when it starts to become a constant feeling,

I used to feel like that myself before I took an anxiety and depression course and that really helped me overcome it. The trouble is you are always in a worried state so your mind never knows how to relax or switch off, you are always prepared for immediate danger which is putting your body in a constant anxious state. Have you expressed your concerns to a professional?

http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/Ed ... fight.html

Redacted

Last edited by nat4200 on 19 Apr 2012, 6:02 am, edited 3 times in total.

This is exactly why I stopped watching the news.
Growing up, my Father made sure I was properly made to be terrified by everything. The events of 9/11 here and increasing natural disasters made things worse.
Then I started thinking about the things I, and others I know, had survived. I have been in the hospital 3 times and had surgery at an outpatient clinic. I'm still here. My brother-in-law had a tumor removed from his spine. It was along most of the length of his back. He is doing very well, he didn't even lose any mobility. Then he had colon cancer. had most of his colon removed. He now travels more because he is retired.

"Then I worry that I might get ill and I have to go into hospital, and these days hospitals are very unclean. There's already been 2 people who we know who have died this week from the unhygienic state in hospitals."

I'm so sorry you lost people you know recently. That's why I mentioned my experiences above.

I really do understand how you feel. It stinks. I'm still afraid of so much, but cutting out watching the news really helped.

I learned that, here anyway, that the news is far from the informational program it used to be. It was proven that it's mostly about ratings now. Shock value sells. They lead with vaguely described horror stories that could be anywhere. Then they go on to describe the event as graphically as possible so you can imagine it clearly. The worse the event, the more likely it will make the news. I prefer newspapers if I need news. I usually only look at the weather channel, though.

I saw a tv show explaining this. It actually made me feel so much better. I'm going to search for it and post you a link. I hope it helps.

Joe, I'm proud to be both Texan and American, though I think it's in very poor taste to be chauvinistic. Having said this, I think one of the huge advantages of being an American is we have the right to own firearms. I wouldn't sleep a wink without my twelve gauge within easy reach.

Nor is this some kind of paranoid delusion on my part. I actually needed a weapon early on the morning of new year's day of last year.

It's a shame Brits don't have the same rights.

I don't say this to be mean or condescending or anything like that all, but have you considered talking to a therapist about this and taking medication? Medication and therapy can both help put things back into perspective.

Perspective is very important. Sure, all those things can happen. Odds are they won't though. You have the same odds as most other people for those things happening. If everyone constantly thought about all the bad things that could happen to each of us, we would all be paralyzed by fear. Then, society would break down. People get through life by not thinking about the bad things that could happen. Or, not thinking about all of them, or not as much.

Losing perspective about things, especialy about fears, is a common symptom of many treatable disorders. Many times you don't have to be on medicine forever, or even for years. Along with talk therapy, you learn to confront and deal with your fears and also the underlying cause of them. I would really urge you to talk to a psychiatrist about meds and therapy about this. It sounds like this is making your life miserable, and in this day and age, you don't have to put up with that. There are treatments. I've had treatment for paralyzing anxiety over something else before, and I can tell you that it does work. I look back now, on how I was then, and it's almost hard to imagine why I was the way I was. I'm not on meds now, but was for a few years and had lots of therapy.

I started carrying a three inch fight knife on my person a few months ago, at the recommendation of a survivalist blogger. I live in California and the knife is of questionable legality, but I hide it well. I also have a big butcher knife by my bed. Due to long ago run ins with mental health I can't own firearms in CA, the state system rejects me and the private market is illegal here when it comes to firearms (meaning that the only LEGAL way to buy them is through a dealer). There are increasing numbers of desperate people here and one tried to kick in my door about a week ago! I have NOTHING worth stealing! Anyway, I've been more confident since I started carrying a knife. Brits can't carry ANY weapon of ANY kind, which sucks.

I'm also worrying about the world ending on December 21st this year. I know a lot of miserable people say ''so what? You won't know anything about it'', but it's still such a depressing thing to think of, knowing it's going to happen, seeing it written all over the internet and making you believe it, and worrying if there really is something coming to destroy life. It frightens me so much. When something bad happens, people always say, ''it's not the end of the world'', so the real end of the world must be the worst thing what can happen then. I can't imagine what it would be like, except we will all be sitting there waiting to die. And who will cremate me? I don't like the thought of everyone's bodies lying around the Earth rotting, along with the rest of the world and the society what man has built and developed over all these centuries.

So depressing.

Come on mate, the world is not coming to an end. Its been going for this long, why would it end on that exact date at that exact time? The mayan thing is religeous, and in any case, a piece of concrete with numbers and pictures engraved into it ending will not affect a whole massive planet and end all civilization. If it were true, I'm sure everyone would be educated about it in school, if it did control this planet and mankind but I didn't learn anything about it so it can't be that important. I haven't even heard of the word mayan until recently when I see all this crap about it all on the internet.

As for the meteor hitting the Earth or whatever it is this is not true either, if it was heading for the Earth, in a few months time we would be able to see it in the sky, and if not us, people in other countries would claim that they have seen it, and it would be all over the news and in the newspapers. Wait a few months and I bet you ten pound to a penny it will be nothing. And there wouldn't be nothing on 20th December then suddenly something appearing from nowhere and destroying the whole planet on 21 December. There would be visible signs way before then, and everyone will be getting prepared now.

And there lots of reasons I keep seeing everywhere as to why it will be ending, but why all on that exact date? One of these is 'supposed to' happen, but whichever one seems to be aimed for this exact date and this exact time. How false can that get? So the world is not ending. I remember before the year 2000 there was all this hubbub about the milllenium bug and I even remember getting leaflets through the door telling us about it, and it was all in the newspapers and we even learnt about it in school and wrote poems about it. But it didn't happen, did it? Not even close.

So you have got nothing to worry about, mate. I promise. Perhaps it's a way to stop depressed people from commiting suicide by getting them to believe that the world is 'definately' ending soon.