Random Anxiety

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Hello, I want advice. I have random bouts of anxiety where I overthink and then the anxiety of something that will not happen gets to me a bit. I just keep having thoughts something bad will happen. I feel like my thoughts are easy to become overwhelmed by. I hope someone understands this. Please and Thank you.

It seems like you get stuck on the negative possibilities and are unable to get unstuck. While this is usually a pretty complex problem addressed in therapy over time, my suggestion for now would be to try to think of at least one positive possibility or outcome and think about the evidence pointing to the possibility of each outcome happening. Once you realize that there is evidence that the positive outcome may happen instead of the negative outcome, perhaps you will become less fixated on the negative side of things?

I recommend studying self-defense. I too deal with a measure of paranoia and pessimism. But studying martial arts is about preparing for the physically dangerous times in life. I've found that the mindset carries over into other aspects of life. I still foresee negative events (even if they don't happen), but I then plan counter-moves and having those plans eases my concerns.

I have all kinds of outcomes, so usually I know in reality i am fine. But I do create strategies to help deal with it. Listen to music, sing, and do writing for example. I still think constantly of ways to help myself.

I get this, too. It recently went away when I went on a medication that it turns out helped with anxiety (side effect) and then came back when the medication period ended, so I think this is chemical. For me, at least. Weirdly, I feel a lot better now, like my brain needed that boost to remember how to generate positive feelings. I'm still anxious, just slightly less now.

Recognizing the thoughts as unproductive and ignoring them is key, but this condition still leaves me in a vulnerable state, and when my environment got bad a few months ago, I became suicidal. I'm exploring going permanently on some low-dose anti-anxiety medication.

Just one person's perspective.

Thanks guys but I refuse medication for anxiety. i do things holistically

Well, then I should come clean and say that the "anti-anxiety medication" I was referring to was soy. I don't know why, but I'm a weirdo who reacts to certain foods very strongly, and soy (which if you search PubMed, you can see studies on mice claiming it to be have anti-anxiety properties) really really has an effect that calms me down. I ate a small amount accidentally recently after being off it (and casein and gluten -- both of which make me really sick) for a few years and the next day, after a raging headache that lasted 12 hours, I felt like instead of being dragged down by dark thoughts, I was on a trampoline that pushed me up. My moods were more stable and I didn't dwell on things as much. Then I got the headache again a few days later and the trampoline feeling went away. I ate more soy and it came back.

Because I get such a strong reaction from seemingly normal things, like soy (and other things), I am also very anti-drug, pharmaceutical or recreational. But having this intense calming reaction from soy made me more aware of what thoughts were probably due to a chemical imbalance and what life can be like without that weight from the unwanted anxious thoughts dragging me down. I get some other, unwanted side effects from soy, so I'm experimenting now with small doses. But it has made me see that pharmaceuticals, one day, might be something I am more open to. The way I see it, it's like I naturally have a lame leg, and I could get a wheelchair.

Anyway, I didn't want to say anything, because I have some sort of complex with being perceived as a weirdo (ahem...aspergers PTSD...) so I try not to talk about my bizarre food things much because all I have are a scattered handful of studies to explain why this could be (and why no one else seems to get this reaction -- I know, I live in Japan, where everyone's on soy and everyone's still grumpy).

Anyway. There it is. (Sorry to be so weird about it.)