Complicated Mental Health :(

Anxiety can take some time to sort out. I'm really glad to hear you're looking into finding another counselor. It can take a few different tries before you find the right therapist for you, so good job on looking again. I hope there is a medication you can tolerate that can help with your debilitating symptoms until you can get some skills in place to cope with that. I've lived with anxiety my whole life (I'm 37) and I understand how powerful it can be. Anxiety will lie to you and tell you there are threats when there are none. It takes some re-learning to disrupt that habit, but it is totally possible. Cognitive behavioral therapy is great. Have a read of Feeling Good or The Body Keeps Score. Great books.

I assume your parents are pressuring you to get a job? Whoever it is, I am really sorry you are feeling that pressure. I am sure the anxiety magnifies that. My view of your situation is that nothing will be possible without the bare minimum of mental health. It sounds like your anxiety really drives the show...health anxiety especially. Really focus on working through that. Try everything. Read, go to therapy, support groups, online forums. Get support. Take a few months and work towards being emotionally stable most days. This will help you so much with school or work, whatever you decide to you. Living with chronic anxiety is like trying to live while swimming upstream in jello. It touches every aspect of your life and drains you. Once I got my anxiety under control, my self-created problems disappeared and I could see exactly where to act on my life in a productive and positive way. Night and day...you can get there.

Don't give up on yourself! Read about mindfulness and deep breathing exercises. They feel dumb, but do them. One trick anxiety likes to play on us is that manic feeling of having to figure everything our right now and urgently. Making a plan. Looking at all the details from all angles. THIS is anxiety. We think it makes us feel better to try and figure it all out, but that process actually feeds anxiety and makes it worse. Just once today, when you start to have those anxious thoughts, take a moment and close your eyes. Take a really deep breath and hold it for a couple of seconds, exhaling slowly. Do this a few times. Feel your feet on the ground, supported and solid. Calm. Breathe again. Your anxious thoughts are just thoughts...put them in their place...they will not kill you. Let them float up and away from your mind, thanking them for their message and releasing them. Breathe. Open your eyes. Or, you can look up "guided meditation for anxiety" on youtube or itunes. It helps, even to just give your brain a 2 minute break from worry.

Good luck my friend. Everything is going to be okay.

/r/Advice Thread