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Saturday, April 07, 2012 nikorii asks

Q: Anxiety/Depression/Stress? Please help me.. What's wrong with me?

So sorry for the length! I just want to be as detailed as possible so the answers are accurate.. Please try to help me? It all started with a health scare. I thought I was in some serious condition when in fact it was very common and I freaked out about it a lot when I figured that I had it but when it went away after a few days.. is when I started to notice that things weren't the same with me and my surroundings and the people around me. I don't feel like myself. I can't seem to connect myself with my surroundings or people.. especially my loved ones.. It's frustrating because I'm emotionally disconnected with important events in my life like my graduation and senior ball when one is supposed to be happy. I was looking forward to those events before this weird thing hit me wherein I had the hardest time feeling any emotion.. All I felt was empty. I couldn't feel happiness or fulfillment from people or events.. I can't feel love or excitement which scares me A LOT. Because I'm usually an emotionally aware person..But now I don't feel anything for these events which make me so frustrated. I should be feeling something for these people and things but I'm just so out of it! My therapist told me to just go with the flow and let my worries go because it won't do any good worrying about it more. If I keep telling myself I don't feel anything, I really wont. I believe that slowly, I'm improving in that part of my problem because recently.. I've been feeling more of bits and pieces of emotions here and there.. but sometimes, it's completely gone and sometimes, it's there.. so it's very inconsistent. I KNOW my feelings are under here somewhere because this feeling isn't the normal feeling for me. It hurts me because it's making me think that I don't care about the things I truly care about.. Like my boyfriend, I KNOW I love him and I know that before all of this HE made me truly happy but now that this happened, it's like I still know that I love him and care about him and I want to be with him but the emptiness is making me think the opposite... It's confusing me and I feel like there's a knot in my head because all my thoughts are blurry. Even my dreams and ambitions don't seem to matter anymore because I feel empty about them too... My direction in life is a blah ! Right now.. I also feel nervous nowadays for no reason like my chest tightens and I just feel so helpless. When I wake up in the morning, I don't know what I want to do for the day because I don't feel like doing anything cause even if I do the things I want.. IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE ANYTHING :(( What is this? Am I just tired of everything around me? How can I want something but not feel anything about it? Are these numb feelings going to go away? Can i be myself anytime soon? It's been two months and some days already and i'm really concerned.. Do I still love the things and people I love ? I don't want anything else but those things and people... But I can't seem to feel anything for them! It's so frustrating and I just need some answers.. what do you think is happening to me?! This disconnection and numbness/emptiness is making me think that I don't love the things and people I love and it's making me think that I want to be away from all of the things that make me happy but that's not what I want! How do I reconnect with myself again? Please help me! I'm desperate!
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Answers (1)
Eileen Bailey, Health Guide
4/ 9/12 4:47pm

Thank you for your question and welcome to Health Central's Anxiety Community.

 

I am sorry you are going through such a hard time right now. Have you talked with your doctor about how you are feeling? Have you talked to your parents? If not, this is where you want to start. Those around you, especially those who love and care about you, should be willing to help you and work with you to get you through this tough time.

 

Depersonalization or feeling as if you are detached from events, people and things around you can be a sign of Acute Stress Disorder, although I am not a medical professional and cannot tell you that this is what is going on. One of our experts, Jerry Kennard, talked about this in a post, "It Felt Like a Dream," The symptoms of ASD include a reduced sense of awareness of surroundings and a feeling of numbness or detachment from the event or situation. The person believes the circumstances around them aren't real (derealization) and they frequently refer to their feelings as though they were in a dream. Sometimes there is a sense of being entirely outside of the situation, like an observer looking in, but not actually being involved. It is as though the person is floating above or around the situation but their body is in a different place altogether (depersonalization)."

 

Although this isn't exactly what you described, it may help you better understand how you are feeling.

 

I do not believe you don't care about all the things you are talking about, but the anxiety and stress you felt over your health scare may have started this.

 

Again, please talk with your parents. If you don't know how to start the conversation, you may want to print out what you wrote hear and have your parents read it and ask them for help, including talking with your doctor.

 

I hope this helps

 

Eileen

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By nikorii— Last Modified: 04/09/12, First Published: 04/07/12